Darko Rajakovic is walking on thin ice if Raptors don’t clean up their act

This is simply not the year for the Toronto Raptors to be beating around the bush. No one expected this team to be serious championship contenders, but I bet fans and analysts alike also didn’t expect to see a unit that struggles so much with defensive cohesion or shows so little on-court chemistry. The only bright spot was a dominant season-opener win over Atlanta, which felt more like a gaslighting experience than anything, because the team effort/strategy since then has been putrid.

There’s a lot to unpack here about what might be causing this slump. Is it the shooting regression and poor on-court decisions from Immanuel Quickley? Could it be due to the injury woes faced by veteran center Jakob Poeltl? Or maybe it’s the strange new coaching scheme, which clearly hasn’t worked well outside the season opener against the Hawks. Perhaps not everyone is cut out to be the next Pacers or OKC Thunder, as I recently mentioned.

When it comes to talent, Toronto has plenty of it. The problem isn't really a lack of a capable roster, but more about timing and awareness. Sometimes players don’t seem to know where they should be at the right moments — clogging the paint for no reason, or being too far behind and slow to catch up in transition. Opponents have been taking advantage of this in every way possible.

Just look at the last four games as clear proof: Toronto is currently giving up an average of 127.8 points per game, which ranks them near the bottom of the league — tied for the 28th percentile — right there with teams like the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets. There is no excuse for nothing there, that is simply atrocious. Scottie Barnes' recent quote, as mentioned by veteran Raptors insider Michael Grange on X, gives us an even clearer picture. He got the number wrong (133.0 points allowed in last three games), but it's obvious he recognizes just how poor Toronto's effort has been lately:

At this point, some people have even jokingly suggested that Toronto sacrificed the Raptors to the sports gods so the Blue Jays could have their World Series run (bring it home Jays, one more game to go!). After Toronto's dismantling 139-121 loss to the Rockets on October 29, head coach Darko Rajakovic was asked about Houston's huge rebounding advantage. He responded, as reported by Michael Grange on X: "I thought our guys fought, they tried, they just manhandled us there ... They just punked us on the glass."

Darko Rajakovic is at serious risk of getting fired if Raptors don't improve ASAP

I don't know Darko Rajakovic personally, but he seems like a really solid guy. He appears to have a good relationship with his players, and while he can be blunt and direct when calling guys out, I think Rajakovic can still tend to soften his messages with a sense of sugarcoating or being too nice. A 1-4 start might not seem like a huge deal, but in reality, things can quickly get boil over in Toronto if Rajakovic and his staff (especially Pat Delany) don't find a way to address the Raptors' obvious defensive issues.

We've seen this happen before with coaches like Mike Brown, who was let go after a 1-4 start, and Earl Watson in past years. Just because it's early in the season doesn't mean the front office will sit around waiting for things to improve, even though they also share some responsibility for how things are going. And so, it really is a put-up-or-shut-up situation for the Raptors and Darko Rajakovic, after raising the bar to go all-in with this core. While Rajakovic is not entirely responsible for everything, he will likely be the scapegoat if things don't improve, recent years-long contract extension or not.

There are even calls on social media from some in Raptors Nation to hire more proven veteran coaches like Tom Thibodeau or Michael Malone, who bring a no-nonsense style of coaching. Darko Rajakovic needs to find a solution quickly, or he might find himself jobless.