CALGARY — At the end of the Toronto Raptors' first day of training camp, a little competition took place that didn’t mean much but represented a lot of what the team hopes will be true when the regular season rolls around.
Raptors assistant coach Pat Delaney was feeding Brandon Ingram at the free-throw line extended, while Ochai Agbaji did his best to get low and use his leverage to move the long-limbed Ingram further out on the floor than he wanted to be.
Three straight times Ingram — who has averaged 23 points a game over the past six seasons — made the catch and tried to get an open look against Agbaji, who is one of a large pool of young players scrapping for minutes in head coach Darko Rajakovic’s rotation this season, and three times Agbaji did a credible job forcing the former all-star into tough shots that he missed.
It's no comment on Ingram: to a man, the view on the former New Orleans Pelicans star is that he is as advertised — a multi-dimensional bucket getter.
But the little scene does reflect where the Raptors hope that they can find the success that has eluded them since their last playoff appearance in the 2021-22 season.
The most obvious is the presence of Ingram, the nine-year veteran who has put up star-level numbers as an offensive hub for most of his career, with only a steady drip of injuries preventing him from having more than one all-star nod on his resume.
But the Raptors' hope to make a leap from 11th place in the Eastern Conference to somewhere in the top six also depends on team-wide doggedness and depth.
Is Agbaji alone expected to be a difference maker this season?
Not really, even if he is coming off the best all-round season of his career, showing signs of being a capable 3-and-D sparkplug. But his determination to stick in against Ingram in a ‘fun’ drill at the end of practice is a pretty good indication that he understands how he’s going to earn his minutes this coming year.
The reality is that Rajakovic should be spoiled for choice when it comes to how to fill out his rotation.
He is expecting that having seven, eight or nine players in Agbaji’s position coming off his bench and competing for minutes at crucial junctures of their respective careers will enable his club to play with the kind of defensive intensity that will need to be their calling card if they are going to achieve their individual and collective goals.
“I really believe that our defensive identity has to come from a mindset that we want to dominate on the defensive end if we really want to make our opponents very uncomfortable,” said Rajakovic as the Raptors finished up their first day of a four-day training camp on campus at the University of Calgary. “And for that, you need a lot of work. And for that, you need a big-time commitment. And that's what we have from our group. What we did during the summer league [where the Raptors youngsters led all teams in forced turnovers while pressing full court for most games], I think that's something for us, it's a good start. It's something to build on.
“And I think the NBA is changing as well. I think there's going to be more and more teams that are going to be picking full court. They're going to be playing more defensively. We saw two really good defensive teams going to the NBA Finals. And for that, you also need the depth of your roster, guys that are able to do that.”
The Raptors starters are — if not set in stone — at least laid out in hard-to-move patio tiles. The five highest-paid players will get the bulk of the starters' minutes, led by Ingram, Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley.
After that, Rajakovic is hoping that a ferocious, season-long competition dictates how he doles out minutes for the rest of what he plans to be a 10-man rotation that might stretch to 11 when the situation warrants it. Agbaji, Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamison Battle, Jonathan Mogbo, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Murray-Boyles, A.J. Lawson … it’s a long list of candidates.
“It’s going to be for everybody how aggressive they’re going to be on defence, how they’re going to embrace our offensive style of play and how they’re going to fit in,” said Rajakovic. “All of those guys are fighting for limited spots on the roster, and that’s what you want.
“As I said, there is a reason why there are 15 roster spots plus three two-ways, the NBA is a long season, a long season, a lot of things are happening,” he said. “Very few players end the season and have played 82 games. I think you get really lucky if your starting five can put together 65 or 70 games together over the course of the season, that’s just the reality that we’re at.
“Every player on this roster is extremely important for me and the organization and we’re going to treat the guys that way.”
One of the youngsters who is likely assured of some steady playing time is second-year guard Jamal Shead, both because he showed in his rookie season the penchant for the kind of full-court pressure defence Rajakovic is looking for, but also because, after Quickley, he’s the only other ‘true’ point guard on the roster.
But he got the message that to be able to contribute the way Rajakovic is expecting, he’s going to need to be able to provide unrelenting effort. So while developing his burgeoning three-point range was a priority in the off-season, so was work that had little to do with skill and everything to do with commitment.
“Just my conditioning,” he said when asked about his off-season priorities after leading the Raptors with 75 games played and finishing 13th among all rookies in minutes after being taken 45th in the 2024 draft. “How we're about to play, how we are playing right now, and me being a focal head here at that point, especially on the defensive side, just having the energy and the air in my lungs to do all the things that we're trying to do.”
It's all part of a plan where the Raptors can use a deep energetic lineup to play a merciless brand of full-court, pressure defence, which, when coupled with the added scoring punch they hope to get from the likes of Ingram, a healthy Immanuel Quickley, Barnes and Barrett — who led the team in scoring last season — they believe will yield a winning season.
“This group, we love that [internal competition],” said Barrett. “We get after it. Practices aren’t easy … it’s good competition. That’s what you want to see because if you practice like that, games come easy … you’ve got guys out there like Jamal’s annoying, he’s a pest. [Agbaji] is out there, everybody’s doing a good job, man. We’re very happy with the progress we’ve been making, how hard we’re working.”
