Darko Rajakovic is only the second European to be currently head coaching in the NBA, but he comes from a long list of trainers who have historically impacted the league with their foreign basketball influence. As curious as it may sound, Serbia is one of the countries that has contributed the most to the sport both on the coaching sidelines and the court.
The 44-year-old, who last month was appointed as the newest Raptors coach, insists in bringing his Euroleague experience to the NBA, also borrowing brilliant plays from some of the most important Serbian coaches of the past couple of decades.
From working under Sasha Djordjevic, to sharing the same birth place as legendary strategist Zeljko Obradovic, it seems as if Rajakovic has all the wisdom he needs to succeed in Toronto.
Darko Rajakovic brings more Europe to the Toronto Raptors, after borrowing from Sasha Djordjevic’s playbook and being mentored by Zeljko Obradovic #NBAhttps://t.co/vhZv7Bx9a9
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) July 6, 2023
“Europe has a great influence on the NBA,” he recently said in an interview. “There are more and more NBA coaches, who study, watch, and respect the EuroLeague and European coaches. I come from Serbia. I was always close to the ABA League, the Spanish League, or the EuroLeague.
“I always learned from the best coaches. I was looking to ‘steal’ knowledge from them. Whenever I could apply it in working with my teams in order to help us, we used all these things. Not only in offense but also in defense. I will certainly continue to do that now in Toronto.”
Igor Kokoskov’s 2018/19 campaign with the Phoenix franchise was one of the first play-callers from Europe to truly impact the NBA. Rajakovic is convinced he’s out to follow his footsteps and beyond.
“Impressions are slowly coming together,” he said about his first month in Canada. “Every day I have more and more opportunities to get to know people and how the organization works, which is one of the best, if not the best, in the NBA. This concerns the structure, the people who work in the franchise, the experience they have, and the continuity of success. Everything was brought to the highest level.”
According to sources, Spanish trainer Jordi Fernandez and Italian coach Sergio Scariolo were also among the main candidates for the Raptors job. With this information, there’s no doubt that the Toronto club was looking for European influence on their game.
“The process was long. There were different parts of the interview and conversation,” Rajakovic recalled about his first talks with the club. “Everything was organized from early in the morning until late in the evening. We had discussions regarding the team and my offensive and defensive philosophy.”
Rajakovic reminisced on all the steps he had to take in his career to finally land a head-coaching job in the NBA
It took the Serbian trainer 28 years of coaching to finally land a head-coaching job in the NBA, including assistant roles with the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Phoenix Suns since 2014.
“After working in Crvena Zvezda, I felt the need to learn and improve. I just wanted to see a different work system,” he expressed. “At that moment, the Spanish national team was making great results. They had the best domestic league, and they still have it. So it was inspiring for me to try myself in a different environment.”
Before he started out in the NBA, he suceeded in head-coaching jobs with the G League’s Tulsa 66ers, as well as training Espacio Torrelodones in Spain’s fourth-tier division for five years.
“It turned out to be the right move because there I learned a lot of things that prepared me for the G League,” Rajakovic recalled. “First of all, in terms of interpersonal relations, professionalism, approach to games. I was able in Spain to upgrade the basic education I received in Serbia.”
