Sam Mitchell (basketball)

Professional career

Mitchell, a 6'6" (198 cm), 210 lb (95 kg) small forward, graduated from Columbus High School. Afterwards he played college basketball at Mercer University for four seasons (1981–85), and scored nearly 2,000 points, becoming the leading scorer in Bears history. He led the team to both the regular-season and postseason Trans-American Atlantic Conference championships in 1985. As a result, the team made the NCAA tournament that year. Then he was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the 7th pick of the 3rd round (54th overall) in the 1985 NBA Draft.

Mitchell did not commence play in the NBA after being drafted and until joining 1989 expansion team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, in their inaugural season. Prior to his NBA career, he spent three seasons (1985–88) in the Continental Basketball Association, playing for the Wisconsin Flyers and Rapid City Thrillers, and in the French Ligue Nationale de Basketball team of Montpellier (coached by Pierre Galle) for the end of the 1987–88 and the whole 1988–89 season. After that, Mitchell started his NBA career, first spending three seasons with the Timberwolves. During his playing days in Minneapolis, he scored a career-high 37 points against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 3, 1991. On September 8, 1992 he was traded along with point guard Pooh Richardson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for small forward Chuck Person and point guard Micheal Williams. After spending three years with the Pacers, he returned to the Timberwolves for the rest of his career, before retiring in 2002. Mitchell ranks second in Wolves history in points, steals and minutes played, and is third in total rebounds.

Coaching career

Mitchell returned to the NBA almost immediately after his retirement as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons until 2004. He then briefly became a part of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats as their top assistant coach, until moving on to the Toronto Raptors when he was named as the sixth head coach in Raptors history after incumbent Kevin O'Neill was fired.

Mitchell was named the coach of the month in January 2007 for his effort bringing the Toronto Raptors back to .500 and leading the Atlantic Division. On March 30, 2007, Mitchell got his 100th win as NBA coach when the Raptors defeated the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center.

Mitchell, who witnessed his team struggle with rebuilding in his first years as coach, also led the Toronto Raptors to their first division title in franchise history as the team won the Atlantic Division in the NBA's Eastern Conference in the 2006–07 season. On April 24, 2007, he was named 2006–07 NBA Coach of the Year. On May 22, 2007 after leading the Raptors to their first playoffs appearance since 2002, and after much speculation, Mitchell was signed to a four-year contract with the Raptors.

On November 25, 2007 Mitchell surpassed Lenny Wilkens for the most wins in team history. Mitchell was the longest reigning head coach of the Toronto Raptors.

On December 3, 2008, after leading the Raptors to a disappointing 8–9 start to the 2008–09 season, Mitchell was relieved of his duties as the team's head coach. Assistant coach Jay Triano took over the position of interim head coach of the Raptors, which later made him the first foreign-born player to coach a team in the NBA. The firing was ridiculed by the TNT Overtime crew because the Raptors were only one game under .500 at the time of the firing. Chris Webber predicted that they would not be "as good under another coach." In fact, the Raptors went 25–40 the rest of the season.

Mitchell was hired as an assistant coach by the New Jersey Nets on July 19, 2010. On December 6, 2011, Nets hired P.J. Carlesimo and Mario Elie as new assistant coaches and Mitchell was reassigned to a scouting position.

On 2012, Sam Mitchell named head coach of USA select to 2012 William Jones Cup in Taiwan and his team finished bronze medal.

On June 16, 2014, Mitchell was hired as an assistant coach by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

On September 11, 2015, Mitchell became the Timberwolves' interim head coach after Flip Saunders had to take a leave of absence to receive treatment after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. On October 25, 2015, Saunders died at age 60. For the rest of the season, Mitchell became the official head coach, although he would still be treated as an interim coach. During his sole season coaching the Timberwolves, he would coach them to the fifth-worst record in the league with a 29–53 record.

On April 13, 2016, Mitchell was relieved of his interim head coaching duties as the coach of the Timberwolves after the last game of the season, allowing them to look for a permanent coach. He would then be replaced by former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Personal life

Mitchell lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and four daughters.