That’s why he was brought in as coach right? To rebuild a roster. We have our star with Scottie and we got a decent foundation of young talent for the future. Clearly banking a lot on IQ but I think he and Scottie can be a 1-2 punch. Dick, RJ, all our picks from this draft and the trades. We’re probably gonna be a sub .500 team but I’m excited to watch basketball again! It’s a new start, I’m all for it and I think Darko can steer the ship for us the next few seasons.
RZAAMRIINF
Has there been any news about picking up Darko’s option? As far as I understand his contract is 2 + 1.
I think most likely they guarantee the last year before the start of the season. Otherwise, I assume they would either offer him a new contract next year or just release him.
I wonder what Bobby and Masai expect from him this year.
FallenLemur
I don’t know if Darko will be with us when the team is ready to compete, but I do know that he is the right person for this rebuild.
>hard times are when core values get tested, and last season the tests came in rapid succession. In the space of a few weeks, the Raptors lost Barnes and Jakob Poeltl to season-ending injuries, needed to support Barrett, after the sudden passing of his younger brother and Quickley, who lost his uncle, and deal with the fallout of gambling investigation leading the suspension and eventual conviction on criminal charges of prospect Jontay Porter. Toronto endured a 15-game game losing streak, the second-longest in franchise history and finished year on a 2-19 slide.
>But somehow the work kept getting done, younger players got their opportunities, the energy around the team never really flagged.
> But it felt exterior, the interior actually really felt solid, it never felt disrupted, it never felt like, ‘Man, what are we going to do?’
>“And I think a big reason for that was Darko’s ability to sort of guide us and sort of be that sort of benchmark of like, ‘This is what we’re doing today … there’s these like million things happening, but this is what we’re focused on,’ allowed the staff to [manage] it and all want to come back again, and for him to want to have us all back again.”
vaalbarag
This article is very soft-skills focused, and I think Darko did great at that part of his job; the positivity and energy was great, all the players (veterans, young players, outgoing players, incoming players) all seemed to connect with him. He’s a great guy to lead a young, impressionable group. There were some really strong glimpses of player development, too, which seemed to be a primary goal of how this coaching staff was built.
It seems like the coaching is going to be back to square 1, particularly on offense. Darko’s system emphasizes five man units working together in practice to essentially workshop their own offense, and so there isn’t going to be much from last year’s process that is re-useable, given the entirely different player personnel. And if offense is basically relearning from square one, there’s a good chance that defense is going to be less of a coaching focus again. I don’t expect the four established starters to replicate their excellent, limited sample-size performances from the latter half of last year. I’m not complaining about that… it’s the right move to prioritize long-term upside over short term success.
MOinthepast
We are all excited for the upcoming season and I feel that Darko is definitely as excited as we are. He knows better than all of us that next year may be his last chance to prove his abilities, he has already shown how important this team is to him and how responsible he is. We’ll just have to wait and see if he can achieve the biggest goal we’re all waiting for, the development of our young stars.
legendary_sponge
Fans needs to keep their expectations in check. This is a very young team and our division is STACKED right now
8 Comments
That’s why he was brought in as coach right? To rebuild a roster. We have our star with Scottie and we got a decent foundation of young talent for the future. Clearly banking a lot on IQ but I think he and Scottie can be a 1-2 punch. Dick, RJ, all our picks from this draft and the trades. We’re probably gonna be a sub .500 team but I’m excited to watch basketball again! It’s a new start, I’m all for it and I think Darko can steer the ship for us the next few seasons.
Has there been any news about picking up Darko’s option? As far as I understand his contract is 2 + 1.
I think most likely they guarantee the last year before the start of the season. Otherwise, I assume they would either offer him a new contract next year or just release him.
I wonder what Bobby and Masai expect from him this year.
I don’t know if Darko will be with us when the team is ready to compete, but I do know that he is the right person for this rebuild.
>hard times are when core values get tested, and last season the tests came in rapid succession. In the space of a few weeks, the Raptors lost Barnes and Jakob Poeltl to season-ending injuries, needed to support Barrett, after the sudden passing of his younger brother and Quickley, who lost his uncle, and deal with the fallout of gambling investigation leading the suspension and eventual conviction on criminal charges of prospect Jontay Porter. Toronto endured a 15-game game losing streak, the second-longest in franchise history and finished year on a 2-19 slide.
>But somehow the work kept getting done, younger players got their opportunities, the energy around the team never really flagged.
> But it felt exterior, the interior actually really felt solid, it never felt disrupted, it never felt like, ‘Man, what are we going to do?’
>“And I think a big reason for that was Darko’s ability to sort of guide us and sort of be that sort of benchmark of like, ‘This is what we’re doing today … there’s these like million things happening, but this is what we’re focused on,’ allowed the staff to [manage] it and all want to come back again, and for him to want to have us all back again.”
This article is very soft-skills focused, and I think Darko did great at that part of his job; the positivity and energy was great, all the players (veterans, young players, outgoing players, incoming players) all seemed to connect with him. He’s a great guy to lead a young, impressionable group. There were some really strong glimpses of player development, too, which seemed to be a primary goal of how this coaching staff was built.
It seems like the coaching is going to be back to square 1, particularly on offense. Darko’s system emphasizes five man units working together in practice to essentially workshop their own offense, and so there isn’t going to be much from last year’s process that is re-useable, given the entirely different player personnel. And if offense is basically relearning from square one, there’s a good chance that defense is going to be less of a coaching focus again. I don’t expect the four established starters to replicate their excellent, limited sample-size performances from the latter half of last year. I’m not complaining about that… it’s the right move to prioritize long-term upside over short term success.
We are all excited for the upcoming season and I feel that Darko is definitely as excited as we are. He knows better than all of us that next year may be his last chance to prove his abilities, he has already shown how important this team is to him and how responsible he is. We’ll just have to wait and see if he can achieve the biggest goal we’re all waiting for, the development of our young stars.
Fans needs to keep their expectations in check. This is a very young team and our division is STACKED right now
We may never stagnate again!
Should have hired Jordi instead