Realgm East Preview Podcast - WAY UNDER 37.5 wins, case for Darko hate?

[MEDIC]

I was down on Darko as well & wanted him gone after the season. Then he finally got this team playing defense & the team was at least watchable.

I am intrigued now to see if he can become the long term solution at HC.

[Tacoma]

Darko replaced nurse because nurse was an ISO offensive coach who lacked player development.
Well Darko has made us one of the best passing and off ball movement team in the league and his player development grades high.
We also was one of the best defensive teams from January onward

Darko has done everything we asked if him so far, this year we are asking him to win & he'll do that if we maintain those same principals & health

Was Nurse an ISO offensive coach? Yes, and that resulted in a Championship. Nurse was an assistant coach key in the development of the much vaulted bench mob (Siakam, FVV, Norm, Poeltl) and was head coach for 2 players that developed well enough to win Most Improved Player (Siakam & Maxey). The notion that Nurse lacked player development skills is not supported by facts IMO.

As for Darko, whether he can win key games when the ask is to get as far in the playoffs as possible, the jury is still out. His in-game management still needs work. If hypothetically you give 2 exactly equal teams to Darko vs. Nurse in a playoff series, my bet is on Nurse's team to win.

[DreamTeam09]

Darko replaced nurse because nurse was an ISO offensive coach who lacked player development.
Well Darko has made us one of the best passing and off ball movement team in the league and his player development grades high.
We also was one of the best defensive teams from January onward

Darko has done everything we asked if him so far, this year we are asking him to win & he'll do that if we maintain those same principals & health

Was Nurse an ISO offensive coach? Yes, and that resulted in a Championship. Nurse was an assistant coach key in the development of the much vaulted bench mob (Siakam, FVV, Norm, Poeltl) and was head coach for 2 players that developed well enough to win Most Improved Player (Siakam & Maxey). The notion that Nurse lacked player development skills is not supported by facts IMO.

As for Darko, whether he can win key games when the ask is to get as far in the playoffs as possible, the jury is still out. His in-game management still needs work. If hypothetically you give 2 exactly equal teams to Darko vs. Nurse in a playoff series, my bet is on Nurse's team to win.

So you agree that he was an ISO offensive coach, I never gave an opinion on if that is a bad or good thing. And yes nurse should obviously get some credit for developing the players you listed. Towards the end of his tenure tho he relied heavy on his starters and our former president said that we were playing selfish(partly due our iso stagnating iso offense) The heavy reliance on starters also led to lack of development notion that persisted as well.
A change was needed from both sides and we wanted the opposite of iso and heavy reliance from the starters and some player development. Darko has done all of those things

[canada_dry]

I don't think im a believer in darko either. Im not sure he's the coach we need once we're really trying to win games. I view him as a developmental coach we need during down years.

He's really learning on the job too... i don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I guess we'll see.

I'm willing to give him a chance here to make it work, though.

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[canada_dry]

You asked what the concerns are? The actual in game coaching. The in game adjustments, etc etc. Too many times Not knowing simple things in game he should be on top of...

The defense really improved under him midseason. He deserves credit if that sticks.





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[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

I think things work like a pendulum sometimes. I think Nurse knew or thought he was a good coach and had an ego. I think Darko is so indebted for the opportunity that he’ll carry water and do whatever they want. I don’t have a lot of faith in him. Seems like a nice enough dude. I am glad they prioritize character with their coaches and think Darko is no exception. I don’t yet see what he good at, though. Maybe we’ll see some internal improvements- and this year will be a challenge for him to manage minutes expectations of players fans and management, in a year where everyone expects a big jump because they won 30
Games while trying to lose.

[Fairview4Life]

What was the Raps Over/Under last year?

29.5

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2025_preseason_odds.html

[RapsFanInVA]

The opening line was 34.5 wins and I SMASHED the over right away. The fact it's up to 37.5 wins shows that the market was completely off. Sadly, with so many tanking teams each year, if you fall into the "we're trying to win" camp, that guarantees you about 35 wins (as we learned last year where we tried to tank but kept winning games). Raptors are trying to win this year, they should play .500 ball and hit the over.

[ontnut]

The opening line was 34.5 wins and I SMASHED the over right away. The fact it's up to 37.5 wins shows that the market was completely off. Sadly, with so many tanking teams each year, if you fall into the "we're trying to win" camp, that guarantees you about 35 wins (as we learned last year where we tried to tank but kept winning games). Raptors are trying to win this year, they should play .500 ball and hit the over.

Me and you both buddy.
The line was dumb and it's clear the sharks (and probably the majority of the betting public) feel the same way too, judging by the huge line move.
I said it the day the line came out, it was WAYY too low, and so I parlayed a huge chunk of my winnings from this past season (huge hit on OKC to win the chip at ~+900), into the over.

OT: I didn't really see any other attractive season bets at the time, but put a bit on ATL over, and sprinkled some on ATL for COTY. That line has also moved.

Re-sprinkled a bit on OKC to repeat, and DEN as well. I think the DEN line has moved up too, but I haven't checked recently.

[CPT]

This team hasn't yet played in a game that would even allow us to evaluate the coach's x's and o's. He has shown he can do what he was hired to do - develop.

That first statement is a bit extreme. There have been games we were trying to win that we did not because of Darko’s decisions.

As for development, who are the development success stories? How many players do you feel better about now than 1-2 years ago? I don’t want to say much more because I’m not trying to start arguments about specific players; I actually want to know the basis of this “Darko is a great developmental coach” idea that everyone seems to accept.

[djsunyc]

team has expectations to be competitive. we will see how they all individually fare this year, including darko.

[Bank Shot]

Matt Moore is like one of three people I've unfollowed on Twitter over the last decade because their basketball takes are so bad. It's not a bad thing to be faded by him.

As others have said, there isn't really a path to "way under" 37 that doesn't involving extremely bad injury luck.

[bluerap23]

This team hasn't yet played in a game that would even allow us to evaluate the coach's x's and o's. He has shown he can do what he was hired to do - develop.

That first statement is a bit extreme. There have been games we were trying to win that we did not because of Darko’s decisions.

As for development, who are the development success stories? How many players do you feel better about now than 1-2 years ago? I don’t want to say much more because I’m not trying to start arguments about specific players; I actually want to know the basis of this “Darko is a great developmental coach” idea that everyone seems to accept.

IMHO I have seen good progression from the following young players:
Scottie, Gradey, Walter, Ochai, Shead, Mogbo, Chomche, Battle

I have also seen RJ become a better player under Darko and I'm looking forward to seeing how he helps BI improve.

[ArthurVandelay]

This team hasn't yet played in a game that would even allow us to evaluate the coach's x's and o's. He has shown he can do what he was hired to do - develop.

That first statement is a bit extreme. There have been games we were trying to win that we did not because of Darko’s decisions.

As for development, who are the development success stories? How many players do you feel better about now than 1-2 years ago? I don’t want to say much more because I’m not trying to start arguments about specific players; I actually want to know the basis of this “Darko is a great developmental coach” idea that everyone seems to accept.

IMHO I have seen good progression from the following young players:
Scottie, Gradey, Walter, Ochai, Shead, Mogbo, Chomche, Battle

I have also seen RJ become a better player under Darko and I'm looking forward to seeing how he helps BI improve.

I truly believe BI is going to blow up this season…just hopefully not physically.

You look at what Darko did to RJ’s game and now he gets to work with someone of BI’s ability and skill set? Goddamn I’m excited to see this.

[WaltFrazier]

It was interesting it took two years for Darko to implement everything, offense in year 1 and defense year 2. A lot of coaches don't get the luxury of taking their time like that. But the defense really did improve this season.

I want to see if his passing game, share the ball offense can adapt to a go to scorer like Ingram.

[Johnny Bball]

Didn't the over under start far below that this summer?

Never mind, see somebody got 34.5.

[treerollins]

i got in at 36.5 for the over plus 3:1 on making the playoffs. if you believe we’re a .500 team it’s an easy pick.

[Thaddy]

They will win 45-50 games. Barnes, Dick, IQ and RJ will look better this year. In the Masai era we've mostly been hitting the over and this is his roster.

[Backcountry]

To answer the OP's question: Darko has pretty much done what he's been asked to for the last 2 seasons. He's been charged with developing players, and he has done an amazing job IMHO. I keep calling him our Ted Lasso, but with actual knowledge of the sport he is coaching. Despite injuries and masses of rookie and unproven players, he's got these young men believing in themselves.

Was he perfect? No. It seemed like they came into games unprepared sometimes, leading to blowouts. Not sure how much of that is Darko's fault, but he didn't adjust well when things started getting out of hand. I'm hoping that was just because the game plan was to give experience, not win.

I think he's going to show us he's a good coach this season. We've got a solid starting 5, and a solid bench. We can win the bench minutes regularly, and if the starters all play as well as they can, we definitely hit the over by a lot.

[causal_fan]

While I've not been impressed with Darko, he's had a tough set of circumstances in his 2 seasons - This is a make or break season for Darko IMO and I will judge him accordingly.