Three NBA head coaches offer their advice for Raptors' Rajaković

The Toronto Raptors took a pretty big chance this summer when they decided to move on from Nick Nurse in favour of a new head coach.

With Toronto flailing through a 41-41 season in 2022-23, the Raptors parted ways with Nurse after five years in charge of the team.

Nurse found pretty quick work after leaving Toronto, taking charge of a Philadelphia 76ers squad that currently sits seventh in the league-wide standings.

Toronto, meanwhile, opted for first-time NBA head coach Darko Rajaković, who had previous stops as an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Phoenix Suns.

With only 30 jobs at any given time, NBA head coaches are a relatively exclusive fraternity. While it’s a highly coveted role, it’s not a job with much security or downtime, as 25 of the league’s head coaches have been hired since 2020 or later.

And with so few people understanding the pressures Rajaković is under, who better than three fellow leaguewide head coaches to offer their perspective of what he’s going through?

Suns head coach Frank Vogel, who is now on his fourth head coaching job in the league, was one of three coaches who spoke to Daily Hive about Rajaković’s first few months on the job.

Vogel made the jump midseason in 2011-12 as an assistant to the head coach role for the Indiana Pacers, before stops with the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Winning the NBA title in 2020 with LA, Vogel said his biggest culture shock upon getting the promotion came from his off-court responsibilities.

“The first thing that comes to mind is how many people you have to manage. I mean, it’s not just coaching the games and the Xs and Os and timeouts and all that stuff, but you gotta manage your medical team, your assistant coaches and 15 or 17 or 18 players. Sliding over, you never know how it’s gonna feel,” Vogel told Daily Hive. “For me, it felt natural and comfortable. And I can see that in coach Darko as well. He’s doing a great job.”

For Rajakovic, the transition seems similar to the one that Vogel took.

“Time management is the biggest adjustment for me,” Rajaković said. “As an assistant coach, I exactly knew how my day was gonna look like and how we’re gonna be organized and when I need to do what. Right now, especially early in the season, there are a lot of things juggling around and trying to cover as much as possible.”

In his first 20 games in charge of Toronto, the Raptors have gone 9-11, sitting 11th in the Eastern Conference. That about stays in line with most preseason predictions of the franchise that has won just one playoff series since winning its first NBA title in 2019.

“But everything else is great. My players, they make it a much easier job than me. They’re amazing and coachable. Like I really love spending every single day with those guys which makes my job much easier,” Rajaković said.

While he and Vogel both built their way up through the NBA route, other coaches found their success at the college level before transitioning to the pro game. Chicago’s Billy Donovan was once one of those high-profile NCAA coaches, winning two national titles with the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007 before landing his first NBA head coaching job with Oklahoma City back in 2015.

“I would imagine he has a really good relationship with the players,” Donovan said of Rajaković. “He’s an incredibly hardworking guy and really cares and is passionate about it. The work ethic that he’ll put in [on] a daily basis, the team will see how hard he will work. Darko will, without question, evaluate where he can continue to improve and get better as a coach.”

While Rajaković joined a new organization in the offseason with time to set up his staff, it doesn’t always quite work like that.

Minnesota Timberwolves head Chris Finch was taken from the Raptors bench during the 2020-21 season and suddenly thrust into a new role.

“My circumstances were incredibly different [than Rajakovic’s],” Finch said. “At the time, it was in the middle of pandemic season and was a midseason job so hard to probably relate. But it’s important to, you know, to enjoy these things. I’m sure he will. And I know having been here he’s surrounded by an incredible organization with the right amount of support, and those guys will do a great job of giving every opportunity to be successful.”

But despite the difference in how they were hired, Finch reiterated a need to enjoy the lifelong journey that got the 44-year-old native of Serbia the job in the first place.

“I would tell [Rajaković] to make sure you soak it all in and continue to soak it all in because I’m sure he’s living his dream right now,” Finch added.

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