I hopped on the 96, transferred to the 89, boarded the UP, and made the short trek from Union to Scotiabank Arena. Everything about my trip was the same as it had been many times before, when I had jettisoned myself over there to cover games, shootaround and the like. Only, when I went to enter the arena, security guided my line of sight slightly to the right. A gated area, a stage, balloons, free ice cream – it was all there, and people had come to bear witness to the introduction of the Raptors new head coach, Darko Rajakovic.
I was pretty surprised to see so much pageantry, and I did the rounds with the veteran beat writers to ask if this had ever happened before, and it hadn’t. Money leftover in the budget? Poorly allocated ice cream stock? Or, an expectation that Rajakovic — and looming roster decisions — will help course correct the Raptors back towards consistent winning, enjoyable basketball, and a positive culture? If it’s the latter, why not start it off with a bang, and a bit of an event where people can come bask in it. Rajakovic certainly did.
The sun beam that was hitting O.G. Anunoby in the face during media day 9 months ago caused a grimace and it would’ve done the same to me, but Rajakovic was staring the full, gleaming sun right in it’s face and smiling through all of it. The second ever European-born head coach in the NBA, for the only team that exists outside the USA, with a connection to international fans, international players, and here he was, basking in a seminal moment of his 28-year long coaching journey. He giggled and looked around every time there was applause, trying to make sense of the sheer amount of support.
A lot of the questions early on were introductory, of course. Did Masai and Darko know each other before this? Turns out, not really. Ujiri’s time in Serbia was a bit too long ago for Rajakovic to be a figurehead, and the rigors of NBA life didn’t see them crossing paths during seasons.
In a private scrum off to the side of things, Ujiri would later reveal that Rajakovic wasn’t the favorite to kick things off, but impressed at every turn. Sergio Scariolo was the favorite for a time. Kenny Atkinson and Ujiri are very close, with a shared history as scouts, and a lot of dinners and conversations together. Rajakovic did it the hard way. He was interviewed a day after the Grizzlies were ousted from the playoffs. Ujiri highlighted the clear physical and mental toll that the then-assistant coach was wearing. Even still, he was extremely prepared, insightful, thoughtful, and impressive. He was the same during the second round of interviews where the Raptors cut into his vacation. And finally, the third round, which interrupted his anniversary.
In spite of the milk run to head coach status, Rajakovic spoke as highly as he could’ve about the organization and the city. His wife, Gaga, even providing a fun little quote of: “this is better than New York City!”
In the process, Ujiri said the Raptors interviewed 15 candidates for the job, and mentioned how much they viewed it all as a good way to learn how people around the league view their team and their players. A lot of candidates mentioned how good the players are, but not the team. A few of them even mentioning “that isn’t you guys out there”. Ujiri was still commenting on his view of the selfishness that plagued the team this season, and this, their newest attempt to get away from it.
According to sources inside the organization, there’s a strong belief that Rajakovic can capably coach a roster re-tooled for playoff contention, or one with a clearer focus on development and youth.
“Since the day I started coaching, the thing I enjoy most is seeing players get better, players improve. You’re gonna win games, you’re gonna lose games — we want to win every single game, every single night — but, seeing the team grow, seeing the players grow, seeing people in the whole organization grow is something that was always my biggest reward. That’s how I operate. I’m trying to wake up every single day with that on my mind. ‘How can I help? How can I serve? How can I improve everybody in the organization?'”.
Darko Rajakovic
At the time of the introduction, the bench was bare, save for development coach Jim Sann. I was told that Rajakovic and the Raptors would collaborate on filling out the staff going forward. A couple days later, Jama Mahlalela and Pat Delany were hired as lead assistants. I have less intel on Delany, who has been an assistant for Charlotte, Orlando, and Washington these past 9 years, and a scout + video coordinator with the Miami Heat prior to that. Mahlalela though, has been widely beloved by the players he’s worked with, and was a cherished member of the Raptors organization while he was here. He left to Golden State, learned a lot, collected another championship, and is now coming back with a meaningful promotion. His return is tremendous news. RR’s wonderful Managing Editor, Louis Zatzman did a feature on Jama back in 2019, and this excerpt really hammers home who he is, and why he and Rajakovic make sense working together:
“He (Jama) rarely wants to credit himself, always preferring to boost the standing of those around him. For him, the conversation is always about his family, his players, the front office, the culture. He doesn’t deflect away from questions about his coaching, but he judges his own success by the success, and happiness, of those around him.“
Because of this coaching staff, the Raptors believe they can achieve the change they desire regardless of how the roster shapes up over the course of the draft and the summer. Rajakovic hasn’t been explicit in laying out his desires for the Raptors offseason plans, and Bobby Webster mentioned they’ve been talking to all the looming free agents regularly, but time will tell. The only process you’d hope they’re married to is the most advantageous one.
As for the defensive side of the floor, it hasn’t been discussed for public consumption as much. We’re pretty lucky to have a whole podcast about how to install an offense from an NBA coach as is. So, at the presser when I had the microphone, I asked about his defensive principles. The answer, at least in spoken ideals, runs counter to what the Raptors had been doing for some time.
“Defensively, I think one of the strengths of this team is the length that we have and the ability to do so many things from switching, different coverages on the ball and off the ball.” said Rajakovic. “For me, everything defensively starts with protecting the paint. If we protect the paint, after that we’re going to take away corner threes, and we’re going to have late-contested wing threes.”
For anyone who has paid attention to the Raptors rankings in taking away corner threes under Nurse, which have been: 29th, 30th, 28th, 30th, 24th. This might come as a bit of a shock. In that same time frame, the Raptors have also been above average at limiting shots at the rim — save for this past season where they ranked 23rd — but, a lot of that paint protection came as a result of rotations out of the corners (including the strong-side) to meet drivers higher up by the nail. That changed a little bit this season though, after the arrival of Jakob Poeltl. The Raptors actually managed to protect the paint, and not hemorrhage corner triples after his arrival. More conservative schemes let the defensive talent on the roster lean into their strengths a little bit more.
“I’m really looking forward to talking to our guys as well, and seeing their comfort level with all these things.” said Rajakovic. “All the decisions that I’m gonna be making, I’m gonna consult with players and people within the organization, with my coaching staff. So, don’t worry, we’re gonna have a really good defense.”
So, while the spoken ideals aren’t even close to being in alignment, the end-of-season defense under Nurse could end up being quite similar to what we see under Rajakovic — which is a good thing. The Raptors were the sixth-ranked defense in that time.
As things progress and the roster takes form, I’ll have much deeper dives on how the defense could look, and that will no doubt be aided by Rajakovic’s offer to sit down and go through some of the X’s and O’s with me. After a year of bugging the hell out of Nurse every time I asked specific questions, that was a response that floored me. On a personal level, I’m excited to cover Darko and see how he guides the Raptors going forward.
I asked a Masai a question about development and he took a moment and said: “You’ll have to ask Darko, he’s the genius. The stuff he’s been able to teach and what he knows, it’s crazy.” Hopefully this season I’ll get to be on the studious end of that education.
All the right things were said on his introductory day, and they matched the testimonials about Rajakovic that have been handed out by many people across the league. Nothing goes perfect when translating theory to reality, but at the very least the Raptors seem to have a diligent, intelligent, and kind man at the helm. That’s a good start.
Have a blessed day.
