Toronto’s Sam Mitchell Named NBA Coach of the Year

Third-Year coach guided Raptors to 20-win improvement over 2005-06.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

NEW YORK - Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell has been named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season, the NBA announced Tuesday.

In his third season as the Raptors’ head coach, Mitchell totaled 394 points, including 49 first-place votes, from a panel of 128 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.

Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan was second with 301 points (39 first-place votes) and the Dallas Mavericks’ Avery Johnson was third with 268 points (28 first-place votes).

Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

Mitchell, the first coach in Raptors history to receive the honor, led the Raptors to their first Atlantic Division title and a franchise-record-tying 47 wins.

The sixth head coach in franchise history, Mitchell guided the team to an NBA-best 20-game improvement (27-55) over the 2005-06 season.

The Raptors were 30-7 this season when they scored 100 or more points and 38-4 when they had a better (or same) field goal percentage than their opponents.

In January, Mitchell became only the second coach in Raptors history to earn Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors after leading the team to a 10-5 record.

During the month, Toronto recorded a 7-3 mark at home and was 8-2 versus Eastern Conference opponents.

January was the Raptors’ first 10-win month since January 2002 (11-5) and the fifth double-digit win month in franchise history.

The Raptors finished January leading the Atlantic Division by one game with a 23-23 record and then compiled a 24-12 record to close out the rest of the season.

During his 13-year playing career, Mitchell was held in high regard around the league as a student of the game and when he finally hung up his sneakers in 2002, he went from student to teacher in his new role as an NBA coach.

Following two seasons as an assistant coach, Mitchell was named the Raptors’ sixth head coach on June 29th, 2004.

Although the Raptors finished 33-49 in Mitchell’s first season, the campaign under his direction was highlighted by the implementation of a more up-tempo style of play that saw the team’s points per game average increase by 14.3 over the previous season, the third-highest jump in NBA history.

The Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach who guided the Celtics to nine NBA Championships.

In 1996, Auerbach was honored as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

2006-07 NBA COACH OF THE YEAR RESULTS

• Coach, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
• Sam Mitchell, Toronto 49 43 20 394
• Jerry Sloan, Utah 39 28 22 301
• Avery Johnson, Dallas 28 31 35 268
• Jeff Van Gundy, Houston 10 19 27 134
• Mike D’Antoni, Phoenix 2 3 3 22
• Don Nelson, Golden State -- 2 7 13
• Scott Skiles, Chicago -- 1 9 12
• Pat Riley, Miami -- 1 -- 3
• Gregg Popovich, San Antonio -- -- 2 2
• George Karl, Denver -- -- 1 1
• Flip Saunders, Detroit -- -- 1 1
• Isiah Thomas, New York -- -- -- 1

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports