I Attended The Raptors Coaching Clinic and Open Practice, Some Takeaways
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2024 11:54 am
Sooo I attended the Raptors coaching clinic yesterday and it was revealing in a lot of ways. As a (newish) coach, I came away with a lot. But what I saw with the team was more revealing than what I learned for my personal use as a coach. Anyway, here are some takeaways.
1. McDaniels can’t even shoot well unguarded in practice. Very streaky. Awful shooting mechanics. He needs to gain strength badly.
2. Nwora is just as lazy on D in practice. In fact, I don’t think it’s laziness, I think he fundamentally doesn’t know where to be. Darko was exasperated with him at one point for not knowing where to be in the system.
3. This whole season is about teaching the fundamentals of how to play as a team. And they’re basically spending 75% of the time working on the offence. The things they’re working on look amazing. It’s no wonder we generate so many quality looks.
4. It was obvious that there was a clear emphasis on IQ, Dick, Ochai and their development. Almost every play run in practice was for one of them.
5. Garrett Temple is a great influence on the young guys and has a nice rapport with them. He played with the young squad (the trio I mentioned above, along with KO and Trent).
6. Barnes wants to be involved with everything. He was with the coaches as they were walking the team through actions, just trying to soak up knowledge and be a leader. Very positive energy.
7. Boucher is a real hood mans hahah. Much more outgoing away from the cameras. Seems like the most fun personality on the team, along with Scottie. They’re clearly friends.
8. Poeltl is a very serious worker and even with one hand was working on his push shots.
9. Bruce Brown was running with the g-league guys, and not as a mentor. He clearly has had trouble picking up our offensive schemes (the g-league guys were working solely on learning the schemes the entire practice). This explains why he so frequently seems out of sync and doesn’t know what to do with the ball once he gets it. He’s freestyling out there.
10. Pat Delaney’s principles on defence are strong, we just don’t spend a lot of time on it in practice. The focus this year seems to be the offence.
11. Gradey Dick has his own individual development program run by Ivo Simosivic (probably spelled that wrong) and a lot of it, apart from the physical development stuff, is rooted in the most basic fundamentals—Mikan drills, form shooting, shot preparation, bumping your defender before using a screen, etc. Very little things that make a huge difference.
12. Now here’s the biggest one for me…With more talent/development, this team is going to be very good soon (probably the year after next), like 50 wins good, and people will change their minds about Darko. He’s an inspiring leader, has strong attention to detail, holds players accountable, and is a great teacher. The offence looks incredible and I can see what they wanna do on D, they’re just not there yet. Everybody from his coaching staff to the players respect him and are fully bought in. His coaching style is very hands on and communicative. Frankly, he’s less about authority and more about collaboration, which probably was a lot for players and even the media to adjust to. He’s different in that regard. But they really listen to him. Oh and he’s not soft or a pushover. Far from it. He’s just very very respectful, and talks to his players without yelling or berating them. I like him much more than I did before after seeing him in action. Oh, he was also very open in saying that being an NBA head coach is still very surreal and unbelievable to him, and that he’s still learning a lot. Really good guy. High character person. Clearly still getting comfortable with his position as the guy, but it’s coming. He’s going to have a long career in this league even if head coaching doesn’t work out.
13. To follow up on the above point, winning is not the Raptors highest priority this season, it’s about learning and development. Everything they’re doing right now is about teaching. Everything. And it’s wild how little most of the guys on our team understand about playing high level team basketball. KO, Poeltl, and Temple seem to have the greatest grasp of how to play. Ochai is very novice in that regard. So is Dick, but he’s so smart that he finds ways to do stuff (coaching staff lauded Dick’s cutting ability and defensive anticipation…they think he’s going to be a good defender). IQ is about halfway there but is learning the PG position, how to manipulate the D to create passing lanes and deliver the ball through seams with good timing etc. Trent seems to understand a lot, he just has physical limitations—but they are working on his passing haha.
14. Darko spent a lot of time sitting with Bobby for the first two hours of the event where other coaches were talking and giving clinics. Take that for what you will.
15. Jama is what everyone thinks Darko is—just a great cheerleader and culture setter. He radiates positivity. Probably has the least amount of ‘basketball’ responsibility on the team, but is there to keep folks energetic and engaged. Amazing person to be around I bet. He’s all about the intangibles.
1. McDaniels can’t even shoot well unguarded in practice. Very streaky. Awful shooting mechanics. He needs to gain strength badly.
2. Nwora is just as lazy on D in practice. In fact, I don’t think it’s laziness, I think he fundamentally doesn’t know where to be. Darko was exasperated with him at one point for not knowing where to be in the system.
3. This whole season is about teaching the fundamentals of how to play as a team. And they’re basically spending 75% of the time working on the offence. The things they’re working on look amazing. It’s no wonder we generate so many quality looks.
4. It was obvious that there was a clear emphasis on IQ, Dick, Ochai and their development. Almost every play run in practice was for one of them.
5. Garrett Temple is a great influence on the young guys and has a nice rapport with them. He played with the young squad (the trio I mentioned above, along with KO and Trent).
6. Barnes wants to be involved with everything. He was with the coaches as they were walking the team through actions, just trying to soak up knowledge and be a leader. Very positive energy.
7. Boucher is a real hood mans hahah. Much more outgoing away from the cameras. Seems like the most fun personality on the team, along with Scottie. They’re clearly friends.
8. Poeltl is a very serious worker and even with one hand was working on his push shots.
9. Bruce Brown was running with the g-league guys, and not as a mentor. He clearly has had trouble picking up our offensive schemes (the g-league guys were working solely on learning the schemes the entire practice). This explains why he so frequently seems out of sync and doesn’t know what to do with the ball once he gets it. He’s freestyling out there.
10. Pat Delaney’s principles on defence are strong, we just don’t spend a lot of time on it in practice. The focus this year seems to be the offence.
11. Gradey Dick has his own individual development program run by Ivo Simosivic (probably spelled that wrong) and a lot of it, apart from the physical development stuff, is rooted in the most basic fundamentals—Mikan drills, form shooting, shot preparation, bumping your defender before using a screen, etc. Very little things that make a huge difference.
12. Now here’s the biggest one for me…With more talent/development, this team is going to be very good soon (probably the year after next), like 50 wins good, and people will change their minds about Darko. He’s an inspiring leader, has strong attention to detail, holds players accountable, and is a great teacher. The offence looks incredible and I can see what they wanna do on D, they’re just not there yet. Everybody from his coaching staff to the players respect him and are fully bought in. His coaching style is very hands on and communicative. Frankly, he’s less about authority and more about collaboration, which probably was a lot for players and even the media to adjust to. He’s different in that regard. But they really listen to him. Oh and he’s not soft or a pushover. Far from it. He’s just very very respectful, and talks to his players without yelling or berating them. I like him much more than I did before after seeing him in action. Oh, he was also very open in saying that being an NBA head coach is still very surreal and unbelievable to him, and that he’s still learning a lot. Really good guy. High character person. Clearly still getting comfortable with his position as the guy, but it’s coming. He’s going to have a long career in this league even if head coaching doesn’t work out.
13. To follow up on the above point, winning is not the Raptors highest priority this season, it’s about learning and development. Everything they’re doing right now is about teaching. Everything. And it’s wild how little most of the guys on our team understand about playing high level team basketball. KO, Poeltl, and Temple seem to have the greatest grasp of how to play. Ochai is very novice in that regard. So is Dick, but he’s so smart that he finds ways to do stuff (coaching staff lauded Dick’s cutting ability and defensive anticipation…they think he’s going to be a good defender). IQ is about halfway there but is learning the PG position, how to manipulate the D to create passing lanes and deliver the ball through seams with good timing etc. Trent seems to understand a lot, he just has physical limitations—but they are working on his passing haha.
14. Darko spent a lot of time sitting with Bobby for the first two hours of the event where other coaches were talking and giving clinics. Take that for what you will.
15. Jama is what everyone thinks Darko is—just a great cheerleader and culture setter. He radiates positivity. Probably has the least amount of ‘basketball’ responsibility on the team, but is there to keep folks energetic and engaged. Amazing person to be around I bet. He’s all about the intangibles.
. And he accomplished this. 30 assists per game is amazing, given that we don't have the best shooters. (now, whether an emphasis on a free flowing, pass offence works in crunch time or the playoffs remains to be seen). It's nice that they're working with him on it, but I really don't see how Gary fits in here. I'd rather have the cap space. So yeah, Darko isn't nothing. He isn't just a cheerleader. And Scottie wants to be actively involved in the process. Great!