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And to see the talent that EuroCamp has now... and obviously, it was talented when you were there. What's it like to see the difference? Goran Dragic: I think it’s a huge difference, especially the style of basketball, it changed a lot. Back in the day, I was just talking to [Sergio] Rodriguez yesterday that usually we had 6-2, 6-3 point-guards, and now you cannot find them anymore. Everybody’s 6-6, 6-7, and they’re playing on the ball, off the ball. The game changed a lot, but I think basketball is in good hands.
Was there ever a 'welcome to the NBA' moment or that you realized that the league was completely different than Europe? Goran Dragic: Yes. I remember… I think it was Jamaal Tinsley. I was a rookie and maybe the third or fourth game of the season. I didn’t play much at first. Coach put me in the last three, four minutes of the game and I was guarding him. And he put the ball between my legs and he caught the ball on the other side and lay it up. And then I said, okay. You know what, I got embarrassed. The next possession I did exactly the same thing to him. So I was like, you know what, this is going to be fun. But I do have to be more engaged in this. That was kind of a welcome moment for me.
As someone who's played in both Europe and NBA, to you, who are the greatest five NBA players and who are the five best European players? Goran Dragic: I’m going to start with Nikola Jokic at the five position. I have to go with my guy, Luka [Doncic], as the point guard. Then, of course, Michael [Jordan] as the two-guard. I played a conference finals against Kobe [Bryant], and he really dismantled us. So I’m going to put Kobe as a three-guard. And then at the four, you have LeBron [James], you have Larry Bird. You know what, I’m going to go old school, and I’m going to put Bird in, you know?
Special guests include Derrick Rose, Sergio Rodriguez, Goran Dragić, and Guerschon Yabusele, who will share their experience with the next generation of global talent.
Damian Lillard passes Gary Payton in scoring
Jorge Sierra: Damian Lillard passed Gary Payton in scoring last night and is No. 38 all-time now. Suns sixth man Bradley Beal moved ahead of Buck Williams for No. 107 in NBA history. Zach LaVine (29) has now scored more points than Derrick Rose and Goran Dragic.
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Looking back now, would you had ever imagined how your career played out? Goran Dragic: I’m really happy with my career. 15 years in the league. Of course as a kid, you always dream of someday to make it in the NBA, but I never thought I would play for 15 years. I was really fortunate that I could do it. Of course I was always dreaming about an NBA ring. I was in the Finals, but I got close and I never achieved that goal. But in life, there’s going to be tough times and good times. If I look back, I have a great career. I played many playoff games, I was on an All-NBA Team, I was an All-Star, so as a kid I would sign that up right away [laughs]. To be those things, as a kid I was just trying to make it in the league. In the end, I really think that I overachieved.
Who was the best player in the league when you played? Goran Dragic: Definitely it’s Kobe Bryant. If I go back, I play the 2010 Western Conference Finals, Phoenix versus Lakers, I see that Mamba mentality. It was unbelievable. We put like three or four guys on Kobe, and he was just smiling and shooting over three guys and scoring. He had a good team. He had Pau Gasol, [Andrew] Bynum, [Jordan] Farmar, [Lamar] Odom, all these players, but when the game was on the line, we all know where the ball was going to go, but we couldn’t stop it. So for me, for sure it was Kobe Bryant at that time. And then you have D-Wade, LeBron James, you have many many players, I would say Kobe was the best closer, and D-Wade. When I played with D-Wade I saw so many games where he would take the ball and bring us home. And that was unbelievable.
How many titles do you think your good friend Luka Doncic will win by the time he retires? Goran Dragic: I really don’t know. That all depends on the front office, how they are gonna surround him with players. Last year they were really good. I think nobody expect them to play in the Finals. The chemistry with him and Kyrie [Irving] was really amazing, and everyone followed. I do think that signing Klay Thompson, they are going to have a lot more firepower, but at the end of the day, are they going to be able to play defense? So you never know, especially with now in the NBA, there’s a lot of good teams. You have OKC, they gonna be good, you got Minnesota, you got Phoenix, you can never doubt Lakers with LeBron, then you have Denver with Nikola Jokic, Dallas is here, then you got Boston, you got Miami, Milwaukee is a team that disappointed last year, but we’ll see. I believe that Luka will win MVP because he’s such a good player. He’s putting up crazy numbers, but it all depends on the front office, how they gonna surround him with a team. I think they have a chance, but we’ll see. I definitely wish him to win one because he’s a good friend of mine, and he’s coming from Slovenia, we have actually five guys who won it, Rasho Nesterovic, Sasha Vujacic, Beno Udrih, Vlatko Cancar, and I wish him to be the fifth one.
Udonis Haslem: I have seen your nightlife. Ain’t a thing going on where you had to rush that man from New York to get to see that. Listen, I caught myself trying to go out to grab a drink with Goran Dragić. That’s the scariest [expletive] I ever seen. Like, from X-Files, scared the s*** out of you. Scary out there, man. You think you finna stop and get a drink, you in for some [expletive] from Walking Dead. I’m like, hold on, man, everybody can’t look like this, everybody can’t look like this, like what is— what’s going on? No, no, no, listen, I’m just telling you what I see, man, I ain’t making this [expletive] up (...) I mean, clubs, I’ll tell you that. Yes, it was— pay them to keep that [expletive] on. I’m just saying. You know what, here, couple extra dollars I got, just put that [expletive] back on, don’t even worry about it, I’m cool. I’m from Miami. I wasn’t used to that. I was like, hold up. Listen, y’all need to come down to Miami and get a workshop. They need to come down to Miami and get a workshop because you’re doing it the wrong way."
Similar to what happened in Ljubljana a few weeks ago to honor Goran Dragic’s retirement from basketball, Zagreb hosted some legendary basketball names tonight. The reason was remarkable: honoring the legacy of a true icon like Drazen Petrovic. Luka Doncic and his father Sasa, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Aleksandar Dzikic, Jorge Garbajosa, Ergin Ataman, and a lot more accepted the invite of Drazen’s brother and current Brazilian national team’s head coach Aleksandar Petrovic to attend the show.
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In a quick turnaround from the Night of the Dragon in Ljubljana, Luka Doncic is en route to the Drazen Legacy game in Zagreb. Announcing more details about the exhibition in memory of his brother Drazen Petrovic on September 5, Aco Petrovic confirmed multiple more players, including Goran Dragic bouncing back from his retirement game and put an asterisk on Nikola Jokic. “Luka Doncic will be there. Goran Dragic will be there. Our three NBA players, Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, and Ivica Zubac will be there. And we are still waiting for confirmation on the arrival of Nikola Jokic,” he told Sportske.
It seems like Luka Doncic’s fitness has turned into a hot topic every time the NBA season ends. While the basketball community was busy celebrating Goran Dragic’s retirement with the farewell ‘Night of the Dragon’ game earlier this weekend, several fans noticed that Luka, who was also playing that night, had gained significant weight this off-season. Some even claimed that the Mavs star currently weighs 280 lbs. However, veteran insider Marc Stein denied all allegations, giving a major sigh of relief to the worried Mavs fanbase. Stein said, “Look, I know everybody is gonna get all obsessed about screen caps and freeze frames… screen caps and freeze frames are not always kind.” So, there is a chance that the images that went viral did not paint the true image of Luka’s current fitness. Then, the insider revealed what he recently saw in Slovenia, “I saw him in normal clothes, in street clothes on Friday night and he looked pretty normal to me.”
Nash turned 50 in February. He last played in an NBA game in April 2014. He told me, when pressed, that he thinks he had played basketball only once in the last 10 years before arriving in Slovenia ... one solitary staff game when he was coaching the Nets. But Dragić asked Nash to play for a few minutes in Saturday night's testimonial and the 50-year-old duly agreed to start alongside Nikola Vučević, Vladimir Radmanović, Vlatko Čančar and, of course, Dragić himself.
Robin Lopez would 'absolutely consider' playing in Europe
Talking about Goran, he explained what Dragić meant to him throughout his career. “We were rookies together, and he was somebody I could look to because he had been a professional before in Europe. Gogi was somebody I could always look up to and model myself after.” Would the twin brother of Brook Lopez consider playing in Europe? “I’d absolutely consider it; I know how passionate the fans are and how high the level of basketball is.”
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