James Wade, an assistant coach for the Raptors, on patience, process, and a type of homecoming.
James Wade of the Raptors was contacted by us to discuss the team’s new systems, his WNBA experience, and other topics.
The Toronto Raptors have experienced a lot of transition over the past few months. The decision to split ways with former head coach Nick Nurse and usher in a new age of squad structure and system was, arguably, the shift that brought about the biggest change.
Naturally, a lot of the narratives surrounding coaching, implementing the system, and everything else related to this transformation have come from Darko Rajakovic since the organization hired him. Rajakovic worked all summer long to assemble his coaching group, which featured some well-known names to Raptors supporters, including Jama Mahlalela.
Wade coached another important game at Scotiabank Arena just a few months before joining the Toronto Raptors coaching staff. In front of a raucous, 19,000-person Scotiabank crowd on May 13, Wade’s Chicago Sky defeated the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA’s inaugural game in Canada. Coach Wade, who was the Sky’s head coach and general manager at the time of the game, jokingly referred to SBA as “his house” after becoming the first WNBA coach to win there.
“You still remember that?” When asked if it was wonderful to be “home” again, Wade grinned and replied, “Yeah, I claimed it.” While he admitted that he had not anticipated finding himself in this situation,
Regarding Toronto, he continued, “I can definitely see WNBA in the future here.”
Wade is getting ready to start his first season with the Raptors after making the difficult decision to leave the Chicago Sky in June, the team he won a championship with in 2019. Fortunately, there are many other new faces surrounding the Raptors this season in addition to Coach, Rajakovic, and the majority of the coaching staff.
We get a fresh energy, which is fantastic, in my opinion. When athletes have that fresh energy, I believe that’s always beneficial for them, Wade added, highlighting the advantages of being around by so many new people. However, trying to quickly catch up with so many people can have have
Pat Delany, Jama Mahlalela and James Wade will be the front-of-bench assistants on Darko Rajakovic's Raptors staff this season. Per Darko, Delany is the lead assistant and defensive coordinator, Mahlalela will oversee the offence and Wade will be heavily involved with analytics.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 7, 2023
Everyone expects everything to function instantly, but processes take time. Just a little amount of patience is required. He continued by saying that now is the time for learning and making mistakes, which the Raptors have undoubtedly done. As they enter their third week of preseason play since the start of training camp on October 3, they have only played two preseason games. They will play at Wade’s former home city of Chicago on Tuesday before returning to Toronto on Friday to finish the preseason.
Wade said that the amount of basketball IQ shared by the players, coaches, and staff has made it simple for everyone to catch up with the Raptors’ new approach. Something
I asked Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic about his decision to hire James Wade and how his experience in the WNBA will translate to the Raptors. He said he was impressed by Wade's experience both in the WNBA and internationally and is excited to have him on#WNBATwitter #WeTheNorth
— chelsea leite (@chelsealeite) October 2, 2023
Basketball’s perceived globalization appears to be a hot topic these days, as evidenced by the current influx of overseas players into the NBA and WNBA. There are many advantages to the international game becoming more and more popular. According to Wade, these players are gaining professional experience much sooner than their North American counterparts. After playing abroad, a player already has those years of basketball intelligence built into them if they enter the NBA.
When asked what he would contribute to the Raptors from his stint in the WNBA, that European style of play immediately comes to mind. He observes that the WNBA plays basketball more like the European style than the NBA, with a lot
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