Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame vs. Memphis Grizzlies | January 22, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame vs. Memphis Grizzlies | January 22, 2024

You see a few minutes up there where the guys were again a little bit tensive and not really well connected that might have ATT the no that was not moments that was a big part of the of the especially like first half um we didn’t we we were not connected offensively or

Defensively um everybody’s were like kind of like walking on eggshells and uh you know start of the game all the turnovers that we had um is the question of focus and uh it’s it’s the question of like bringing that effort to to the to the game you know so that was lacking

For the start of the game we we tried to find the uh you know Groove later in the game but not enough to to make a uh comeback you think guys are afraid to do too much um a little bit or a little bit tenative that way um I don’t know like

It’s I’m not sure what what’s behind it uh but uh we are always talking to guys to be aggressive and to to play off of each other and to make right reads uh like and in order to play that you need to be aggressive you need to be ready to

Shoot the ball and drive it and you know and we just from the start of the game we we we let our guard down Darko obviously it’s a big change after seak was traded away how do you feel the team is evolving or changing after that trade

I mean uh it’s just the start it’s just a start of of the process and uh um good thing over here is that we’re going to have uh three days uh without games an opportunity to really uh practice and uh you know try to get on on you know

Install offense and defense as much as possible and try to get guys on the same page as much as possible in short short amount of time you know I I believe in uh Talent of this group and and uh uh I believe in our players we just need to

Be more intentional behind everything jonte didn’t play in the second half was that just the injury from the first half or or the decision to go um my decision not to play him in the second half uh you know uh we went small uh because the jiren Jackson was out they the stretch

There as well and then uh I thought that Ted gave us a good punch there in the second half when it comes to that practice over the next 3 days installing stuff for guys is there anything at the top of the hierarchy or the top of your

To-do list that you want to get this team do uh for sure um just like uh to be better organized on on offensive end that we know who is in what spots what are we running uh the play calls like a lot of times like if you don’t call

Anything we’re just randomly playing basketball out there and I want us to be unpredictable but uh I don’t want us to just random play basketball you know so we’ll need some time to to work and and install and understand where guys need to be on the court and how to play off

Of each other I thought that Scotty did some really good stuff on um on the post ups and and creating off of that but we need to watch film we need to get better we need to put the work in this is just the start of the process has it been

Really helpful you guys are onun a lot of delay with that a lot of players just know that has it been really helpful to just be able to throw him out there and initiate that in the in between stuff for sure for sure but uh Tedd is doing

Good job of connecting and finding guys but uh we need to get better of reading what how defense is guarding us when they’re switching go ball screens we’re not switching when we need to go into tight curls when we need to pop back for a shot yeah and what our what are

Opportunities are over there like what are we looking at so we’re at the beginning of training camp right now and uh this this three days are coming in good time for us you mentioned before the game you wanted to get emanu 8 n 10 three-pointers a game I’m sure if you’ve

Told us that you’ve probably told him that how do you get him to a number that’s higher like only I think he only had one in the first half yeah I mean um we gotta watch film he he he gotta see opportunities I felt that he had couple

Of opportunities to get him up that he uh that he uh did not take them and also I uh I think that team needs to look for him more as well that that guys got to be more aware you know so um it’s it’s going to be watching film it’s

Understanding where the spots on the floor how do we use him in pick rolls like he can create uh pick roll threes uh we got to do better job of setting those screens higher up the floor because defense is always going over on

Him and he he needs to be able to to get that in that Gap there to get those shots you uh decided to go with Grady to close the game why why did you make that decision um just wanted him to get experience of closing the game out there

To uh to be with those guys um you know he did a lot of good stuff lately so he deserved the opportunity uh you know situation like this the team’s been struggling a lot a lot of changes um what kind of example or message you try

To deliver in your role uh for me is uh it’s more so about like always just staying the course um you know we’ve uh explained to the team uh probably a week ago and just said like you know we’ve had a lot of change in within a month

And what you having a lot of change in a month like it’s it’s UNAM territory and you know to get over that we just got to continue to play continue to stay the course but uh also like understand that you know when we’re putting together schemes and we’re putting together uh

Different things and situations you know try to execute those to the best of our ability and um you know and just you know don’t do nothing out of the ordinary just you know just play basketball have fun and just make sure we’re we’re continuing to stay the course throughout this process before

The game uh coach rakovich uh spoke about the importance of lifting each other up what do you do specifically to try to lift up your teammates uh me me personally like I’m always just in guys ears just talking to them just saying you know it’s it’s going to be okay hey

You know this is this is what you need to do like just giving them the trying to give them the cheat sheet really just on like how you know um you know we have a lot of young guys so how like I’ve continued to um have this longevity in

The league and continue to play but also um you know just making sure that you know they’re never getting too down on themselves you know we have a lot of guys that you know they you know they they get down on themselves or they’re really really hard on themselves and for

Me you know um you know I’m always trying to you know get to the next play you know um you know just making sure that you know I’m uplifting the guys and making sure I’m keeping everybody positive and the same thing with Garrett Garrett does a great job of it as well

You know um of just keeping guys positive keeping guys Minds into the game and not letting them worry about the plays that that happened before you had a pretty solid performance today off the bench uh what was working for you uh just playing off Scotty um you know um I know that you

Know Scotty is going get a lot of double teams and a lot of guys that’s going to try to like you know take the ball out of his hand so just you know playing go Scotty and just letting him make the reads and let him make the plays um

Getting him the ball as quick as possible on mismatches and you know make forcing the double uh and you know just playing off him you know um you know you know I try my best to just you know play off the guys that I know is going to um

You know get you know certain looks and and it’s going to take you know other guys with them veterans can often be considered like the bridge between the coaching staff and the younger players dealing with Darko and kind of being able to convey his messages to the rest

Of the roster and be that bridge what’s that been like so far this season uh I mean you we have such a young team so you know when having young teams excuse me when having young teams you have young minds and um those young minds um sometimes can let things creep in but

You know um with having somebody like me and Garrett and you know op on the team you know we’re able to kind of like you know relay those messages from the coaches and and make sure guys are staying in line with what we want to do

As a team and you know um the good thing is you know with having those young minds they’re they’re very very um respectful you know you have a lot of guys that respect us because we have a lot of time in this league we’ve seen it

We’ve done it and we’ve been in in the position that they’ve been in so they respect us a lot and they listen and I think that’s what kind of Keeps Us in check with you know what we’re doing and and the in the schemes and what we’re

Doing in the process of you know trying to get better as a team you obviously spent a lot of time in Philly to start your career I don’t know if you saw him beat at 70 Sixers record yeah that’s I mean it’s crazy um yeah see he he had what uh what

Is it 70 and C has cat has 60 62 or something like that yeah it’s crazy yeah it’s crazy but congrats to those guys you uh you guys closed tonight with Grady in there dark said he wanted to see Grady with that group what are you seeing from Grady and and what

Are you thinking of that I’m seeing much more confidence than he had in the beginning of the year um you know I think you know him going playing in the G for a little bit um I think during that road trip that we were on um Grady

Um you know found some confidence and he you know he’s coming out and he’s being aggressive you know and that’s all we ask for GR to do is like when he touched the court you know if you catch the ball you open shoot it um you know if you

Have the drive you know you know play it play in Stampede playing point five offense Drive the basketball and just be aggressive you know and he’s doing that much more um much more now and then defensively just you know stay solid on the defensive side of the basketball

When if you spoke to him earlier in the year sorry when we spoke to him earlier in the year uh he’s talked about how his confidence was never going to waver but is that something that like you kind of see if if shots aren’t going down now

You see something’s change there um I just think like I said I just think his aggressive aggressive nature and his aggressive level is is peaked up a little bit and you know when you have guys like Grady coming in you know um you know as a rookie you you going to

Have a lot of opposing teams that’s going to try to take advantage of the opposing team’s rookies so you know for him it’s it’s about taking a stand and just making sure that you know he’s being solid on both both sides of the basketball and I think he he’s starting

To do that by definition young players who are really really good haven’t lost much in their career just because you know they’ve played for their college or high school and that makes them good how you know with Scotty how do you impart the wisdom that like a it’s going to be

Okay as you said but also like people are looking at you as the guy on this team and and it’s important what you’re giving off yes Scott is special like um you know he’s you know he’s Beyond his years he’s very wise he’s very smart he

Knows how to play the game of basketball um he knows how to pick apart opposing teams uh he knows how to use his his god-given abilities um you know so Scott is kind of like a different breed you know he’s one of those guys that you

Know you don’t have to tell him much you know but he listens and he you know he he he puts in his membrane he computes everything and you know he takes it into the game with him and he does a great job of like just just playing basketball

Just playing the game and playing to the best of his abilties so you know you don’t really have to say much to him but you know he he does you know respect you know certain guys who’s been in the league for a long time and he listens to

The things that you know we’re telling him and you know he just tries to get better each and every day you got a couple of 3 days off a couple of days of practice coming and how much do you think that could help like does given how many changes and how

Few little practice time you guys have had is is that something that’s kind of necessary right now of course I mean you have a I was about to say two three new guys like I’m not a new guy you you know um so yeah like five

New guys so we’re trying to get um used to everything and even from when I got traded here you know we still had we still had Pascal so with him leaving now it’s a completely new team again and we just got to have the time to to practice

And to focus in on how we’re going to play now you know with the this new group that we have and just just make sure that we we keep bringing Just a fight and and bring the Competitive Edge back you only had I guess really a few

Games with with yaka uh before he sprained his ankle but I you guys were playing well at the time and is it kind of apparent that he be nice to have a seven-footer Andy he’s a game changer man of of course you know uh having a seven-footer there changes the whole

Changes the whole game it changes um the other team being able to drive and finish and you know things like that having that rim protector there also the rebounding you know so um we’re missing him but just got to try to figure it out until he gets back

You know um we we have we have guys we have enough guys to to win we just got to figure out how to do that since coming to the Raptors you’ve been scoring the ball a lot you’ve been shooting much better at The Rim a lot of your playmaking reads have been really

Advanced the process looks really really impressive is there anything you’ve changed remotely since arriving here that is a cause for that it’s to and a thing I didn’t change a thing it’s just this is who I am this is how I play you know and um I’m thankful for the

Opportunity to be able to Showcase that you know and just the the offense that we have a lot of cutting a lot of moving um so yeah I’m just I’m able to be myself you’ve only been here 3 weeks does it feel longer shorter it’s been an intense emotional 3

Weeks definitely does not feel like 3 weeks but yeah the road trip made it feel longer than what it is there’s a a play that Darko took typically you would run it at the start of the third quarter when you were with the Knicks and brought it over here how much are you

Excited about the idea of like Darko over the next few days with practice taking some of the stuff that did work in New York and like giving you even more packages within the Raptor offense uh I think it helps and uh for sure just with our office that we have here

Um uh me being able to get downhill like you said tonight I scored the ball uh but for the most part it’s just been trying to make reads trying to make the the best reads available tonight I was able to get all the way to the coup a

Lot of the time so I took that but um you know a game like New York they came in and I hit Grady for a couple threes uh last game just you know just trying to make the right plays uh and and see how the teams are guarding me how

They’re guarding us and just try to adjust based off that you weren’t too happy the other day but the free throws today5 for six I think the team had the best game of the Season 22 for 23 I mean what was up with that today anything different

Just you had to say 22 for 23 huh you know I was I was the one that missed huh okay uh no man I I think there was it was tough man we we were driving a lot you can’t you know you can’t get every call that you want um but we made

Our free throws tonight big help when you we need to do that consistently I need to do that consistently and um just keep driving and make the right plays you know we have a lot of guys that can get downhill that can finish and uh make reads for

Kickouts so if we we continue to do that I think we’re going to be in good shape um uh for us it’s really just about being connected and figuring out what we have to do with this new group that we Have Uh For

Players and coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 108-100 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.

0:00 Darko Rajakovic
4:56 Thaddeus Young
11:31 RJ Barrett

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