{"id":128190,"date":"2025-03-12T20:46:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T00:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=128190"},"modified":"2025-03-12T20:46:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T00:46:50","slug":"grizzlies-raptors-connected-developing-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/12\/grizzlies-raptors-connected-developing-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzlies, Raptors Connected By Developing Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Darko Rajakovic is now in his second season as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. At this point, the 46-year-old is just 46-100 in that role. However, there&#8217;s truly been development during their rebuilding process, which is what Rajakovic was really brought in for. Not only do the Raptors have a slightly higher win percentage (.338) than last season (.330), players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dickgr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gradey Dick<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barrerj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RJ Barrett<\/a> have steadily <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/04\/raptors-rj-barrett-scapegoat-odd-man-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">improved under his guidance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Grizzlies, Raptors Connected By Developing Talent<\/h2>\n<p>Interestingly, Dick nor Barrett&#8211;both of whom are lottery picks &#8211;aren&#8217;t the most talented players that Rajakovic has coached. Not in his opinion. Neither is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barnesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scottie Barnes<\/a>, whom Rajakovic has repeatedly praised in his tenure as Raptors head coach. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/q\/quickim01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Immanuel Quickley<\/a>, who is averaging career-highs in points (17.2) and assists (5.5) per game this season, didn&#8217;t make the cut either.<\/p>\n<p>That mantle belongs to Memphis Grizzlies guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/banede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Desmond Bane<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most talented player I ever coached is Desmond Bane,&#8221; Rajakovic tells reporters while answering a question about player development. &#8220;He\u2019s not the best athlete out there. He\u2019s not the the most explosive. But his mindset and approach to details, I was really impressed with.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Part of a longer answer about player development from Darko Rajakovic:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most talented player I ever coached is Desmond Bane\u2026 he\u2019s not the best athlete out there, he\u2019s not the the most explosive, but his mindset and approach to details, I was really impressed with.\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Fl5jFv4tsO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Fl5jFv4tsO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adam_la2karis\/status\/1898508984505532890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As luck would have it, Rajakovic was able to coach Bane in his time with the Grizzlies partly because the Raptors chose to draft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/flynnma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malachi Flynn<\/a> over him in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Flynn is now in the G League. Though he did score <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/04\/pistons-malachi-flynn-50-point-explosion-career-night\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a career-high 50 points last season<\/a>, he&#8217;s still averaging just 5.5 points (and 1.9 assists) per game for his career. Bane has undoubtedly had the better career thus far though, as he&#8217;s averaging 17.7 points and 3.7 assists per game. Over the past four seasons, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/22\/grizzlies-desmond-bane-jersey-retirement-tcu\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the former TCU standout<\/a> has averaged 20.2 points and 4.3 assists per game, staking his claim as one of the league&#8217;s most underrated players.<\/p>\n<p>Bane, who was told about Rajakovic&#8217;s comments, says: &#8220;I truly believe I wouldn&#8217;t be having the type of career I&#8217;m having without his guidance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Recently, Raptors head coach and former Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic called Desmond Bane the &#8220;most talented&#8221; player he&#8217;s coached.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>Asked Bane about it last night:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I truly believe I wouldn&#8217;t be here having the type of career I&#8217;m having without his guidance.&#8221; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xO9lFoidJP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/xO9lFoidJP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Infield (@Matt_Infield) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Matt_Infield\/status\/1899543939079696848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In Memphis, <em>Home of the Blues<\/em>, Rajakovic&#8217;s departure might feel like smokestack lightning. For the Raptors, it&#8217;s just music to their ears.<\/p>\n<h3>Proof Is In The Pudding<\/h3>\n<p>As previously mentioned, Dick has already blossomed under Rajakovic.\u00a0As a rookie, the 2023 No. 13 pick averaged 8.5 points per game. This season, he&#8217;s averaging 14.4 points per game. Then there&#8217;s Barrett, a six-year pro who&#8217;s also averaging a career-high in points (21.6). In 2023-24, Barnes not only averaged career-highs across the board, he earned <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/06\/nba-news-trae-young-scottie-barnes-are-all-star-replacements\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his first All-Star selection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If the proof is in the pudding, Rajakovic&#8217;s dessert has been delicious.<\/p>\n<p>As Bane only averaged 9.2 points per game as a rookie, there&#8217;s even reason to believe Rajakovic can mold <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walteja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ja&#8217;Kobe Walter<\/a> into a star-level player. Walter, the 19th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, is averaging 7.8 points per game this season. However, he has 14 games scoring in double-figures, with his career-high (27 points) coming against the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Darko Rajakovic is now in his second season as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. At this point, the 46-year-old is just 46-100 in that role. However, there&#8217;s truly been development during their rebuilding process, which is what Rajakovic was really brought in for. Not only do the Raptors have a slightly higher win [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":128336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,32,14],"tags":[49557,3127,4831,49324,2849,1964,3852],"class_list":["post-128190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-grizzlies","category-raptors","tag-darko-rajakovic","tag-desmond-bane","tag-gradey-dick","tag-jakobe-walter","tag-malachi-flynn","tag-rj-barrett","tag-scottie-barnes"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128337,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128190\/revisions\/128337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}