When asked about the expectations for the Toronto Raptors’ upcoming season at the team’s media day on Monday, Darko Rajaković was in lockstep with Bobby Webster, explaining that they will have a measured, incremental approach to success.
The third-year head coach voiced similar variations of the “win every possession” and “improve one per cent every day” platitudes that Webster, the newly named head of basketball operations, did in his availability with media on Friday.
But while the leadership group was reticent to make any bold proclamations about the Raptors’ goals, the players’ underlying belief in their abilities bubbled to the surface as the day went on.
“I think our expectations for our team is to definitely make the playoffs and win some games in the playoffs,” Scottie Barnes said, in the first significant departure from Rajaković and Webster’s more tentative answers on the subject.
“That’s the standard,” Barnes continued. “That’s the bottom line, with how talented we are and what we should be able to achieve for this team. You know we’re hungry, we’ve got a lot to prove and we’re going to go out there and show it.”
Rajaković and his entire projected starting five (Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley) addressed media members on Monday, providing answers on the state of the team as it prepares to chart a new course at the start of training camp in Calgary on Tuesday.
Here are the key topics that were touched on throughout the day.
Answers regarding the team’s expectations varied, but the fact is that the Raptors are full of young starters entering their respective primes and are quite expensive to not have eyes on the playoffs.
Mississauga native RJ Barrett didn’t hesitate to draw inspiration from the unexpected success of his hometown Toronto Blue Jays.
“In a couple months from now it’s going to be us. That’s the mindset,” said Barrett of the American League East division champions. “Definitely, obviously happy for them, cheering for them, for sure. We’re trying to get back to the playoffs as well. Trying to get back to the playoffs, make some noise.”
With the addition of Brandon Ingram to the starting lineup — one of only nine players to average greater than 23 points, five rebounds and five assists over the last five seasons — and Barnes entering the first year of his $224-million rookie scale extension, it appears that the Raptors’ brief, one-season rebuild is over and that all focus will be directed towards taking a step forward in the standings.
“This is one of the most fun times, is when you have a team like this where people kind of don’t know what to expect or don’t expect much and you kind of just go and just surprise everybody,” Barrett added. “And we put in the work so we’re very confident going in.”
While Rajaković didn’t commit to a playoff appearance being the goal the same way his players did, he also didn’t hold back his desire to succeed.
“I have high ambitions,” said the Serbian bench boss. “I’m not shying away from that. So I’m ready for the test, I’m ready to go out there and compete.”
Starting five making up for lost time
After significant time missed due to injury prevented the Raptors’ top unit from gelling fully last season, the projected starting five have been making a concerted effort to build chemistry in the lead-up to training camp.
“Intentionally, during the whole month of September when our guys were in open gym, we were putting our projected starting five to play together as much as possible,” said Rajaković. “To start exposing those things (overlapping skillsets) and for them to get to know each other and their strengths. And I’ve been really impressed with the ability of those guys to understand who is hot at the moment and who to force-feed.”
Ingram didn’t step on the floor for Toronto in 2024-25 and the remaining quartet played only 140 minutes together over nine games last season. For context, they were the 15th-most used four-man unit on the Raptors, below groups such as Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Davion Mitchell. League-wide, 581 four-man groups played more minutes last season.
Ingram and Barrett didn’t get an opportunity to play together last season, but they seem to already be up to speed on each other’s tendencies.
“One thing that surprised me was RJ (Barrett). I thought he was just a gunner, I thought he just shot the ball a lot,” said Ingram. “But watching his game and seeing him work throughout the summer, I’ve seen what he works on and how it transfers to the game. And he’s steady. Scoring the basketball, on the defensive side he’s aggressive. And he’s a guy that doesn’t complain about not having the basketball, it kind of just attracts to him.”
Barrett’s response to Ingram’s revelations about his game: “See, I pass the ball. I do!”
This isn’t the first time the Canadian wing’s scoring proclivities have been the subject of jabs from his teammates. However, Barrett did take a legitimate step as a facilitator last season. The six-foot-six wing’s assists per game jumped from 3.3 to 5.4 and his possessions as a pick-and-roll ball handler with the Raptors doubled year-over-year, from 2.3 to 4.7.
Barrett also noted that Ingram “drives to the rim better than he thought,” which the Raptors’ offence certainly lacked last season when they ranked last in the NBA in the percentage of their points that came from drives.
“I think what’s impressed me is how much everybody has bought into trying to figure out where everybody else likes to play, or wants the ball, or what they’re comfortable in,” said Poeltl. “Nobody so far seems to be going out there trying to mark their own territory. Be like ‘hey this is how I want to do it,’ almost everybody’s asking the question ‘Hey, what do you want to do in this situation?’
“I think that’s been really cool to see and it speaks to how everybody’s bought into trying to figure it out together.”
Quickley is the point guard, but the Raptors have three other wings/forwards in the starting lineup who can handle the ball and create shots for their teammates in Barnes, Barrett, and Ingram, making for a versatile starting five.
Defence will remain at the forefront
From the outset of last season (starting with media day), the Raptors placed a newfound emphasis on defence. Particularly at the point-of-attack, with the on-ball defender being dubbed the “most important guy” or “MIG,” a title normally reserved for rim-protecting big men. It took some time for results to trickle in, but over the back half of 2024-25, the Raptors boasted the second-best defensive rating in the NBA.
The Toronto hoops sickos that were tapped in for Summer League this past July will know well how the Raptors’ youthful contingent wreaked havoc against opposing teams, forcing 136 turnovers over five games — including a Summer League record 33 in their first game — with relentless ball pressure.
Picking up defensive assignments higher up the floor has become the in vogue style of defence, and it only figures to gain steam after the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder frequently picked up the bring-up ball handler well into the backcourt during the NBA Finals.
Applying such aggressive pressure principles takes a ton of energy. So it makes sense that Rajaković said one of the team’s “main goals this summer was to get into elite shape,” citing the importance of conditioning in achieving their defensive goals of being “more aggressive on the ball” and “trying to speed up teams and make teams as uncomfortable as possible.” Even more aggression from a Raptors defence that was among the league leaders in average pick-up point last season is a scary prospect.
“For us everything starts on (the) defensive end,” said Rajaković. “We want to dominate on (the) defensive end, we want to be disruptive on (the) defensive end, we want to be able to create a lot of steals and a lot of opportunities for us to run in transition. And when we do that it’s going to be much easier for us to score. It’s going to be much easier for us to get in offence.”
The Raptors have relied on easy transition opportunities to supplement a dreadful halfcourt offence for a half decade — they’ve ranked top five in transition frequency for seven straight seasons. Yet, their efficiency tanked last year to the fourth-worst mark in the NBA after being in the top 10 the previous two seasons.
Rajaković will still look to add to the team’s fifth-ranked transition scoring mark from last season, led by Barnes’ “elite” play on the defensive end.
“We have a lot of guys that are very willing defensive players and we’re keeping the standard so high that everybody else is rising to the task,” Rajaković said. “To be honest with you I don’t see a weak link for us defensively this year and I’m not going to look at any player on this team to give him a free pass because the defence is not at the level that we expect. I’m going to keep everybody accountable to the highest standards on the defensive end.”
