Even among street variety NBA fans, it is often forgotten that in ’95, Kevin Garnett became the first kid drafted directly out of high school since the ABA’s Utah Stars drafted Moses Malone in ’74.

KG—the future first ballot hall of famer who almost single-handedly revived the storied tradition of Boston basketball last season—began his career with the fledgling Minnesota Timberwolves during their seventh putrid year of existence.

No real NBA fans forget what Garnett did in Minnesota. He quickly became the face of the franchise, consistently leading the T-Wolves to the playoffs despite the lack of quality players around him. After a string of first round playoff exits (following monstrous KG regular seasons) the league’s most dominant big man became the nexus of NBA trade rumors.

Finally, in the summer of 2007, after Minnesota failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year, Garnett was traded to the Celtics.

There he won a championship.

The oft forgotten early leg of Garnett’s stellar career heavily involves an overachieving Minnesota small forward named Sam Mitchell, who took the young hoops prodigy under his wing.

Despite attending a minor Georgia college (Mercer U.) and taking an indirect four year route from college to the NBA (which included a stint in both the Euro league and the U.S. Army) Mitchell did some amazing things while playing pro ball.

Mitchell got his break when Minnesota arrived on the scene as an expansion team in ’89. He signed a contract with the new squad and soon emerged as a key player. In ’92, the Wolves traded Mitchell to the Pacers, where he had three successful seasons, but Mitchell returned to Minneapolis as free agent in ’95--just in time for Garnett’s rookie year.

As hoped by the T-Wolves management, Mitchell immediately embraced the role of young Garnett’s mentor.

With Mitchell guiding him, KG transitioned from a raw high school talent into the national superstar he is today. In the meantime, Mitchell quietly served as the T-Wolves’ second fiddle. During his playing career, Mitchell secured enough baskets and boards to place himself in the record books as Minnesota’s second most prolific scorer and rebounder of all time.

As Mitchell’s court career wound down, insiders recognized him as coaching material. In league circles, his mentoring of KG was widely praised.

As Mitchell related to me personally, his agent was contacted by the Milwaukee Bucks organization weeks before what Mitchell had planned to be his final playing year. The Bucks did not approach him with a veteran’s league minimum player contract, but instead surprised the aging wing with a much lower-paying assistant coach’s offer.

After some initial resistance and talks with his wife and four daughters, Mitchell decided to pursue a coaching career—even though he had offers elsewhere to play another season.

After two years as a down-the-bench assistant under George Karl and then Terry Porter, Mitchell secured a job as the lead assistant for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. But, before the regular season even began, Mitchell successfully interviewed for the head coaching position in Toronto.

In three seasons north of the boarder, Mitchell led the Raptors from their perennial position as the lowliest team in the Eastern Conference to the 2007 Atlantic Division Championship.

For his efforts, he was named NBA coach of the year.

In ’08, he again led the Raptors to the playoffs, but through 17 games this season, Mitchell's newly rearranged roster struggled to an 8-9 record.

Second year Toronto general manager Brian Colangelo recently made some high-profile and controversial moves--including sending T.J. Ford to the Pacers for Jermaine O’Neal and signing Andrea Bargnani and Jason Kapono to (undeserving) lucrative contracts.

Earlier this week, the Raptors fired Sam Mitchell, one of the NBA’s best coaches. This ranks right up there with the Pau Gasol trade and the drafting of Marvin Williams ahead of Chris Paul as one of the worst front office moves in recent NBA history.

To put it simply, Mitchell was fired prematurely because of Colangelo’s mistakes.

As I mentioned previously, I have met and talked to Mitchell. He lives here on the southside of Atlanta. His daughters are all volleyball prodigies and I met him at one of their tournaments.

(even though I am a huge NBA fan, I talked to Sam for a solid 30 minutes about topics ranging from the military to prep volleyball before finally recognizing him… It never occurred to me that Toronto’s coach could be raising his family in my community).

I would love to have Mitchell coach my favorite team, the Atlanta Hawks.

His firing makes no sense whatsoever, but then again neither does the summer firings of Avery Johnson (Dallas) and Mike D’Antoni (Phoenix).

Still, Mitchell has two years left on his contract, so he’s going to weather this storm.

The Raptors will be handing out millions of dollars over two years to the man who won the NBA Coach of the Year award just 18 months ago so that he can stay home and watch more of his daughters’ volleyball matches.

I am convinced that some other NBA teams will come calling soon.