Mahlalela says his coaching journey mirrors his Raptors 905 players

TORONTO — Jama Mahlalela believes he has a lot in common with the Raptors 905 players he’ll be guiding this season.

The 38-year-old has climbed his way up the Raptors organization for more than a decade, and the new coach of Toronto’s G-League team said he understands how hungry his players are to move up as well.

“I think the extent of where I have come from, and not being a former NBA player, who has been given it all but really worked from the bottom to where I am now is the same path they are on,” Mahlalela said Wednesday. “As a G-League player, when you come into our program you are saying ‘Hey I’m here, but I want to get there.’ That is the same for everyone in our organization. We all sort of have aspirations for where we want to go.”

The native of Mbabane, Swaziland grew up in the Toronto area and played college basketball at the University of British Columbia. The Raptors hired him in 2006 as a member of the community development staff, leading the Raptors Basketball Academy and clinics throughout Canada.

He was hired as NBA Asia’s director of basketball operations in 2009 and oversaw the League’s youth programs in Hong Kong. He was a Raptors assistant coach since the 2013-14 season. 

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“I think (the 905 players) can hopefully see a message and a journey that I have had that will inspire them as well,” Mahlalela said.

Mahlalela, whose name is pronounced MAH-la-lay-lah, becomes the third head coach in team history and joins the club following five seasons as an assistant coach at the NBA level.

He’s already reached out to previous head coaches Jesse Mermuys and Jerry Stackhouse, who joined the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant coach after leading the 905s to consecutive G-League final appearances, including a victory in 2017.

“I’ve shared time on the bench with each of them as assistant coaches with the Raptors, but then really picked their brains about what the 905 program is like and what their learning experiences were,” Mahlalela said. “They both were incredibly encouraging in saying ‘Hey, this is a really good opportunity to grow as a coach, to develop yourself, your leadership capacity.’ So they were really key factors in me making this decision.”

The Raptors’ G-League franchise, which plays out of the Hershey Centre in suburban Mississauga, has helped develop numerous players — including Delon Wright and Pascal Siakam — which is exactly what the franchise envisioned when the team was founded in 2015. Mahlalela hopes the develop team can be like an experimental lab for the Raptors and head coach Nick Nurse.

“We’ve had really good conversations,” Mahlalela said on Nurse, who replaced his former boss Dwane Casey as head coach. “I think that’s one of the most exciting parts for me is that we have such a good working relationship. I think there’s going to be a real lock-step between the Raptors team and the 905 team in terms of what we’re running offensively, how we’re guarding defensively, but also just our vision.

“There’ll be a connection between the coaching staffs that is exciting, and I think we’re maybe even going to bridge new territories in terms of the connectedness between our two teams.”

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press