The Toronto Raptors have added Patrick Mutombo and Jim San to their coaching staff, the team announced Friday.
The addition of Mutombo was first reported by Raptors Republic on Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:
Mutombo is a familiar name to president Masai Ujiri and Raptors 905 general manager Dan Tolzman, as he was a member of the Denver Nuggets coaching staff as a player development coordinator in 2011. He was then bumped to assistant coach with the Nuggets, where he continued to focus on player development while adding opponent game-planning to his role. The Austin Spurs then nabbed him as an assistant coach at the D-League level ahead of the 2015-16 season. Austin has churned out some impressive coaching talent (including current NBA head coaches Earl Watson and Quin Snyder), and the familiarity with a few names in the front office will surely help get Mutombo up to speed quickly.
Ujiri and Mutombo also have a relationship through their work with Ujiri’s Giants of Africa program. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mutombo is one of the central figures in the documentary of the same name that aired at TIFF last week. He has long been active in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, as well. This seems like a great fit from an organizational culture standpoint, and Mutombo also fills a need as a player development specialist.
Prior to his coaching career, the 36-year-old was a two-time NCAA D-II champion at Metro State, where he’d later work as an assistant coach. He then spent several years in Italy, Brazil, and Greece, before closing out his pro career in the D-League in 2009-10.
Sann should be a familiar name, too, as he was in the news during the 2014-15 season after having a heart attack at practice while a member of the Brooklyn Nets staff, which required him to be revived on the court. At the time, Sann was an advanced scout for the Nets, his second stint with the team. He should also be a familiar name because he was an assistant coach with the Raptors in 2003-04. Since entering the NBA ranks with the New York Knicks in the 90s, Sann has also spent time in various capacities with the Rockets and Bulls and at Pace University, usually as an advanced scout or assistant coach.
As part of the coaching staff shakeup, the Raptors also promoted Jama Mahlalela to the front of the bench, which Raptors Republic also reported Sunday. Mahlalela now joins Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse as head coach Dwane Casey’s leads, while Mutombo and Sann join Alex McKechnie in the second row.
“Jama has done a great job for us in the area of player development and game preparation the last several seasons and is deserving of this recognition,” Casey said in a release.
As a refresher, these changes were necessitated due to the loss of Andy Greer and Jesse Mermuys, the latter of which necessitated a move to Raptors 905 for Jerry Stackhouse. As I wrote Sunday:
While some have wondered if the Raptors will bring in a “defensive coordinator” of sorts to replace Greer, that’s unlikely to be the case – Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse will take on a larger role as head coach Dwane Casey’s leads, Jama Mahlalela is expected to move up to the front row of the bench, and Mutombo and one other addition still to come will join Alex McKechnie in the second row. Casey is a defensive specialist originally, and it’s not as if Greer took the team’s new scheme with him when he left, so the Raptors will hope the new additions and collaborative knowledge can help make up for the loss of a defensive ace like Greer.
There’s a lot to be said for promoting from within, and trying to land a big name to replace Greer would have precluded the team from doing so (it also could have been difficult to pluck an employed coach for a lateral move). In any case, that’s your staff for the 2016-17 Raptors season.
Dwane Casey
Rex Kalamian/Nick Nurse/Jama Mahlalela
Patrick Mutombo/Jim Sann/Alex McKechnie
