Woj: Raps Hire Darko Rajakovic - Live Stream PG 39

[ItsDanger]

1. Darko focusing on offense this year
2. Darko was instructed to tank
3. Darko have been handed bad players
4. Darko not bothering to coach players who will not be here next year anyways
5. Darko is a great person. Super nice. Best human being

Darko seems like a dynamite guy, no doubt. I have no doubt hes very well liked. But he couldn't of had a worse 1st year as a coach. I'm actually softening my opinion on this guy to gauge the temperature of how much people om here will defend him.

Have any of you had to try and lead highly paid people working on something together?

I honestly don't understand what it is people expect from a first year head coach in circumstances like this with an ever changing roster then a hard pivot into tanking.

The fact that Darko kept team morale high, turned around Gradey's season, helped Scottie take an All-Star leap, got RJ to play the greatest stretch of games of his career, while helping IQ expand his game and implementing a new offence with a bunch of fringe NBA players onboard and not have the locker room implode into self-destruction . . . doesn't make your take hot, it makes it absurd.

What do you expect of any coach in this situation? Set the bar for me "Oh Great One"

Our vet Temple - one of the most well respected players in the league - never said he saw circumstances like this before. It was an immensely tough situation for anyone to navigate and seems quite unprecedented.

And you have the gall to say Darko couldn't do worse . . .

Yes to first question. But this point isn't really relevant to a major sports franchise.

Darko was hired to implement best practice habits within the players. We may not see results for a while especially if roster turns over more which it needs to.

[ArthurVandelay]

Darko criticism might eventually be valid but waaay too early now

He was hired as a player development coach (which takes time) and given a roster that doesn’t suit his system or style of play.

The roster is in transition. Once he has a rotation of high IQ shooters who are able to make quick decisions and pass the ball, that is when you can really start to evaluate what Darko is as a head coach.

If he was hired to implement a certain style of play and is given a roster that doesn’t fit it, that is on management.

It’s clear to see where the team is going. It’s going to take time.

[refshateRaps]

Darko criticism might eventually be valid but waaay too early now

He was hired as a player development coach (which takes time) and given a roster that doesn’t suit his system or style of play.

The roster is in transition. Once he has a rotation of high IQ shooters who are able to make quick decisions and pass the ball, that is when you can really start to evaluate what Darko is as a head coach.

If he was hired to implement a certain style of play and is given a roster that doesn’t fit it, that is on management.

It’s clear to see where the team is going. It’s going to take time.

Seriously. It's a shame we let go of Nurse but players make the coaches. Until there's an actual group of players on the court we can legitimately expect to win with, what are some even complaining about?

[ArthurVandelay]

Darko criticism might eventually be valid but waaay too early now

He was hired as a player development coach (which takes time) and given a roster that doesn’t suit his system or style of play.

The roster is in transition. Once he has a rotation of high IQ shooters who are able to make quick decisions and pass the ball, that is when you can really start to evaluate what Darko is as a head coach.

If he was hired to implement a certain style of play and is given a roster that doesn’t fit it, that is on management.

It’s clear to see where the team is going. It’s going to take time.

Seriously. It's a shame we let go of Nurse but players make the coaches. Until there's an actual group of players on the court we can legitimately expect to win with, what are some even complaining about?

Yeah. I don't get it.

The good thing, one of the few good things this season lol, is the guys who they are hoping to eventually win with all improved under Darko. IQ, Scottie, RJ, Dick all took significant steps this season. Let's hope it carries over to next year.

[WuTang_OG]

Darko criticism might eventually be valid but waaay too early now

He was hired as a player development coach (which takes time) and given a roster that doesn’t suit his system or style of play.

The roster is in transition. Once he has a rotation of high IQ shooters who are able to make quick decisions and pass the ball, that is when you can really start to evaluate what Darko is as a head coach.

If he was hired to implement a certain style of play and is given a roster that doesn’t fit it, that is on management.

It’s clear to see where the team is going. It’s going to take time.

Agreed

You cant really judge on this type of season because it was a tank / transition year. Plus he’s a first year head coach. There’s going to be lessons learned and MGM knows that. They are investing in him and its going to take time. Masai admitted as such

[sbsat]

Have any of you had to try and lead highly paid people working on something together?

I honestly don't understand what it is people expect from a first year head coach in circumstances like this with an ever changing roster then a hard pivot into tanking.

The fact that Darko kept team morale high, turned around Gradey's season, helped Scottie take an All-Star leap, got RJ to play the greatest stretch of games of his career, while helping IQ expand his game and implementing a new offence with a bunch of fringe NBA players onboard and not have the locker room implode into self-destruction . . . doesn't make your take hot, it makes it absurd.

What do you expect of any coach in this situation? Set the bar for me "Oh Great One"

Our vet Temple - one of the most well respected players in the league - never said he saw circumstances like this before. It was an immensely tough situation for anyone to navigate and seems quite unprecedented.

And you have the gall to say Darko couldn't do worse . . .

If the team won 11 games all year would darko have done an acceptable job? Are you saying wins and the overall performance of the team didnt matter, full stop? At any point of the year, did he elevate the team’s performance? Did he at any point coach the team to be better than the expectation? These are things i look at no one is saying the team was supposed to be good.

My apologies for getting heated y'all. Now that I see the rebuttal I realize I got upset over nothing. This person's explanation for their take is to ask a hypothetical that didn't happen . . . then . . . now here's the kicker . . . answered my question with a bunch of questions.

Wow what a compelling argument for an absurd take.

to answer your question: no I have not had to lead a bunch of highly paid people. Not sure of the relevance.

[raincityraptors]

If the team won 11 games all year would darko have done an acceptable job? Are you saying wins and the overall performance of the team didnt matter, full stop? At any point of the year, did he elevate the team’s performance? Did he at any point coach the team to be better than the expectation? These are things i look at no one is saying the team was supposed to be good.

My apologies for getting heated y'all. Now that I see the rebuttal I realize I got upset over nothing. This person's explanation for their take is to ask a hypothetical that didn't happen . . . then . . . now here's the kicker . . . answered my question with a bunch of questions.

Wow what a compelling argument for an absurd take.

to answer your question: no I have not had to lead a bunch of highly paid people. Not sure of the relevance.

I was asking you to defend your absurd take, which you couldn't. Thanks for answering my rhetorical question. Its only purpose was to remind the reader that having to manage a bunch of people that make more than you is hard enough already.

[YogurtProducer]

:wink:

Pascal, Precious, OG, or Flynn?

Got to be Precious right?

I dont know why anyone would think Precious wasnt content here. He was given all the leeway and pretty much did nothing but shown flashes very rarely. Same with Flynn. They should have gotten even less playing time. Unless Darko pretty forced them to do more than they were comfortable with, it doesn't make sense for them to dislike Darko.
I bet it's OG (or Siakam).

Darko cut down Precious' minutes by a decent amount. Also, it was pretty clear he couldn't play in Darko's offense.

No way it was OG. I can't imagine that he would participate in this poll. Siakam was my other choice.

Could also be someone from Memphis he butted heads with.

[WuTang_OG]

:wink:

Josh Hart replied today with a tweet saying how soft players are. His own guys like him

found it interesting that a player, who doesn't play for toronto, voted for Darko.

I am going to assume it was one of the players traded earlier this year.

Pascal, Precious, OG, or Flynn?

Got to be Precious right?

A coach calls u ugly and you think its Precious?

[sbsat]

My apologies for getting heated y'all. Now that I see the rebuttal I realize I got upset over nothing. This person's explanation for their take is to ask a hypothetical that didn't happen . . . then . . . now here's the kicker . . . answered my question with a bunch of questions.

Wow what a compelling argument for an absurd take.

to answer your question: no I have not had to lead a bunch of highly paid people. Not sure of the relevance.

I was asking you to defend your absurd take, which you couldn't. Thanks for answering my rhetorical question. Its only purpose was to remind the reader that having to manage a bunch of people that make more than you is hard enough already.

seems like a fair point coming from someone who opines on PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL. Are you a pro baller? Do you know what its like to live a day as an NBA player? I assume no, so why have any opinions on anything on here.

[Scase]

His delivery could be better but his breakdowns of poor defense are spot on. I've seen his vids applied to other teams as well.

Whether this shows Darko is a bad defensive coach is another question. He definitely deserves a second season to show progress, at the least.

I think all the reports of him focusing solely on offence and only really having half a season to work with these guys, it's unfair to blame him entirely for bad defence. Especially if it is presumably by design.

No coach is beyond criticism, but the harsh criticism directed towards Darko for how bad the defense was is crazy given the circumstances.

To elaborate on those circumstances, once Scottie and Yak got injured and OG was traded, how do you reconstitute an effective defensive system? Now, he could've taken a page out of Kevin O'Neill playbook and slowed things down to snail's pace, but he was clearly putting the young guys in spots to develop over the last quarter of the season especially and didn't want to abandon his offensive principles.

Only thing you had to do was watch off-ball for a few mins to see guys not rotating, going to the same spot or (in Bruce Brown's case) not even bothering to understand where they were supposed to be.

In his exit interview with the media, Darko emphasized that his teams have always been good defensively and that part of his players' summer program was to work on defensive principles.

We'll see how this translates in the NBA with a half-decent roster, but to crucify him for the teams defensive play when they cycled through so many players (they used 30 different starting lineups in an 80 game season!), lost their best defensive ones (including their only good defensive 5) and focused on skills development in real games (he basically used them as extended skirmishes) is just weird.

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting this year. The amount of roster turnover, and injuries taking out our best defensive players is gonna have an impact. I mean hell, look at the sixers and how they tanked without Embiid. Granted he's an MVP, but you 2 of your best defensive players to injury, and trade away a guy who is probably a top 3 defensive player in the league, you're gonna feel it.

If people want to preach trust and patience with Masai and rebuilding the team, well guess what folks, Darko is part of that trust.

[ForeverTFC]

:wink:

found it interesting that a player, who doesn't play for toronto, voted for Darko.

I am going to assume it was one of the players traded earlier this year.

Pascal, Precious, OG, or Flynn?

Got to be Precious right?

A coach calls u ugly and you think its Precious?

My rationale was, as much as Flynn might hate Darko, I'm pretty confident he hates Nurse even more and if he was to vote, would vote for him. At least Darko acknowledged his existence.

[WuTang_OG]

:wink:

Pascal, Precious, OG, or Flynn?

Got to be Precious right?

A coach calls u ugly and you think its Precious?

My rationale was, as much as Flynn might hate Darko, I'm pretty confident he hates Nurse even more and if he was to vote, would vote for him. At least Darko acknowledged his existence.

Lol i was playin

[ForeverTFC]

I think all the reports of him focusing solely on offence and only really having half a season to work with these guys, it's unfair to blame him entirely for bad defence. Especially if it is presumably by design.

No coach is beyond criticism, but the harsh criticism directed towards Darko for how bad the defense was is crazy given the circumstances.

To elaborate on those circumstances, once Scottie and Yak got injured and OG was traded, how do you reconstitute an effective defensive system? Now, he could've taken a page out of Kevin O'Neill playbook and slowed things down to snail's pace, but he was clearly putting the young guys in spots to develop over the last quarter of the season especially and didn't want to abandon his offensive principles.

Only thing you had to do was watch off-ball for a few mins to see guys not rotating, going to the same spot or (in Bruce Brown's case) not even bothering to understand where they were supposed to be.

In his exit interview with the media, Darko emphasized that his teams have always been good defensively and that part of his players' summer program was to work on defensive principles.

We'll see how this translates in the NBA with a half-decent roster, but to crucify him for the teams defensive play when they cycled through so many players (they used 30 different starting lineups in an 80 game season!), lost their best defensive ones (including their only good defensive 5) and focused on skills development in real games (he basically used them as extended skirmishes) is just weird.

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting this year. The amount of roster turnover, and injuries taking out our best defensive players is gonna have an impact. I mean hell, look at the sixers and how they tanked without Embiid. Granted he's an MVP, but you 2 of your best defensive players to injury, and trade away a guy who is probably a top 3 defensive player in the league, you're gonna feel it.

If people want to preach trust and patience with Masai and rebuilding the team, well guess what folks, Darko is part of that trust.

I was initially very down on him because he was misusing Siakam and limiting him, but have come to understand this was a directive from Masai and Co as Siakam was always getting shipped out. I also hate the nice guy act and the chain really gets on my nerves but that's a me problem, not a Darko problem.

With all that said, I still hold him somewhat accountable for how flat we came out to start games. Also, I get that we didn't have the best defensive lineups, but we also showed no effort whatsoever. I do hope it was all just a product of the cards he was dealt, but I don't think it's crazy to be at least somewhat concerned about this stuff, even given the context.

[Scase]

No coach is beyond criticism, but the harsh criticism directed towards Darko for how bad the defense was is crazy given the circumstances.

To elaborate on those circumstances, once Scottie and Yak got injured and OG was traded, how do you reconstitute an effective defensive system? Now, he could've taken a page out of Kevin O'Neill playbook and slowed things down to snail's pace, but he was clearly putting the young guys in spots to develop over the last quarter of the season especially and didn't want to abandon his offensive principles.

Only thing you had to do was watch off-ball for a few mins to see guys not rotating, going to the same spot or (in Bruce Brown's case) not even bothering to understand where they were supposed to be.

In his exit interview with the media, Darko emphasized that his teams have always been good defensively and that part of his players' summer program was to work on defensive principles.

We'll see how this translates in the NBA with a half-decent roster, but to crucify him for the teams defensive play when they cycled through so many players (they used 30 different starting lineups in an 80 game season!), lost their best defensive ones (including their only good defensive 5) and focused on skills development in real games (he basically used them as extended skirmishes) is just weird.

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting this year. The amount of roster turnover, and injuries taking out our best defensive players is gonna have an impact. I mean hell, look at the sixers and how they tanked without Embiid. Granted he's an MVP, but you 2 of your best defensive players to injury, and trade away a guy who is probably a top 3 defensive player in the league, you're gonna feel it.

If people want to preach trust and patience with Masai and rebuilding the team, well guess what folks, Darko is part of that trust.

I was initially very down on him because he was misusing Siakam and limiting him, but have come to understand this was a directive from Masai and Co as Siakam was always getting shipped out. I also hate the nice guy act and the chain really gets on my nerves but that's a me problem, not a Darko problem.

With all that said, I still hold him somewhat accountable for how flat we came out to start games. Also, I get that we didn't have the best defensive lineups, but we also showed no effort whatsoever. I do hope it was all just a product of the cards he was dealt, but I don't think it's crazy to be at least somewhat concerned about this stuff, even given the context.

I look at the timeline as pre trades and post trades. I don't think anything pre trades can really be held against him, players were clearly checked out.

Post trade, we had what 5ish weeks before Scottie went down, then missing everyone etc. Consistency is rough when we ran so many 10 day/2way guys, starting players like McD, Ochai, etc is just never gonna result in pretty basketball.

This season is a wash to me, just way too much roster turnover for me to blame a coach.

[sbsat]

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting this year. The amount of roster turnover, and injuries taking out our best defensive players is gonna have an impact. I mean hell, look at the sixers and how they tanked without Embiid. Granted he's an MVP, but you 2 of your best defensive players to injury, and trade away a guy who is probably a top 3 defensive player in the league, you're gonna feel it.

If people want to preach trust and patience with Masai and rebuilding the team, well guess what folks, Darko is part of that trust.

I was initially very down on him because he was misusing Siakam and limiting him, but have come to understand this was a directive from Masai and Co as Siakam was always getting shipped out. I also hate the nice guy act and the chain really gets on my nerves but that's a me problem, not a Darko problem.

With all that said, I still hold him somewhat accountable for how flat we came out to start games. Also, I get that we didn't have the best defensive lineups, but we also showed no effort whatsoever. I do hope it was all just a product of the cards he was dealt, but I don't think it's crazy to be at least somewhat concerned about this stuff, even given the context.

I look at the timeline as pre trades and post trades. I don't think anything pre trades can really be held against him, players were clearly checked out.

Post trade, we had what 5ish weeks before Scottie went down, then missing everyone etc. Consistency is rough when we ran so many 10 day/2way guys, starting players like McD, Ochai, etc is just never gonna result in pretty basketball.

This season is a wash to me, just way too much roster turnover for me to blame a coach.

no one is blaming darko for what happened. I am assessing what he is as a coachin the context of the season, roster, changes and everything else. There is information everywhere. Saying "the season was a wash and we shouldn't really pay attention to anything that happened" seems odd. There are red flags imo

[Ell Curry]

Got 1 vote among the players in The Athletic survey for worst coach. We think that's Bruce Brown, Boucher or McDaniels?

[Chandan]

Got 1 vote among the players in The Athletic survey for worst coach. We think that's Bruce Brown, Boucher or McDaniels?

i think it can't be on current players on the team.

[2019nbachamps]

It's hilarious our fans here were dismissive of players who cant defend yet suddenly when we have a coach that has failed us defensively the mantra changes to "Darko is focused on teaching offense this season." As if you can't teach offense and defense at the same time.

I dont have an issue with Darko. My issue is our FO over-estimated our team and threw Nurse under the bus. Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson wouldn't have been able to do much with the players our FO has assembled the past few years. Now we have a mediocre coach and mediocre roster. I don't even blame Nurse for blowing up and wanting out. Imagine having our FO tell you to play Precious, Flynn, and these other scrubs who'll soon be out of the league.

[sbsat]

It's hilarious our fans here were dismissive of players who cant defend yet suddenly when we have a coach that has failed us defensively the mantra changes to "Darko is focused on teaching offense this season." As if you can't teach offense and defense at the same time.

I dont have an issue with Darko. My issue is our FO over-estimated our team and threw Nurse under the bus. Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson wouldn't have been able to do much with the players our FO has assembled the past few years. Now we have a mediocre coach and mediocre roster. I don't even blame Nurse for blowing up and wanting out. Imagine having our FO tell you to play Precious, Flynn, and these other scrubs who'll soon be out of the league.

It is possible for the roster to suck and the coach suck t the same time. At the start of the year the roster was built to be good defensively and a disaster offensively. We somehow sucked defensively.