"He's rushing things": Rajaković on growing pains for Raptors' Gradey Dick

When the Toronto Raptors selected Gradey Dick at 13th overall in this past year’s draft, many fans were quick to speculate about how he’d fit into the team’s future plans.

A standout in his lone season at Kansas, Dick set a school record for most three-pointers by a freshman with 83, and had a reputation as one of the country’s best long-distance shooters with a .403 mark from beyond the arc.

As a high school senior at Sunrise Christian Academy, Dick earned the 2022 National Gatorade Player of the Year honours, an honour that had also gone to players such as LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Dwight Howard, and Andrew Wiggins.

With three-point shooting an area the Raptors struggled mightily with last season — finishing 28th league-wide — Dick’s skillset seemed to be one that could slot in nicely with his new team, and it was easy to see why fans were excited about his potential at the next level.

But during Dick’s first preseason in the NBA, it seems like the team is taking the path of slow development for the rookie as he gets acclimatized to the pro game.

Dick has averaged just 16 minutes a night through the team’s first three preseason games, going 6-for-18 from the field and just 2-for-10 from three-point range, totaling 17 points so far.

“Preseason’s been great, I’m taking notes from every single game,” Dick told reporters at Thursday’s practice. “Lotta coaching… It’s still pretty early. People have ideas of their roles, why they were brought here in the first place… I always have the mindset of coming in as the new guy and just be that sponge and take in all the coaching.”

Today, first-year Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković spoke to reporters about his plans for integrating the 19-year-old into his team’s rotation.

“For a rookie, for a young rookie, it’s going to be a lot of patience and time. From the first preseason game when he stepped on the court, you could just see that the game is just so fast for him and he’s rushing things. I think that the last couple of games that he did a better job of slowing down a little bit,” Rajaković told reporters.

Dick is currently ninth in the team in minutes per game in the preseason, but it seems like Rajaković isn’t exactly rushing to get him extended floor time once the season begins.

“He’s got to slow down himself before the game slows down for him. And that’s a normal thing for all the rookies. I think the way he’s picking up defensive things and getting better in our schemes, understanding personnel designations, I think it is going to be very important for him,” Rajaković added. “And then offensively, just the way he’s playing without the ball, the way he’s cutting and moving and creating offence for us.”

Toronto closes out its exhibition schedule this week with a home game against the Washington Wizards this Friday at Scotiabank Arena, before the regular season tips off next Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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