On the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show, host Zach Lowe was joined by Howard Beck to discuss the latest contract situations involving Jalen Duren and Kawhi Leonard, then moved on to a few awards predictions. They started with Coach of the Year, and Beck went with Darko Rajakovic as his second pick for Coach of the Year (the discussion starts around the 48 minute mark.)
When Beck revealed his pick, Lowe went silent for a second as he revealed that it was his top pick for COTY. He also added a few points that he thought Rajakovic has going against him this season. “If the Raptors exceed expectations, how much of the credit is given to Kawhi Leonard?”
Rajakovic came off his first winning season as a head coach last year when he led Toronto to a 46/36 record, clinching the franchise’s first postseason appearance since the 2022/23 Play-Ins (2021/22 if you don’t count the play-ins where they lost in the first round to Philadelphia 4/2). It was his first winning record and playoff appearance as a head coach; after three seasons, Darko has improved his win percentage year after year, and with a superstar on the way in Kawhi Leonard, expectations are beginning to rise for Toronto, who flew under the radar last season.
The task at hand is much tougher now that the Eastern Conference has gotten much stronger, with Giannis Antetokounmpo heading to Miami, LeBron James coming back to the Eastern Conference and forming another super team in Philadelphia and the top contenders of last season having the same core around them, but it looks like some of the top analysts of the NBA envision Toronto can keep up.
