OverDrive - Armstrong on the Raptors' red-hot win streak, Ingram making a statement and Rajakovic's coaching mentality

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

TSN NBA Analyst Jack Armstrong joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Raptors' winning streak, the elite stretch for the team, Brandon Ingram making his mark in a solid way, Scottie Barnes' fixture in the lineup, Darko Rajakovic overseeing the roster and more.

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Here's our TSN Raptors analyst, Jack Armstrong. How are you doing, Jack? Brian, Dave, how are you guys doing? Greetings from Charlotte. Yes, we love it. Well, we're doing very well, man. Not as good as the Raptors, evidently. What's it been like being around this team, man?

It seems like it's nothing but positive mojo right now. Yeah, it's a good group. Very, you know, very good group in terms of chemistry, high character guys, awful one, one for all. collegiate atmosphere, high energy. Really, they're just an enjoyable group to be around. So, you know, I've heard so many people already compare them to, you know, kind of this past years, Toronto Blue Jay Group.

And, you know, there are a lot of those similarities. So, yeah, this is a group that you could easily root for and enjoy watching. So, yeah, it's been a fun ride. When you look at Brandon Ingram, Jack, I mean, it was kind of a bizarre scenario that happened last year where the Raptors trade for the guy. They signed into an extension that his agent subsequently crows about, about how rich the deal was and how he couldn't have got that extension anywhere else other than Toronto. And he never plays for the Raptors last year.

So we didn't really have a lot of a feel for what he could do. All we looked at was a very injury riddled past in New Orleans and not great results in New Orleans. because the Pelicans are the Pelicans. What's your level of surprise with the way this guy has hit the ground running and been the force he's been? Well, you know, if you saw him play

at Duke, if you saw him play with the Lakers, and if you saw him play with the Pelicans, when he was healthy, I'm not the least bit surprised. I mean, this is who he is. The question is, is he on the court? and that's going to be the most important thing from this point forward.

He's already played more games this year than he played last year. So the great thing is if they can keep him upright and on the floor, you're seeing a guy that's an incredibly capable, gifted, skilled offensive player that you can run a lot of actions through, and that you can have the ball in his hands late in the shot clock that his teammates have faith in him he has faith in what he's able to do and the league understands his talent level

and he's long he's tall he can shoot over the top of people there's not a lot of defenders in the league that can make him that uncomfortable that he can't get to his spots and get his shot off so to me I think he's ideal for the development of all the other guys on this team

everyone's able to move down a peg and the pressure isn't there to have to move up a peg. So with him on the floor, suddenly you become a much more efficient team offensively. And look, he's never going to be an all-defensive player, but he's trying like heck out there defensively. And he goes and gets it on the defensive glass in terms of rebounding. So to me, I think he also looks like a rejuvenated, excited, all-in player.

And when you get a guy that comes from a, situation, Dave, to your point, like New Orleans, and he comes to Toronto and says, man, these guys do everything first class. You know what? The rest of you guys, you should realize how lucky you ought to be here. This is amazing. I've been around the league a long time. This is a pretty good place to be. So I think that permeates throughout the roster too, and guys really buy into what's going on. With Jack Armstrong, and yeah, he seems to mix really well with Scotty Barnes and the way Barnes is kind of wired and like I'm curious

where you see this going with Scotty and you take the other night into consideration where Ingram gets a ball late they didn't drop a play. I heard you I was saying the same thing call the time out. I thought Darko was going to call the time out. Let him play. You know he challenges Siakum, he hits the shot and it seems

like Ingram is the guy that's likely going to get that opportunity moving forward but I'm curious where Barnes comes into play on scenarios like that and do you see growth in his game where we're going to get to that point where it's like, all right, Scott, you're the man in the biggest situations, or do you think it's going to be Ingram when it comes to scoring scenarios late in games? Well, two things. First of all, I said time out because the ball wasn't an Ingram's hands,

and they were discombobulated the last few possessions and needed order and needed organization, which I felt they didn't have in a game like that. They'd give in the Anacred. They played their tails off in terms of. of how they were guarding and all that. But when the ball got in Ingram's hands, then you're like, no, you don't want to time out. So when you look at Scott E. Bonds, he is a guy that, to me, I think, gets greater joy out of maybe having a game where he gets 20, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 3 or 4 deflections. I think he gets greater joy in a game like that and winning than maybe getting 27 points and maybe lesser in other areas.

So I think he's perfectly suited to play with a guy like Ingram. And, you know, it's interesting. I'm not saying he is. He's not. You know, Scotty Barnes has got that size and the vision in the open court that a Magic Johnson had. And again, he's not at that caliber. Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Magic Johnson, with the exception of, what was it,

in the finals when Kareem was out in a game six at Philly, had to be the guy. But always was in a position where he had showtime and incredible talent around him and was better suited in that. And to me, I think if you look at Scotty Bonds, I think when you put greater talent around him, he becomes that much better because now he can really dig into where he is capable of really impacting winning.

And he's impacting winning as a score, mid post, low post, occasional face-up three, which is improved. How about him going 14 to 14 from the free throw line? Okay, he's going to block shots, he's going to alter shots, he's going to get steals, he's going to get deflections. he's got great switchability in his game where he can guard all the spots on the floor it's got great range as a defender in terms of his length and his lateral quickness he can go get it on both backboards as a rebounder and he's a guy that can direct your break he can get the ball up the court very quickly and get it to the right people and to me i think in tight quarters he's a magnificent passer

and again unselfish so I think the fit for him right now is ideal Jack the other big question mark this season I felt coming into it was Darko because we know Darko Ryakovich has a great reputation as a developer of talent and that was one of the reasons he was brought into this situation this was a team that won a combined 55 games

in his first two seasons and now he's faced with a team that's expected to win. It's not tanking anymore. So far it's gone awfully well. I mean, now, I saw it with my own eyes, Jack. I know you were a great developer of talent and your coaching days at Niagara and also a great tactician. I don't know about that.

But not many guys can mix those two things. How do you think Darko's done so far? Well, you know, I think a difficult spot for him to be in when he took over. I personally, and I said it on the air, when it happened at the time, I did not agree with the departure of Nick Nurse. I think Nick Nurse is an incredibly talented coach. With that being said, a decision was made. With that decision, now you bring a guy in who's never been an NBA head coach,

and nor was Nick, but Nick proved himself. And now, unfortunately, for Darko, his first two years, I don't know what they were, restructuring, rebuilding, retooling, rebooting, tanking. I don't know, there's a million different ways. But bottom line, the first two years, I think it was incredibly difficult for him to show all the tools that he had in his toolkit as a coach.

Now he's in his third year, and I've always been a big believer. I don't care what level you're at. I think in your third year, you should know about a player, you should know about a coach, an executive, whatever. And I think in the third year now, with the handcuffs off, and everyone's pointing in the right direction saying, hey, we need to win, he's showing that the foundation and the groundwork he put in place is coming to fruition. So I'm really happy for him, because a lot of times it's like being an expansion coach.

You do all the heavy lifting, and then when it's time to win, they whack you, and they bring somebody else in. they bring a bigger name in, and you never get a chance to show how talented you are. So to me, I think he's shown that now when they've had to win, that he's shown that he can put a program together. And here's the thing. I think the telling thing, Dave, was on Monday night after the Raptors beat the Cavs. Unprompted, and let me repeat this, unprompted. And this is a guy that played for Mike Shoshchewski at Duke.

Brandon Ingram raved about playing for Darko. Again, this is a guy that is an elite talent in this league and knows what a good coach is, knows what a good team is, knows what winning is, knows what talent is. And unprompted just said, hey, this guy is incredible to play for, and he's our leader. He's a big reason why we're successful. he gets us going every day.

So to me, as a former coach, rarely the players become effusive in their praise of a coach. Normally, they look in the mirror and say it's all about me. So for a guy to not only praise how much he loves his teammates, but more importantly, to bring it up without being prompted on it, I think says a lot. So I think that that says a lot about the job that Darko's done. And again, you know, the guy that hired you as the president is no longer here. Thank goodness they have a least stability where Bobby Webster took over and a lot of those same attributes and things that wanted to be put in place are still there.

And so, you know, I think it helps around him. You know, God forbid if they didn't bring anyone, one back, and now he's got a new executive, and he's basically a lame duck coach with little chance of surviving. And, you know, so to me, I think it's worked out really well with a stability in the front office. And there's been a lot of movement around them, and ownership change, a change above them as the president, and yet I think he's stuck to the task, and I think these guys really

believe in him. And look, pro coaching today, they not only have to respect you, they got to like you. And I think the players both like him and respect him. And look, he can get after them and rip a strip off of them. I've seen it. He will do it. And at the same time, he'll give him a pat on the butt and he'll give him a hug. And those guys will go, I love this guy.

I'll play hard for him. And he's done a great job of development. personal relationships with guys so that in the heat of battle when you get into a guy and challenge a guy a little bit, guys don't retreat and get, have their feelings

hurt. They know it's coming from a good place. And look, that's modern coach hitting 2025. Always great seeing you. Always great catching up with you, Jack, enjoy Charlotte, and we'll do it again soon. Hey, by the way, this is my first time ever doing a FaceTime interview on

overdrive. This is like, we are in the cutting edge. This is like, this is big tough. This is big time. I feel like I'm on the cut, you're right, I'm on the cutting edge here in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. So my first time, what do they say? I'm a long, first time call a long time

listener. That's right. First time Facetimer. First time FaceTimeer, Jack. Long time watcher, I guess. It's the reality of modern TV and radio and the whole thing. great seeing you buddy thank you for doing this have a great weekend there is jack armstrong