Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Memphis Grizzlies | January 3, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Memphis Grizzlies | January 3, 2024

Um just obviously the basketball part is big but just the whole organization is is made it really easy to be honest uh family environment the way the guys have accepted me showing me different things uh coaches trainers everybody uh top to bottom this is a top tier organization

So uh it makes it really easy for me to be honest the basketball part what do you feel like uh you know is anybody steing up person helping you in terms is it the entire team is it uh coaching staff like all together how how how is that transition is everybody players

There a lot of bets on this team uh that Garrett uh all the guys really and then the coaches uh Darko he pulled me aside while the game was going on and said you’re not having fun have fun and so that was I’ve never really had a coach

Do that um so it was did that come before after you decid to SK he told me that then I started skipping RJ was telling me that essentially you two had a commitment to each other that you guys are going to go into this new situation together and

Have each other’s backs how much of a benefit has it been so far to have him by your side it’s a it’s a huge benefit not necessarily just from the fact that he’s from here but just to have somebody that I know familiar familiarity uh someone who I’ve known for five four or

Five years uh the way we’ve grinded uh our Years in New York and now to be here uh it’s just good to have somebody that I know that you know understands me and I understand him so it’s good you’re saying that you’re a very positive person and you

Kind of couple that with his not that he’s negative but a little bit of attitude out there how have you seen that type of Personality take the court and how does that change just the chemistry available on a team when you have RJ who’s not afraid to talk yeah RJ

Uh no I feel like RJ’s a pretty positive person he can be hard on himself sometimes so I got to you know sometime talk to him and be like you good bro next play but RJ is a pleasure to be around pleasure to work with he’s uh a

Great teammate a great person as well so um and he’s a competitor so you can’t ask her anything other than that when you talking about a basketball player and a person you talk about the comfort of being with the organization on the floor what what’s your comfort level at

This point two games in uh I mean obviously it’s only two games but I feel pretty comfortable uh as comfortable as you can be uh for two games and I’m just really just looking forward to trying to get better each and every day that’s pretty much my motto as far as that uh

And seeing how I can help this team win games so what’s your biggest take away from playing next to Scotty as well as Pascal they make the game really easy uh they’re really talented players like both 610 can pass dribble shoot defend can pretty much do everything so uh I

Really don’t have to do anything extra out of the ordinary they make the game really easy it always makes it easier playing with great players so I know it’s just two games but has it in ways changed how you might see your potential in terms of the things that you’re now

Available to do with that length out there yeah uh makes it easy on defense as well because they can switch and they can help and guard and fly around uh so I know I I have to do more as well uh on the defensive end but uh what they can

Do vers their versatility is is just as good as anybody in the league offensively it felt like you guys had a bit of a fun in the quarter do you chop that up to just still try to get familiar or build some sort of chemistry um fourth quarter is always different no

Matter who you know who you playing with uh but you know this is an opportunity for us to look at the film and see how we can get better uh try not to focus too much on results is more is about doing something seeing how you can get

Better come back and try it again doing that trying and getting better from that and trying to do it again and again and again uh so it’s more about the process and not the result but we want to continue to uh make sure that we’re doing that you know day

To kind of working that play making position a bit more facilitator do you feel like you’ve seen opportunities here to to exactly do that or do you feel yourself kind of finding that footing yeah um definitely see that a lot especially with guys that we have a lot

Of scores that we have uh the coaches was telling me I was passing up too many shots so I was trying to play make a little bit too much early but um uh just trying to just getting familiar and trying to stay aggressive while also looking for my teammates and making sure

You know they get the ball where they want and things like that is something that you know I look forward to doing for the rest of the year obviously it’s just two game sample size but for the pace that you’re trying to play overall with the system long term how well does

Emanuel fit into that picture oh uh he fits great uh it’s just uh a point guard the guard that that can do so much with the ball uh his shooting is is really something that makes the difference for us there uh teams are constantly going over on him which just creates

Opportunities everywhere on the floor um I thought at the start of the game he was a little bit hesitant and reading and you could see that in the first game as well and uh after that he just started playing and being himself and uh that’s what I told him you got to be

Yourself uh and on the Fly you’re going to be teaching and learning and everything but you got to go out there and have fun most first and foremost obviously things came down close slate but when you look defensively overall are you noticing a different attitude or did you notice a different attitude

Tonight from um what the guys were able to do out there um it’s just with different Personnel it’s it’s it’s always like learning what what they’re good at uh we were adjusting some matchups as the game was going on um I thought that RJ did a lot of great stuff

Defensively there for us um you know I think that our team did really good job protecting the the the the the rim especially Yak had five blocks which is his uh season High um he had a couple of really good deflections in pick and roll just keeping uh jamaran Desmond ban

Constantly guessing uh but overall I thought that energy was was good there um I was not happy how we executed offense in the four fourth quarter and that’s that’s what created a lot of issues for us uh defensively as well uh we lost a couple of times uh Z we lost

Couple coup of times their Shooters out there and they were able to knock down a couple of threes and get back in the game how crucial is it that you guys have been able to perform like tonight but then also in Cleveland or sorry yesterday against Cleveland or whenever

That two days ago two days ago s um that you guys when the game did get close you guys were able to close it out and what do you think that difference is right now that you’re seeing I mean um I think um I think down the stretch uh we were

Able to get a couple of stops there and rebounds that allowed us to run I thought that uh Scotty and the other game uh post Ops really created some problems that he was able to get a free throw line and we were able to to score

On those possessions but uh to be honest with you in in that fourth quarter I I I thought we didn’t really have control on offensive end we were all over the place what we’re doing what what we’re executing it just it was all over the

Place so we got to do much better job we got to watch the film and learn and like know know whatever we really looking at and how we want to execute and to create Chemistry Between the guys there on the court as well that lack of ability to

Get organized is that just kind of chocked up to new bodies out there or just more so I I think it’s just like knowing what we’re doing you know a lot of times like if I don’t call play early enough you know uh Emmanuel is going to

Quickly he’s going to bring the ball and he he he does not you know still still doesn’t know like plays or teammates or spots on the floor you know uh I just had a great talk with with Pascal that we gota you know spend a little bit more

Time watching film and and dissecting you know how we want to execute down the stretch and uh how what that should look like you had a lineup out there with I think Scotty Chris Yak Pascal and then tennis um how great of it is it to have

That luxury still available to you when you need that size whenever the game calls for it no for sure like I I think that our size there really bothered them and their ability to to score uh at the paint which they’re Elite at uh keeping

This team to 44 points in the paint and shooting under 50% in the paint you know it’s uh it’s thanks to our length and uh our activity there in the paint do you feel like the three-point shooting for you guys is overall getting better and you know quickly he he had a really

Great shooting night from the three as well so what are you seeing on both sides both with him individually but then also on the team as a uh yes I think that uh there is more trust there and we were able to knock down couple of

Shots I thought RJ was getting couple of really good looks open looks uh obviously Scotty got all great looks out there uh I don’t know if if he could be more open on that one top of the key but it didn’t go go in on that one but I I

Think we’re getting good looks uh you know 25 assists uh you know we make couple more layups that drop off passes the number should be above 30 and you know we want to to be the team that gets three assist uh you know nly lastly from

You um what’ you like from Porter got quite a quite a bit of run there and and fit in quite nicely did you think on defense and offensive end yeah I I thought that defensively he did really good job uh with verticality and protecting the rim um and offensively

He’s just like in those limited minutes he was able to to get quick open threes and we know that he’s knocked down and really really good three-point shooter so I’m I’m happy with his minutes over there and uh we’re going to continue giving him opportunity and seeing what

We got there I know this is the first one out of six uh Road games how does games like this how does this one set the tone for the rest uh obviously it’s always better to start the road trip with with the win I think it’s it’s

Going to give us uh really good opportunity to watch film and to be critical on some things that we need to to improve and get better at uh at the same time uh this is a long road trip 11 days and six games you know we’re going

To have ups and downs but the most important thing is for this group right now is staying together and trying to play to a standard I was telling guys tonight like don’t play the score like don’t look at the scoreboard and see that they’re up 18 or 19 whatever like

We we got to do right things you know if we doing the right things over the course of 48 minutes then we can live with the outcome we can live with the result but we got to play to a standard

Player and Coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 116-111 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.

00:00 Immanuel Quickley
04:40 Darko Rajakovic

#Raptors #TorontoRaptors