Head coach's comment on Raptors is something diehard fans don't want to hear

What you need most in the darkest times is a beacon of hope.

Even when things look bleak, when times are hard, when you feel pressed down and rolled over and blown apart, if you have hope you can hold on and take the next step. Unfortunately for the Toronto Raptors and their fans, there is not a lot of hope to go around -- at least not in the short-term.

The Raptors have been absolutely blasted three games in a row, giving up 139 points, 155 points and finally 136 points in their last three games. That's an historic level of defensive ineptitude and highlights just how poorly the Raptors are playing right now.

Any list of the worst defenses of all time includes the early-90s Denver Nuggets because they combined terrible defense with an insanely fast pace; to be mentioned in the same breath is a horrid indictment of the Raptors' defensive performance the past three games.

In such times, what a team needs is a ray of hope, a promise that things will get better. The Raptors and their fans can look at a young core and expect better health in future seasons - but is there hope for tomorrow? Will Toronto turn things around or will they continue losing by colossal amounts?

After the Raptors' latest loss to the Atlanta Hawks, a 136-107 lashing on Sunday evening, head coach Darko Rajakovic had a chance to speak that hope to the team and to fans in his postgame press conference. Did he do so?

He did not.

Speaking honestly and exhaustedly, Rajakovic described the team's string of unspeakably bad losses like this: "Right now as a team, we've hit the wall , we look tired, we look drained ... that's the reality right now," said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.

There is not a lot of optimism in that statement, nor even a hint of hope sprinkled in. The Raptors are exhausted -- despite having two days off between each of their last games -- and are drained. Their group of young players has "hit the wall" and doesn't have the energy to compete with their opponents.

That may be true -- it certainly matches the eye test, and Bruce Brown and Scottie Barnes both affirmed that fact -- but it's the kind of truth that suggests a similar result in the days ahead. If the slowed-down holiday schedule wasn't enough to refresh this team -- not to mention the light schedule during NBA Cup week -- then Toronto will continue to be drained for another month or more until the All-Star Break. One thing is for certain: no one on this team will have their breaks shortened by being selected to play in the All-Star Game.

Rajakovic suggested the solution was trusting one another and working hard. Scottie Barnes thinks the Raptors need to push through, and when necessary to stand up and fight. Those sound more like platitudes than a solution.

Darko Rajakovic has been a fine head coach since entering the league, but even fine coaches can be fired. He hasn't helped elevate the Raptors to any amount of winning, and while he has been dealt a terrible hand due to injury, other coaches have managed to rise above their circumstances to some extent. He hasn't done that.

Now, he shows up to a press conference and merely reveals that his NBA team he was in charge of conditioning this summer has played tired and worn out. He needs a solution -- but doesn't have an effective one.

Fans of the Raptors, your best player is exhausted, your head coach is exhausted, your entire team might be exhausted. Ideally, that's the culprit and when they do manage to get some rest that can be ready to go. More likely, something else is going on, and that something will only be revealed with time.

Looking for hope? Turn elsewhere, because that wasn't on the menu for Darko Rajakovic. Cold, hard truth was, and while it probably didn't need to be said, it's an understandable decision. That doesn't make it any less disappointing.