End of The Preseason, Beginning of a Journey - October 25, 2006
This is NBA TV with Rick Kamla. Today on Raptors TV we have an
interview scheduled with the head coach of the Raptors, Sam Mitchell.
Rick: Hey Sam, great to have you here today.
Sam: Glad to be here.
Rick: After a shake up in the roster, how have the new players interacted
with eachother, team chemistry wise?
Sam: Everyone is on the same page and they all know what to do to get
the W at the end of the day. It's not like these met for the first time. Jose
played with Jorge in Spain. Bosh has some background with TJ. Andrea
and Anthony played the Raptors a while back. So chemistry isn't an
issue.
Rick: That's great to hear! How do you think this new group improved
compared to last years group?
Sam: This new group improved tremendously in experience. We have two
former Euroleague MVP, we have a player who played in the finals of the
Euroleague and we finally have an experienced Centre to bang bodies with
in the post.
Rick: That's true. I know you probably heard this question a 1000 times,
but what do you think of the Charlie Villanueva/T.J. Ford trade that went
down this summer?
Sam: This trade was good for both teams. I feel like this team needed a
really fast, pass first gaurd that can get up and down the court and the
Bucks needed a Power Forward to compliment Bogut. It's really sad to see
Charlie go. He's extremely talented and helped us a lot at rebounding, but
in order to get talent you have to give up talent and I'm happy with TJ Ford.
Rick: I agree with those statements. TJ Ford is going to be solid for you
guys and I even have him on my Fantasy team. We'll be back with Sam
after a look at the Raptors in training.




Rick: ...and we're back with Sam. So Sam, last year you guys started off
rough with a 1-15 record. I want to know what line-up you're going with
on opening day and how you can avoid another disaster start.
Sam: Right now the starters on paper are:
C: Jorge Garbjosa
PF: Chris Bosh
SF: Morris Peterson
SG: Anthony Parker
PG: TJ Ford
We're going with that line-up on opening night against the Nets, but no one
has a guarenteed spot on the starting line-up. If you play well you'll stay
on, but if someone else shows you up, you'll get benched. As for last year's
bad start, we feel like this group of players is a huge improvement over
last years and we'll definitely get off to a better start.
Rick: Okay, thanks Sam for joining us today and that's all the time we have. This is Rick and thats Sam Mitchell and we're out.