They met for the first time on April 29th via Zoom.
Which was at least a little surprising. For all their travels through the NBA and across the ever-growing, but still somehow small world of elite basketball, Darko Rajakovic and Raptors president Masai Ujiri had never crossed paths.
But the Raptors were looking for a coach, and Rajakovic’s reputation as a connector, tactician and people person had proceeded him. The Raptors had parted ways with Nick Nurse barely a week before. They were just beginning a wide-ranging search for a new coach that in the end saw them interview 15 candidates and touch base and put out feelers to considerably more. They had second interviews with about five or six candidates, and in the end chose Rajakovic, a 44-year-old Serbian who began coaching as a teenager before coming to the G-League and then the NBA just over a decade ago.
He made a good first impression in his first interview, even if the timing wasn’t ideal for Rajakovic, who had just returned from Los Angeles where the Lakers had ended a deeply frustrating and disappointing Memphis Grizzlies season with a blowout win in Game 6 of their first-round playoff meeting.
But from the Raptors’ point of view, the timing was somewhat intentional: it’s easy to be sharp and impress when things are going smoothly. But how about when you’re tired and dealing with a crushing disappointment?
The loss the night before the interview had closed the curtain on a Memphis season that had held such promise, one where the young Grizzlies – where Rajakovic had been a well-regarded assistant coach for the past three seasons – seemed poised to break through and challenge for a championship. But injuries happened, and Ja Morant’s Instagram Live happened, and the Grizzlies were done way earlier than they wanted or expected to be.
It was in that Zoom call, hours after closing the books on a disappointing season that Rajakovic opened some eyes among the Raptors’ decision makers.
There was his level of detail, knowledge and preparation. Even on minimal sleep and with short notice, Rajakovic was up to speed on the Raptors roster, schemes and had well-thought-out views on how he would approach shoring up a 41-41 team that – from the outside at least — had some clear strengths, other clear weaknesses, and no sure path to bridging the gap between them.
There was his warmth, openness and enthusiasm. The Raptors have hired and fired nine head coaches in their history, but Rajakovic — the 10th head coach in franchise history – is the first to explain his philosophy for building relationships with players thusly:
“I want to be very invested in them as human beings,” Rajakovic said at his introductory media conference held on a stage outside Scotiabank Arena Tuesday afternoon, the same site of the raucous celebrations in Jurassic Park during the Raptors title run in 2019 four years ago to the day. “I see every player as a person with family [and]whatever is going on in those lives I want those guys to know and to feel that I really care about them. I really want to connect with those guys on a personal level [I want them to know] how much I love them and care about them.”
But Ujiri and his executive team also believed they picked up on how tired Rajakovic was; how drained he was and how the disappointment of a wasted season was palpably weighing on him and showing in his eyes, the professionalism and preparation he brought to his job interview not enough to shroud it completely.
But Ujiri’s belief in the significance of ‘culture’ and ‘feeling’ and a shared purpose can’t be understated. Talent wins in the NBA, but talent without some kind of unifying element can only win so much.
It was a critical tell. Ultimately – for all the tactical acumen an NBA head coach is expected to have oozing out of his pores – it’s that passion Ujiri wants and is hoping to rekindle within an organization where ‘me’ seemed to take precedence over ‘we’.
It’s a coincidence that Rajakovic was introduced barely 12 hours after Nikola Jokic – a Serb and among the most humble and selfless superstars the NBA has ever seen – led the Denver Nuggets to an NBA title over an overmatched Miami Heat team that won the Eastern Conference as the No. 8 seed.
Miami is an organization Ujiri has long admired for its steadfast commitment to winning and its ability to actually have something akin to an organizational standard, even if it’s likely somewhat overstated.
The feeling was that whatever version of ‘Raptors culture’ that had developed over the previous decade or so had suffered significant slippage and was as much to blame for a disappointing season as poor shooting, shaky rim protection and suspect depth.
“The leadership in our organization and the support we get, it’s very important for us,” said Ujiri. “We know what our values are here. And like I said, change is good. Change is something that sometimes is tough. We feel like Darko fits it.”
Rajakovic certainly sounds like he does. He made a point of greeting each of the six Raptors players (though only one, Precious Achiuwa, could be considered a rotation player) that attended his media conference. He thanked his wife, Gaga, noting that he’d met her as the sister of one of the kids he coached at a basketball camp in his hometown in his first summer of coaching.
He said all the right things and it came across like he meant every word.
“The first time we started talking on a Zoom call, what I felt from Day 1 was unity,” said Rajakovic. “Everyone in the organization, you could just feel that everyone was together. The very next conversation we had I was blown away. I flew here to meet in person. I needed to pinch myself. To be in the presence of the best president and the best [general manager]and the best ownership team in the league is a huge, huge privilege. I am just blown every day by what I learn about the organization and the team. I just told Masai the last three days I have had a smile on my face so much my jaw is starting to hurt so I’m really happy to be here.”
Joked Ujiri: “We haven’t told you the bad parts yet.”
It’s hard to imagine Rajakovic would care anyway. This is a dream come true and the chance of a lifetime, to gain an NBA head coach position. And Rajakovic’s enthusiasm is justified. His hiring was no sure thing. As mentioned above, there was no prior relationship, no string pulling.
He was a dark-horse candidate who kept commanding the Raptors’ full attention. There was a competition for the job and Rajakovic won it.
“He didn’t go in as the favourite,” said Raptors general manager Bobby Webster. “[But] I think we were really open-minded with the approach and who we wanted to look at and just every step of the way he just exceeded our expectations and just really impressed us.”
He had the advantage too of having a profile the Raptors felt confident they could project onto any iteration that their team could take in the coming months. The most likely scenario is that some version of the existing core returns and Rajakovic will be expected to make that group – presumably with a tweak here or there – better than the team that went 41-41 and lost in the first play-in game in April.
But there is also the possibility the Raptors pivot to a younger, more development-oriented team and Rajakovic – with a strong player development record over stops in OKC, Phoenix and Memphis – could fit there too.
“I don’t think you want to match [a coach to]a specific team or a specific style of play or even a specific moment in time,” said Webster. “And I think that’s why we looked across the board and a bunch of different attributes for whoever we were going to hire.”
But the No. 1 attribute they were looking for was a head coach who cares as deeply about their team as those making the hiring decision do.
The Raptors believe they saw that in Rajakovic at the beginning of their process, and hope it will carry through as the organization and their new coach set off on an uncertain journey as one.
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon on the anniversary of the most memorable moment in franchise history, they can at least say they got off to a good start.
