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DALLAS — Most intense player-coach conversations happen before a game. Either in the locker room or courtside in a mostly empty arena, they will be hunched over a laptop, looking at the player’s own decisions or scouting an opponent. Sometimes they will happen on practice days too.
You don’t often see them right after games. Mostly, after the head coach addresses the team, that is time for players to decompress. Some lift weights, some hop in the cold tub, some get dressed quickly and head home. All of this made something that happened a week ago after the Toronto Raptors’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks jarring.
In a mostly empty home locker room in Scotiabank Arena, veteran swingman Garrett Temple and assistant coach Ivo Simović were in a circle with rookie Gradey Dick. The Raptors had won comfortably, but Dick had a rough night, shooting 2 of 10 and missing seven of his eight 3-pointers. Simović and Temple were doing most of the talking.
Simović was telling Dick that he was hesitating as the game went on. It wasn’t that the rookie was shooting too much, but rather that he wasn’t playing with enough conviction. The Raptors haven’t quickly moved up Dick in the rotation to watch him be passive.
“I said, ‘Man, I was 1-for-12 one time’ — in Toronto, actually, my worst ever,” Temple recalled of the conversation on Tuesday. (He was probably talking about this game. We’ll excuse him if he doesn’t remember the exact details.) “But if they’re open shots, you’ve got to shoot them. That’s what you’re on the team for. And Ivo has evolved into the coach that is telling all the shooters (to) shoot the ball. He’s in here with Gary (Trent Jr.) working for practice, telling him don’t pass up any open shots.”
It is a crucial message to deliver for a team that is going to have more than the average number of rough shooting nights. The Raptors are shooting 35.8 percent from deep, 16th in the NBA, but they don’t have as much pure shooting as other teams.
Just wanted to let y’all know that it’s National Tracksuit Day 🔥 pic.twitter.com/s0dPaGcDHz
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) November 6, 2023
Dick, the Raptors’ first-round pick in June, is supposed to be a part of changing that. He has started his career making just five of his first 22 3s. Dick doesn’t lack confidence, but head coach Darko Rajaković’s focus on open and direct communication means sometimes making a point once more than you think necessary.
Dick said it was easier to take the notes after a Raptors win, but he prides himself on being coachable at any moment.
“You can’t just take everything in the good spurts. A lot of learning comes from losing and failing,” Dick told The Athletic. “So I feel like learning that now is definitely a big advantage to where I’m not trying to keep hopes up when something good is happening and then (if) something bad unfortunately happens, we lose a game, and then I don’t know how to react.
“With two different guys kind of giving me that wisdom and advice … it’s cool because it’s two different perspectives. You have a player that’s played the game and then you have the coach behind the bench that knows everything and (is in) the coach’s office. So it’s good to get two different sides of the story.”
Rajaković pairs each player with an assistant, and the Dick-Simović pairing dates to the summer. The head coach said he thought it would be a good match because both were just a year removed from college — Simović was at UCLA last year. Indeed, Dick said the relationship began with some “friendly” trash talk.
Now it has blossomed to a place where the first-time NBA assistant can deliver a message in the locker room right after a game.
“We do talk a lot (among the coaching staff) about the vision for each player and how they should be playing,” Rajaković told The Athletic. “And we are unified in a vision (that) we want for the player. But assistant coaches, they play such an integral role in developing those guys. … You don’t want to wait for a player to fail in order to address things. And we as coaches, we gotta have a feel and knowledge — like, ‘What is ahead? What might come next?’ to protect and prepare players for those situations.”
Rajaković also has made a point to tell players they are not going to succeed or fail based on their scoring, even if, like Dick, they are on the floor primarily for their offensive ability. To start the season, Dick is making his coach proud.
Against the San Antonio Spurs, Dick missed his only two shots, both 3s. He still played 14 minutes, including the first six of the fourth quarter, as the Raptors cut 10 points off what started out as a 15-point deficit. Dick had a rebound and two assists, one of which hinted at his all-around potential. Dick attacked a close-out from Victor Wembanyama but lost control of the ball with the shot clock ticking down. After recovering it, he whipped a right-handed pass along the baseline to Scottie Barnes in the corner. Barnes just beat the buzzer.
“It was a little busted-up play,” said Dick. “My mindset … throughout the game actually (was that) my shot wasn’t falling. … We’re not going to get a crazy ton of looks when the game is close like that. And it’s a vital part of the game, when we’re on that kind of comeback (from) 20 points. It was one of those things where it’s (trying to) find a way to affect the game when your shot’s not falling. That’s what I try to do. And little plays like that, I just try to make them and kind of show people, I’m not just a shooter, the kind of overall game I have.”
Over time, you would expect Barnes to assist Dick on more plays like that than the opposite. Early in your career, it is mostly about finding a way to fit in, which Dick, despite the poor shooting numbers, is doing.
“Early on in the season, whether it’s game three or game six, it’s very important for the player to be receptive,” Temple said. “And Gradey jokes about it, so he already has that scorer’s mentality of, ‘I’m just gonna keep shooting. Next shot’s going in.’ And that’s the right mindset to have.”
(Photo: John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)
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