‘It’s not like we have Steph Curry sitting on the bench:’

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Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic hears the please to do something — anything — to shake up his struggling team, now losers of 10 of 13 games after back-to-back losses on Friday and Saturday.

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Despite going up by 17 points, the Raptors somehow found themselves down by 10 points for the 10th straight contest and more importantly, lost 126-119 to a middling Utah Jazz team. Usually the Raptors start games slowly, but this time they were great at first, before things went awry late.

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Rajakovic has been asked by the media repeatedly the last few weeks about changing his starting lineup and has resisted for various reasons, including believing Scottie Barnes isn’t ready to be a lead ball-handler yet, a stance he appeared to soften a bit pre-game Sunday. But afterward he still sounded like someone that doesn’t believe a solution will simply be found by tinkering with what he’s been given to work with.

“We’re looking at (options) like always, (w) really talk about it, like, what? How? Why? Who? Those are the questions, but how does that affectt everyone else,” Rajakovic said. “Sure, we can mix up rotations here and there during the game. It’s not like we have Steph Curry sitting on the bench and I’m not putting him in on the court. It’s something we are looking at. We are trying to get some chemistry. We are seeing some improvements like we did in the first half. Great first half. Why we didn’t do it in the second half? That we question,” he said.

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“It’s not even really about lineups. The same people were on the court in the second half as well, but we were completely different in the way we played in the second half. That’s the mentality that we are going to look at and address … Everybody that touches the court, you have a responsibility as a team what needs to be done. The easiest thing is to change lineups. But are those just cosmetics, or are we addressing real things? We had (a) 16-point lead in the first half.”

Rajakovic is both right that his team at times gets the job done and that it’s puzzling why things often also fall completely apart, but he’s also correct that there isn’t an easy fix from within. He would never come out and say it, but Raptors management has saddled him with one of the worst collections of shooters and NBA quality guards in the entire NBA. It traded away too much draft capital and has not come close to replacing the talent from the championship team that has walked out the door. Even the useful Otto Porter Jr. doesn’t seem healthy enough to play more than once or twice a week, even after missing almost all of his initial season as a Raptor. The team doesn’t appear confident that rookie Gradey Dick, billed as a great shooter while at Kansasa and after being drafted 13th overall, is ready to contribute yet, having just recently turned 20 years old.

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Rajakovic labelled the Utah loss “demoralizing,” though his players pledged to stay upbeat during the holiday season before they come back fresh next week.

Rajakovic said the back-to-back games couldn’t be used as an excuse for running out of steam. He also took some responsibility. The eteam has lost 10 of 13. “I told guys that, first of all, ‘me as a leader of the team, I got to look in the mirror and see what I can do better or different and how I can help the team better,’” he said.

“And I expect the same thing from the coaching staff and all the players to look in the mirror and evaluate themselves (with) what can be done, what each individual can do better to help the team. We have two days off. It’s Christmas. People should spend time with family, but also it’s going to be very healthy for us to think about what we can do differently and better when we come back.”

What the front office can do differently is something to help the rookie coach have a workable roster to manage.

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