Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic recently had a lot of great things to say about Gradey Dick’s development (averaging 15.0 PPG/3.4 RPG/1.8 APG/0.9 SPG/0.2 BPG/41.4% FG/34.5% 3-PT/88.1% FT in 48 starts).
*career-highs in PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, BPG, FT percentage, and games started*
(via Toronto Raptors):
On sophomore year improvements: “I think just a huge step for him this season was going from coming off the bench and playing 20, 24, 25 minutes a night to being a starter and playing 30-plus minutes in his second year. I think that’s a huge, huge step for a young player. I think he made a lot of strides this year. Teams are much more focused on guarding him with antennas up, not allowing him to get to his shots easily. I think he’s doing a really good job of finding ways to still be very efficient on the offensive end. I think that defensively he does (a) really good job of being aggressive, not avoiding any matchups, being really intentional about how he’s guarding the ball. And he’s (a) big part of our culture, guys that bring (a) smile every day to work. This whole group likes him, so it’s a lot of fun to be around him and see him grow.”
On handling NBA physicality: “I think he’s doing (a) good job there. Obviously it’s a process, it’s not going to happen overnight. I think he made huge strides over the course of (the) summer with his body getting stronger and adding (a) couple pounds of muscle. During the season, that goes up and down. So, I think he’s doing a really good job and this is going to be all set up for a lot of success in the summer.”
