After the Toronto Raptors lost to the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night, head coach Darko Rajakovic spoke highly of star Scottie Barnes once again after calling him the “face of the league” in a rant about the officials Tuesday. While Rajakovic was in a hasty mood then, he seemed to be excited to talk about Barnes this time around and said he has “amazing ambition” according to Law Murray of The Athletic.
“Scottie Barnes wants to be great. He doesn't want to be good, he wants to be great,” Rajakovic said. “Seeing how invested he is every single day, how much film he watches, all the work he puts in on the court, even talking to him this summer, he's such a humble and down to Earth player. At the same time, he has amazing ambition and wants to be really good. He's making all of that with great work ethic and performance and coach-ability.”
Rajakovic says Raptors star Scottie Barnes resembles hall of fame players
Before becoming the head coach for Toronto, Rajakovic worked as an assistant from 2014-2023 for teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, and Memphis Grizzlies. He said he has worked with future hall of fame players and Barnes resembles them in a multitude of ways.
“For me, it's a true honor to have a player like that to connect with and talk and he's open to listen. He's soaking in everything,” Rajakovic said. “He's one of those guys when you're long enough in this league, you notice certain type of players and I was lucky enough to coach and wortk with some future hall of famers and he has a lot in common and one of those traits is when he walks on the court or the gym, he notices everything, he's going to catch up on every detail. He ‘s going to continue to grow as a player.”
Rajakovic goes on rant and mentions Barnes will be “face of the league”
After losing to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night, Rajakovic was irate at the NBA referees for the lack of fouls called on the team and especially Barnes. He said in the rant that he finds it surprising that a player that is “going to be an All-Star” and will be “the face of the league” only gets two free throws on the night.
“We have star players on our team as well. How is it possible that Scottie Barnes, who is an All-Star calibre player in this league, he goes every single time to the rim with force, without flopping, and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for the whole game? How is that possible? Scottie Barnes is going to be an All-Star, he’s gonna be the face of this league,” Rajakovic said.
The 2021-22 NBA Rookie of the Year, Barnes has averaged 20.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists this season. Coming out of Florida State as the fourth overall pick, the 22-year old is definitely the face of the Raptors alongside Pascal Siakam. Toronto is 15-23 in the Eastern Conference which puts them at the 12th seed. Their next game Friday night against the Utah Jazz.
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