Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Darko Rajaković's Passion for Development Makes Clear Why Raptors Tabbed Him for Coach
The Toronto Raptors could have had almost anyone.
Their search to replace Nick Nurse as the team’s next head coach was exhaustive. At times it felt like everyone was being interviewed. NBA MVP and Canadian basketball icon Steve Nash was brought in for a chat. Former NBA sharpshooter-turned-podcaster JJ Redick was spoken to. Former head coaches like Kenny Atkinson were considered. Europeans such as Sergio Scariolo were brought in and thoroughly examined. What was clear throughout all the interviews is the basketball world is full of some very smart people.
These days, though, basketball brilliance doesn’t set you apart.
The Raptors wanted something more from their next head coach. They wanted a person who could relate and talk to players. They wanted someone with versatility who could lead a team regardless of the situation.
After wading through 15 candidates and dozens of interviews, Toronto finally settled on its man: Darko Rajaković.
It’s OK if the name doesn’t jump out at you immediately. The 44-year-old Serbian has never been an NBA head coach and, as Raptors general manager Bobby Webster admitted Tuesday, he wasn’t the frontrunner coming into the process. Rajaković, though, is a basketball lifer and as the hiring search dragged on, the former Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach kept setting himself apart.
“He’s really smart, he’s detailed, he’s structured,” said Webster. “I think he has a really diverse set of experiences internationally but also in the NBA.”
What Rajaković lacks in NBA head coaching experience he makes up for with a lifetime in basketball. He gave up his dreams of one day being a basketball player when he was still a boy and pivoted immediately into coaching.
“When I stopped playing, I was just like 15 years old and to be honest with you it was like the world crashed for me,” Rajaković said. “I just lost my identity.”
It was then that Rajaković’s local Serbian town opened a basketball camp and charged him with coaching the seven- and eight-year-olds on the team.
“When I saw their improvement and how they grew that’s really what hooked me into the game,” he said.
Toronto is now hoping Rajaković will usher in a new era of Raptors basketball. The goal has always remained the same, this team is still focused on winning a championship as team president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri will no-doubt remind you, but the journey now may be a little different.
Player development is going to take center stage.
“For me, the biggest thing I enjoy is seeing players get better,” Rajaković said. “You are going to win games, you are going to lose games – definitely we want to win every single night – but seeing the team grow, seeing the players grow, seeing people throughout the organization grow is something that has always been my biggest reward and that’s how I operate. I try to wake up every single day with that on my mind – how can I help? How can I serve? How can I improve everyone in the organization.”
At times over the past couple of seasons that focus on internal growth seemed to waiver. The constant churn of quality bench players dried up and it proved costly for Toronto. Nobody played their starters more minutes than the Raptors in each of the last two seasons.
That fact wasn’t lost on Ujiri who voiced his displeasure with the state of Toronto’s developmental program during his season-ending media available following the dismissal of Nurse. He said he thought the team could have done more to help some of Toronto’s younger players, Malachi Flynn, Dalano Banton, and the like.
Rajaković, the Raptors hope, is better suited to help Toronto’s young players.
“I think we are seeing a bit more of … an interpersonal approach (to coaching),” Webster said. “I'm sure we see it around society is like this next generation of kids that’s coming up and how do you manage them? How do you criticize them? How do you support them and pump them up? And I think that's a really important skill. And I think Darko has it.”
For all of Nurse’s success in Toronto, that seemed to be a skill he lacked. Gary Trent Jr., for example, said there were times Nurse publicly criticized his play without first coming to speak to him privately.
That said, a pivot back to player development doesn’t necessarily mean Toronto is heading toward a teardown this summer. This hire, Webster said, wasn’t made with an eye toward the organization’s offseason plans.
The Raptors still believe this team is full of talented players and Rajaković agrees. He sees a group of long and athletic players. He wants to leverage that into a ferocious defensive team with the ability to switch and play multiple different coverages.
But the road ahead for this organization remains murky. Fred VanVleet opted out of his contract as expected and while the organization remains on “good terms” with him ahead of free agency, Webster said, his future is unclear. So too is that of Trent who is also expected to opt out at some point in the next couple of weeks.
Regardless of what lies ahead, Toronto is confident Rajaković can lead this group forward. Yes, he’s smart, but more importantly, he’s adaptable, relatable, and obsessed with player development.
Toronto made a home run hire the last time they faced this situation, taking a chance on a little-known coach with no NBA head coaching experience. Rajaković is certainly going to be a different kind of head coach from Nurse, but the Raptors are hoping the results are the same.
Further Reading
Fred VanVleet Will Opt-Out of Player Option and Hit Free Agency This Summer, per Report
