CALGARY— It helps when the head coach and the new guy that the team signed for $120 million are on the same page.
The Toronto Raptors have a lot of moving parts that will need to click into place if they are to make the jump from lottery-bound to playoff contender, even in an Eastern Conference that has been depleted by injuries and departures hollowing out top contenders from last season, such as the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.
But perhaps the most significant is that newly acquired Brandon Ingram and third-year head coach Darko Rajakovic build a strong working relationship. One that brings out the best in the former all-star heading into his ninth season, and that allows Rajakovic to successfully meld Ingram’s unique set of skills to what the Raptors have been building, in a way that enhances the whole.
It’s a different challenge for Rajakovic, who coached established veteran stars only briefly in Toronto before the likes of OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam were traded in the midst of the 2023-24 season. In the season-and-a-half since, Rajakovic has been able to hone his NBA chops at the helm of a young roster and without the expectations to win.
That’s not the case this year. Ingram is 28, and the Raptors’ projected starting line-up averages nearly 27 years old and together will earn $136.9 million in 2025-26.
It’s not exactly championship or bust, but for all concerned, some proof of concept would go a long way towards everyone — from coaches to players to management — breathing a little easier.
So it can’t hurt that after one of the Raptors’ practices at their training camp here on campus at the University of Calgary, Rajakovic and Ingram met to talk basketball and then kept talking.
“(Ingram) is a very genuine person, he cares about his teammates a lot, he cares about winning a lot,” said Rajakovic on Thursday. “… He is a basketball junky. He really loves the game so much, he watches the film so much, after every practice he’s asking for the film so he can dissect it.
“(But) we had a meeting (Wednesday), we were talking for an hour about our offence and defence and (then) he stayed and talked for 30 minutes about life and family and everything. He is the guy that any team will be glad to have on the roster.”
Ingram is glad to be on it too, and in part because of the early connection he’s forged with his head coach, whose tirelessness and meticulousness match his own belief that the small things matter. An outlook honed through decades of workouts with both his father, a fixture on the basketball scene in Kinston, N.C. and former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse, who took Ingram under his wing back in middle school.
“I think it’s important. That’s the way I like to be coached,” Ingram said Thursday of Rajakovic’s no-stone-unturned nature. “Knowing every detail, it helps me stay in the game more. It helps me do the little things. He’s pushing me and helping me be better on that side of the basketball and making sure that I’m doing the simple things on the court. He continues to push me and hold everyone accountable.”
Ingram was taken second overall in the 2016 draft and named an all-star in 2019-20 primarily due to his offensive game. There are fewer than 10 players in the NBA who have averaged 23 points, five assists and five rebounds over the past six seasons, and Ingram is one of them.
But the Raptors are determined to be a high-intensity, highly mobile defensive team this season, and Ingram has impressed his teammates so far on that end, too.
“Brandon’s been in practice, picking up 94 feet, making people turn, getting active, getting steals,” said Scottie Barnes. “I think when anybody goes out there and pressures the ball … it just creates a huge momentum shift to our team on the defensive end, just brings us so much more dangerous. (And) he’s doing a great job just being disruptive, and we’re going to continue pushing him and continue to keep pushing him on that defensive end and that’s going to bring the best out of everyone.”
And Ingram has also shown a willingness to engage his teammates on a personal level as well, a process that started last season when he joined the team in February, even if his injured ankle meant he wouldn’t make his regular-season debut until opening night against the Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 22nd.
“I think you’ve got to get to know a person,” Ingram said on Wednesday. “You’ve got to know their values. You’ve got to understand a person. It definitely happens on the court, before you go on the floor, you start to understand them, and you realize why they do what they do when they come on the floor, what’s their motivation and inspiration.
“It helps us to keep each other accountable. Helps us keep going and just be there for each other. So I think the first part of this is getting to know people, getting to know family and making them feel comfortable enough where you can talk to them in real time.”
It’s no different than his growing relationship with his head coach. Rajakovic may hail from Serbia and Ingram from small-town North Carolina, but they share a bond over basketball, and it’s growing.
“He’s intense. He talks about aggressiveness, dominating on the defensive end and letting our offence (come from) our defence,” said Ingram of Rajakovic’s approach. “He’s very present every single day. When we come here, we expect energy from him. And he brings it every time.”
The road the Raptors will have to travel to reach the playoffs is a long one for a team that hasn’t made the post-season in three years and just once in the past five, but the early indications are that Ingram and his head coach are going to walk it in lockstep.
