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Mitchell Has 'Learned To Communicate Better'
The Toronto Raptors open training camp Tuesday as Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., and with a year under his belt, the club's head coach says he's learned how to communicate better with his players following a season that was at times plagued by personality clashes. "Just handling certain situations different, being more patient," Mitchell said Thursday. "How to deal with each guy, I know each guy a lot better now. Which guys you need to pat on the back more, which guy needs a hug, which guys needs you push him a little bit more. "I just know how to deal with the players different now. You've got to learn as a coach, and especially first year with new players, which buttons to push, and how to push them, and when to push them." Mitchell admitted he butted heads with certain players last season. He and temperamental point guard Rafer Alston had some well-publicized blowups. "You learn," said Mitchell. "If you're not capable of learning year to year, you don't last long." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Air Canada Centre Facelift For 10th Anniversary
In a move to mark the Air Canada Centre's 10th year in operation, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., the parent company of the Leafs and Raptors, is planning a $40 million renovation in three years that could see the arena add a children's playground and food court. Construction is set to begin in the summer of 2008 and Maple Leaf Sports hasn't yet hired an architect to design the improvements. In an interview with the Sports Business Journal, a sports industry trade publication that first reported the planned renovation, MLSE executive vice-president Bob Hunter said that the changes would "be similar to what Portland, Detroit and Phoenix are doing, but it will focus as much on public amenities as premium." The Pistons' most recent upgrades of The Palace at Auburn Hills include a food court built as part of a 60,000-square-foot addition to the arena, while the Suns recently revamped America West Arena to create a children's playground in the arena's upper deck. Phoenix also recently opened an indoor/outdoor bar that features a broadcast studio that doubles as a stage. MLSE spokesperson Rajani Kamath said yesterday that most of the changes to the arena would be focused on its west side and would come as a result of plans to develop a new $350 million complex, to be called Maple Leaf Square. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Raptors Bringing In A Trio Of Point Guards For CampThe team has invited three players with disparate backgrounds and abilities to fight for a spot on the roster with an unguaranteed contract. Robert Pack, a 36-year-old veteran of 13 NBA seasons, Tierre Brown, a 26-year-old who was a washout with the team's 2003 summer league team and Corey Williams, 28, who has no NBA experience at all, will join the team at training camp starting Oct. 4 in St. Catharines. "The idea is we've got three completely different types of point guard," general manager Rob Babcock said yesterday. "There's a lot of different ways we can go." Pack has played with Portland, Denver, Washington, New Jersey, Dallas, Minnesota and New Orleans in his well-travelled NBA career; Brown has been with four NBA teams. Of Williams, the 6-foot-3, 28-year-old who did not play college basketball, Babcock said, "He is the unknown entity." Brown, who played in the Los Angeles Summer League for Toronto in 2003 and did nothing to warrant an invite to training camp, has been with Houston, Cleveland, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers. None is expected to seriously challenge incumbent Rafer Alston or rookie Jose Calderon for a spot in the rotation, although Babcock said each will get a chance to show his stuff in camp and eight exhibition games. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Raptors Sep 2005 Archive
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Sam Mitchell heads into this NBA season an older and wiser man, he says, than the rookie coach that patrolled the sidelines last season.
It might soon get a little easier to take the kids to Leafs and Raptors games.