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Top three tasks for new Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic as training camp starts Monday

For the first time in more than a decade, the Raptors will have an entirely new coaching staff with no familiarity with, connections or pre-conceived notions about the players.

Toronto Raptors hired Darko Rajakovic to be

The big trade that Raptors fans wanted never materialized in an uneventful summer.

But to suggest team president Masai Ujiri “did nothing,” as social media howlers are contending, is to ignore reality.

What he did was bold and it will change so much around the team and alter its fortunes. It’s put an inordinate amount of pressure and responsibility on one man and represents true sea change.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Raptors will have an entirely new coaching staff with no familiarity with, connections or pre-conceived notions about the players.

No, Toronto did not trade for Damian Lillard and they didn’t make anything remotely close to a “blockbuster” move. But swapping out Nick Nurse for Darko Rajakovic is a big, big move.

It’s the first time in Ujiri’s decade-long tenure that a completely new voice and philosophy will be at the helm. Ujrii kept Dwane Casey when he returned to Toronto 10 years ago and re-signed Casey when he had the chance.

And even when he moved on from Casey, it was to a trusted assistant in Nurse, who had his own style but only because he knew the capabilities of the players after spending five years on the bench.

Rajakovic?

No connections at all, no head coaching history by which to be measured. He’s got a fresh slate and a fresh staff — only Jama Mahlalela has ties to the franchise and he’s been away for four seasons — and a big old target on his back.

It was placed there by Ujiri, who found the 44-year-old Serbian on the staff of the Memphis Grizzlies and made him Toronto’s new head coach after a protracted search.

What’s Rajakovic have to do at training camp that begins Tuesday in Burnaby, B.C.?

Here are the top three tasks.

Who will the Raptors starters?

A case can be made that there are six starters — Dennis Schröder, Gary Trent Jr., Scottie Barnes, O.G. Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl — and one will be the odd man out.

It’s much the same as last season, swapping Schröder for Fred VanVleet, so logic would suggest the World Cup MVP moves seamlessly into that role.

But if Rajakovic is determined to give Barnes more of a ball-handling, decision-making role, might the coach bring Schröder off the bench?

Probably not and it’s still unclear if Barnes has the handles to be a full-time point guard, but maybe the new coach will seriously consider it?

Who will be part of the Raptors rotation?

So the top six seems settled, what’s the rest of Rajakovic’s rotation look like?

You’d certainly think Chris Boucher and Precious Achiuwa stretch that out to eight but after that, questions abound.

If Rajakovic and the team’s brass are in development mode, guys like Christian Koloko and rookie Grady Dick should probably get a look and Jalen McDaniels is an intriguing youngster.

But what of veterans like Thad Young and Otto Porter Jr.? Do they get a sniff of playing time other than in cases of emergency? And how about Malachi Flynn and Jeff Dowtin Jr., if they make it through camp?

Going young — Koloko, Dick, McDaniels behind the top six along with Achiuwa and Boucher — would seem to be most logical.

What will be the Raptors’ style of play?

This is a far more traditional roster than the Project 6-8 that Nurse had to manipulate before Poeltl returned for less than half of last season.

Rajakovic hasn’t made any public pronouncements on what he’d like to see his team do, particularly defensively. But he can’t try the same frenetic, trap and recover or jump all passing lanes that was an exhausting style to maintain over the course of a full season.

But will he try to mix in some zone? Will he keep up the ball-pressure defence that was a Nurse trademark? How about throwing in some box-and-one or triangle-and-two stuff that Nurse liked to use?

Given that there’s no track record of Rajakovic, seeing what he wants to do defensively will be a big story through the pre-season.

Offensively, the new coach said he likes a lot of ball and player movement. Without a ton of shooting at his disposal, that makes the most sense by far.

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