Unburdened by the past, coach Darko Rajakovic isn’t beholden to long-time veterans regarding training regimens and can chart his own path.Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic will have an opportunity to put his own stamp on the team this summer.
Richard Lautens / Toronto Star
There was once a rhythm to a Raptors summer.
Draft, Summer League in Las Vegas, breathless dispatches from runs in UCLA and pronouncements that everyone looks great, lost weight, is in top shape and their shooting has never looked better.
There might be a few changes afoot this year.
Unburdened by the past — and with long-serving veterans who tend to decide where the team might get together en masse — Darko Rajakovic has a few things in mind.
“We’ll have different plans,” the Raptors head coach was mentioning this week.
That means more time in Toronto, more escapes so the group can be by itself every now and then — but a summer dedicated to work.
“We’re going to get our guys back here for sure; we’re going to work a lot in Toronto,” he said, “But I see the value of guys being somewhere else where they can actually bond even more and get to know each other a bit more. Have fun, but at the same time put some good work in.”
One thing Rajakovic would seem to have is control. The likes of Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry and to some extent Fred VanVleet had their summer plans and favourite spots. It served the Raptors organization just fine.
We’re going to try to keep it fresh,” he said. “We’ll try to keep it more accustomed to what we’ve had now and try to find the best advantage and angles we can to help our guys,”
Of course, as soon as that plan was mentioned to a former NBA assistant who knows how much most players like to spend weeks with their buddies in Los Angeles or Florida, he was dubious.
“Good luck with that,” he joked.
But give Rajakovic credit: He knows there is a path to tweak the team’s traditional summer schedule and he’s thinking about just how much alteration he can do.
Maybe it won’t be major changes, but there’s going to be some freshness. Coming off this butt-ugly season, fresh can’t be anything but good.
Drilling down
Still with the off-season plans, a handful of Raptors have mentioned in passing how specific Rajakovic has been getting already about their off-season work.
