Raptors’ Dick, Agbaji making strides after off-season training together

TORONTO – For a brief period early in the summer, Gradey Dick and Ochai Agbaji weren’t just teammates and friends, they were also adversaries.

The young Raptors guards were back at home in Kansas, training together near the campus of their alma mater.

They set up camp at Haskell Indian Nations University, a short drive from the University of Kansas basketball facility in the city of Lawrence, which is conveniently located between the family homes of Dick and Agbaji.

Agbaji would make the nearly 40-minute commute from Kansas City, where he grew up, while Dick – who lives in Wichita, more than a two-hour drive away – stayed in Lawrence.

For a couple weeks in June, leading up to the start of NBA Summer League, the Raptors had Ivo Simovic and James “Coco” Wade – the two assistant coaches they work closely with during the season – there to oversee their workouts.

Each session would last about an hour, starting with strength training and individual drills, and ending with shooting competitions and a game or two of one-on-one.

Who would win?

“We split,” Dick said, diplomatically.

“It was very competitive,” Agbaji told TSN on Thursday, with the start of the 2024-25 season less than a week away. “We were wearing ourselves out, and that was kinda setting the tone for the whole entire summer, and setting the tone for now too.”

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement in which Toronto could monitor the progress of two key developmental pieces during an otherwise quiet point of the off-season, while the players could continue to train under the guidance of team staff. But it was also a unique opportunity for two very different players to learn from each other’s divergent strengths.

Dick came into the league known as a three-point marksman, and after a prolonged shooting slump to begin his rookie year, he hit 40 per cent of his attempts over the season’s final 32 games. To take the next step as a sophomore, the team wanted him to spend the summer getting stronger, diversifying his offensive repertoire, and most importantly, growing on the defensive end.

With two NBA seasons under his belt, Agbaji has already shown that he can become one of the league’s toughest on-ball defenders. For him to solidify his spot in Darko Rajakovic’s rotation and fulfill his promise as a three-and-D wing player, he’ll need to add the three. The 24-year-old is a 33 per cent career three-point shooter, and only hit 22 per cent of his tries in 27 games with Toronto last season. In time, the hope is that he can expand his offensive profile and, ideally, extend his range.

Working out in tandem allowed them to kick off a very important off-season of development by competing against someone who excels in the area they were focused on improving. If Agbaji was going to keep up with Dick in the shooting drills, he knew he would have to be especially dialled in. When they went head-to-head, Dick knew he would have to match Agbaji’s defensive intensity.

By all accounts, it brought out the best in them both.

“Gradey’s shooting is something that is very clear and obvious; every time that they were working together, it was almost pushing Ochai to be even better, to be even more locked in,” Rajakovic said. “But also, every time that they played one-on-one, Ochai was the guy setting the tone on the defensive end, and Gradey was able to learn from that experience. It was beneficial for both of them.”

“I feel like if we’re competing, it builds that competitive spirit where we want to try to beat each other,” Dick said. “If we’re doing a shooting competition and I want to win then he’s got to pick it up, and vice versa with one-on-one, where I’m trying to close out on him and work on my defence. Just pushing each other in those ways.”

What started out as a pairing of convenience turned into a bond that could be advantageous for both players and their team going into the new season.

The two guards just missed each other at the University of Kansas. Agbaji had completed his four-year college career and was selected by Cleveland with the 14^th-overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft before Dick started his freshman campaign. They met briefly at KU when Dick came in for a recruitment visit during Agbaji’s senior season, and then connected a few times in the years to follow.

It wasn’t until last February, when Agbaji was traded from Utah to Toronto, that they started getting to know each other, but the friendship really blossomed over the summer.

They would hang out and go for dinner after workouts. Dick joked that Agbaji’s fiancé, Avery Brandmeyer, was like his second mom while they were in Las Vegas for Summer League – looking out for him and even doing his laundry. Recently, Agbaji and Brandmeyer hosted Dick at their place in Toronto for homemade pizza night.

“We’ve been super close since [the summer],” said Dick.

“He’s an upbeat, fun guy, always goofy, always wants to bring a smile to [your face],” Agbaji said of Dick. “Having someone like that around is never a bad [thing]. He’s a great teammate and great person. I feel like this summer we had a chance to [bond]… We’ve been building that relationship a lot.”

That chemistry has extended onto the basketball court. With Dick inheriting Gary Trent Jr.’s spot and Agbaji filling in for the injured RJ Barrett, they’ve both been running with the first unit during the preseason and would likely continue to start together into the regular season if Barrett’s sprained shoulder isn’t healed in time for opening night next Wednesday.

In Sunday’s exhibition loss to Boston, Agbaji assisted on all four three-pointers that Dick hit during the third quarter, three of them coming on kickouts. He put the ball on the floor, got to the rim, and knew exactly where his team’s best shooter was going to be.

“During the game I felt it too,” Agbaji told TSN ahead of Tuesday’s rematch with the reigning champion Celtics. “I was like, man, I feel like we’re literally on the same [page]. And he acknowledged me for that. That’s how our team is, just acknowledging all the little stuff guys do for [each other] and building that chemistry. That goes a long way, especially down the line in the season, going through ups and downs. Leaning on your teammates is the way to get through it.”

Both players had their best games of the preseason in Tuesday’s impressive win over a Celtics team that was mostly at full strength and playing a regular rotation.

Dick showed off the full arsenal; he was confident and decisive in attacking off the dribble, pulled up from mid-range, and got to and finished at the rim. Fourteen of his game-high 27 points came in the paint, and his active defence created opportunities for him to score in transition, where he had 11 of his points.

The Raptors’ starters were excellent, led by Dick and Scottie Barnes, who finished with 26 points and was one rebound shy of a triple-double. Agbaji was the perfect complement. He added another three assists to the five he recorded on Sunday, including another to Dick – notable for a player who only recorded more than three assists once last season. His cutting and ability to move without the ball remain his biggest strengths offensively, but he was also opportunistic, finding ways to score – he finished with 16 points – without forcing his game.

His first bucket came on a put-back dunk after running the floor and following Barnes’ missed layup. He did an admirable job as the primary defender on Jaylen Brown, the reigning Finals MVP, who was held to 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting and missed all five of his three-point attempts in 25 minutes.

Agbaji also made his first three-pointer, though he missed his next three attempts, including one from the corner that hit the top of the backboard. It’s still a work in progress, but he’s making strides.

He made some subtle tweaks to his shot over the summer, including a slight adjustment to the foot placement on his jumper. He also picked up a few things from studying Dick’s release.

“He doesn’t really think too much about it when he shoots it,” Agbaji said. “The ball is in his hands and it’s out the next second. He’s put the work in and he’s always trusting it.”

“For Ochai, shooting is not the priority for me,” Rajakovic said following Tuesday’s 119-118 victory. “For me, the priority is what he's doing defensively. And he affected the game in a big, big way. He was also able to get in transition and score in transition and create those opportunities… He can do so many other things that can affect our game. And I believe that the shooting is going to come for him as well, but I want him to really play with that type of force and feel comfortable on the court, and then everything else is going to come.”

Similarly, if Dick can defend the way that he and Agbaji did in that contest, it could unlock even more in the 20-year-old's game this season. 

“I think just talking to Coach Darko and Ivo, the biggest emphasis was the defensive side, and that’s kind of helping me propel into my offensive side,” Dick said. “I feel like every time out there, they’re telling me how many deflections and stuff I'm getting. After a couple of those, I feel like that's really improving my energy going into the offensive side and when I do that I can show more of a versatility to my game.”