NBA Coach of the Year: 5 coaches that were fired after winning award
By KC Whitten
2. Sam Mitchell
Retiring as a player in 2002 after 13 years in the NBA, Sam Mitchell was hired as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks. He spent two seasons under coaches George Karl and Terry Porter before being hired by the Toronto Raptors in 2004.
Inheriting a team in the middle of a rebuild around burgeoning superstar forward Chris Bosh, his first two seasons in Toronto were abysmal. Winning 33 games his first season in 2004-05, the Raptors regressed the following season. Finishing with a record of 27-35, the NBA’s lone Canadian franchise received the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2006.
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The Raptors selected Andrea Bargnani, and once he became acclimated to the NBA style, he became a leading player on the team’s second unit. Behind the production of Bosh and Bargnani, Toronto improved to 47-35 and finished as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Mitchell was voted as Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season. Mitchell and the Raptors experienced a decline the following season. Though they made the playoffs for the second straight year, they were once again ousted in the first round.
Entering the 2008-09 season, expectations were high for the upstart franchise. However, a disappointing 8-9 start resulted in the dismissal of Mitchell. He departed Toronto with the most wins, and longest tenure in team history.
After his dismissal, he became an assistant in New Jersey and Minnesota. He relieved the ailing Flip Saunders in 2015-16, and coached the Minnesota Timberwolves to the fifth-worst record in the league. Following his breakout season in 2006-07 as the top coach in the NBA, Mitchell’s combined record is 78-103 with one playoff appearance.