Who is Darko Rajakovic?
Basketball

Who is New Raptors Coach Darko Rajakovic?

June 12, 2023
Devon Gallant

   The Raptors took their time vetting the candidates to be the next head coach of the franchise, spending nearly 2 months since dismissing Nick Nurse before finally choosing longtime NBA assistant Darko Rajakovic to be the franchise’s 10th head coach over their 28 season history. The 44 year old Rajakovic replaces Nurse, who led the team to their first NBA championship and amassed a 227 – 163 record over his 5 seasons with the team. 

   Rajakovic comes to Toronto after spending the last 3 seasons as the top assistant of the Memphis Grizzlies, where he was an integral part of the club’s rise up the regular season standings. He’s been involved in coaching since his late teens, beginning his NBA career with summer league and consulting work with the San Antonio Spurs. He joins a Raptors franchise that is seemingly at a crossroads, and plodding through several stagnant seasons since winning the NBA finals in 2019.

   Rajakovic has a reputation for being a versatile coach – he’s equally as comfortable working with a win-now team as he is in a player development role in a rebuilding team, which fits in nicely with a franchise that appears to be on the verge of transitioning towards a new core. Beginning in 2012, Rajakovic spent 2 years as a head coach in the G-League with the affiliate of the Oklahoma Thunder, before moving up and working with then head coach Billy Donovan for 5 seasons. He’s credited with the development of Steven Adams, particularly his free throw shooting by utilizing some unorthodox methods. In 2019 Rajakovic joined the Phoenix Suns, where he influenced the development of Mikal Bridges before making a quick move to the Grizzlies in 2020, where he helped oversee the rapid development of Desmond Bane, amongst others. Now in the head coaching role in Toronto, Rajakovic will be tasked with expediting the development of Precious Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes and whomever the team selects with the 13th overall pick in the upcoming draft.

   After winning Rookie of the Year in 2022, Barnes experienced a sophomore slump this past season, so getting him back on track in 2023 will be a top priority for the new coaching staff, while Achiuwa still has plenty of untapped potential. 

   In 2022, Toronto’s half-court offense was uninspiring, ranking 25th in efficiency in the league. Rajakovic hopes to fix this by utilizing his offensive philosophy that incorporates his mastery of the pick and roll. He’s authored a number of academic-journal style articles on the evolution of the pick and roll, so it’s safe to assume that the Raptors 2023 offense will have less isolation looks and incorporate more ball movement.

   The team still had 4 core players from their 2019 championship this past season – Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, O.G. Anunoby and Chris Boucher – but fell short of expectations. Siakam is under contract for one more season, while VanVleet, along with Gary Trent Jr., each have a player option this offseason, leading to speculation that the club could be moving towards a full scale rebuild. Initial reports indicate FVV plans to test free agency this summer meaning the club is likely to be without a starting point guard sooner rather than later. O.G. Anunoby, who also has a player option next offseason, has been the subject of trade rumours for the past several seasons and could yield the team a big return if they do in fact opt to rebuild around Scottie Barnes.

   The hiring fills the last open head coaching position available in the NBA, with 6 hirings taking place since the end of the season; Ime Udoka in Houston, Nurse moving to Philadelphia, Monty Williams in Detroit, Adrian Griffin in Milwaukee, Frank Vogel replacing Williams in Phoenix and now Rajakovic in Toronto. 

-Devon Gallant

Twitter: @DevGallant

Photo: Chensiyuan. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.