Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread

[phrazbit]

Maybe we live in parallel unverses...Dragic was the only one able to create for teammates with "pass first" mentality and only lately reverted to being more selfish when things obviously didn't work. I hope you enjoyed the PG play of Bled last night. Me and wife just watched a replay and she was like "this is our best player now?!?! All he does is reach 1m before the 3pt line, get rid of the ball and disappear...". I guess it was that obvious.

If you think Dragic was a "pass first" guard then we're definitely in different universes. He passed as rarely as the other two, and that has been his MO throughout his career. Goran has never been a facilitator, and when he does try to take on that role, he is bad at it and his play suffers all around, such as in 2011/12.

[Revived]

I do not care that Dragic is gone. I never liked his game. He is a selfish point guard that does not like to pass. The best games of his career are games that he scored a lot of points, not games he had a lost of assists. He lacks the main trait you need in a point guard which is the ability to create easy shots for other teammates. He does not make players around him better. It was not a coincidence that Gortat played so much better with Steve Nash and then had a scoring drop off when Dragic became the point guard. I would cringe every time Dragic would look for his own shot, not be able to get a shot off, and then would finally look to pass just to bail himself out because he could not get his shot off. Wow I am seriously not going to miss him even 0.000000000001%. I am not the biggest Bledsoe fan either. I just despise how Dragic played. There were so many times he refused to pass the ball. All he cares about is scoring. He played hard and had a lot of heart, but so did Allen Iverson. And I hated Iverson's game. And Iverson was 1000x the player Dragic is. One good year in seven years. I guess that is all it takes now for some team out there to pay a player 20+ million dollars a year. And people think Bledsoe is overpaid at 13 million a year. What a joke. Complete insanity. I cannot believe Dragic is going to get a max contract this offseason.

Its amazing to me that people come to a thread titled "Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread" to bash him because apparently bashing him all the trade threads isn't enough.

[mixerball]

I do not care that Dragic is gone. I never liked his game. He is a selfish point guard that does not like to pass. The best games of his career are games that he scored a lot of points, not games he had a lost of assists. He lacks the main trait you need in a point guard which is the ability to create easy shots for other teammates. He does not make players around him better. It was not a coincidence that Gortat played so much better with Steve Nash and then had a scoring drop off when Dragic became the point guard. I would cringe every time Dragic would look for his own shot, not be able to get a shot off, and then would finally look to pass just to bail himself out because he could not get his shot off. Wow I am seriously not going to miss him even 0.000000000001%. I am not the biggest Bledsoe fan either. I just despise how Dragic played. There were so many times he refused to pass the ball. All he cares about is scoring. He played hard and had a lot of heart, but so did Allen Iverson. And I hated Iverson's game. And Iverson was 1000x the player Dragic is. One good year in seven years. I guess that is all it takes now for some team out there to pay a player 20+ million dollars a year. And people think Bledsoe is overpaid at 13 million a year. What a joke. Complete insanity. I cannot believe Dragic is going to get a max contract this offseason.

Its amazing to me that people come to a thread titled "Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread" to bash him because apparently bashing him all the trade threads isn't enough.

well, at least he appreciates that dragic is gone.

[Puff]

I do not care that Dragic is gone. I never liked his game. He is a selfish point guard that does not like to pass. The best games of his career are games that he scored a lot of points, not games he had a lost of assists. He lacks the main trait you need in a point guard which is the ability to create easy shots for other teammates. He does not make players around him better. It was not a coincidence that Gortat played so much better with Steve Nash and then had a scoring drop off when Dragic became the point guard. I would cringe every time Dragic would look for his own shot, not be able to get a shot off, and then would finally look to pass just to bail himself out because he could not get his shot off. Wow I am seriously not going to miss him even 0.000000000001%. I am not the biggest Bledsoe fan either. I just despise how Dragic played. There were so many times he refused to pass the ball. All he cares about is scoring. He played hard and had a lot of heart, but so did Allen Iverson. And I hated Iverson's game. And Iverson was 1000x the player Dragic is. One good year in seven years. I guess that is all it takes now for some team out there to pay a player 20+ million dollars a year. And people think Bledsoe is overpaid at 13 million a year. What a joke. Complete insanity. I cannot believe Dragic is going to get a max contract this offseason.

Its amazing to me that people come to a thread titled "Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread" to bash him because apparently bashing him all the trade threads isn't enough.

What is really amazing is that anyone created a Goran Dragic Appreciation thread after the way he acted in the last few days while on our payroll. Correction, since at least November 2014.

He really did not want to be a Sun anymore so why should we appreciate him?

What is your answer?

[TeamTragic]

I do not care that Dragic is gone. I never liked his game. He is a selfish point guard that does not like to pass. The best games of his career are games that he scored a lot of points, not games he had a lost of assists. He lacks the main trait you need in a point guard which is the ability to create easy shots for other teammates. He does not make players around him better. It was not a coincidence that Gortat played so much better with Steve Nash and then had a scoring drop off when Dragic became the point guard. I would cringe every time Dragic would look for his own shot, not be able to get a shot off, and then would finally look to pass just to bail himself out because he could not get his shot off. Wow I am seriously not going to miss him even 0.000000000001%. I am not the biggest Bledsoe fan either. I just despise how Dragic played. There were so many times he refused to pass the ball. All he cares about is scoring. He played hard and had a lot of heart, but so did Allen Iverson. And I hated Iverson's game. And Iverson was 1000x the player Dragic is. One good year in seven years. I guess that is all it takes now for some team out there to pay a player 20+ million dollars a year. And people think Bledsoe is overpaid at 13 million a year. What a joke. Complete insanity. I cannot believe Dragic is going to get a max contract this offseason.

Its amazing to me that people come to a thread titled "Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread" to bash him because apparently bashing him all the trade threads isn't enough.

What is really amazing is that anyone created a Goran Dragic Appreciation thread after the way he acted in the last few days while on our payroll. Correction, since at least November 2014.

He really did not want to be a Sun anymore so why should we appreciate him?

What is your answer?

SHOTS FIRED

[Revived]

I do not care that Dragic is gone. I never liked his game. He is a selfish point guard that does not like to pass. The best games of his career are games that he scored a lot of points, not games he had a lost of assists. He lacks the main trait you need in a point guard which is the ability to create easy shots for other teammates. He does not make players around him better. It was not a coincidence that Gortat played so much better with Steve Nash and then had a scoring drop off when Dragic became the point guard. I would cringe every time Dragic would look for his own shot, not be able to get a shot off, and then would finally look to pass just to bail himself out because he could not get his shot off. Wow I am seriously not going to miss him even 0.000000000001%. I am not the biggest Bledsoe fan either. I just despise how Dragic played. There were so many times he refused to pass the ball. All he cares about is scoring. He played hard and had a lot of heart, but so did Allen Iverson. And I hated Iverson's game. And Iverson was 1000x the player Dragic is. One good year in seven years. I guess that is all it takes now for some team out there to pay a player 20+ million dollars a year. And people think Bledsoe is overpaid at 13 million a year. What a joke. Complete insanity. I cannot believe Dragic is going to get a max contract this offseason.

Its amazing to me that people come to a thread titled "Goran Dragic Appreciation Thread" to bash him because apparently bashing him all the trade threads isn't enough.

What is really amazing is that anyone created a Goran Dragic Appreciation thread after the way he acted in the last few days while on our payroll. Correction, since at least November 2014.

He really did not want to be a Sun anymore so why should we appreciate him?

What is your answer?

Lol you really want me to get into this? About how the Suns did this on themselves with how they went and draft and signed PGs after their lead PG just had an All NBA season? How they waited til February to get the courage to trade Dragic?

I appreciate Dragic for signing with the Suns in the first place after he was dumped with a 1st rd pick for the likes of Aaron Brooks. Then for him coming in and helping lead this team to 48 wins while having an All Star caliber and All NBA caliber season.

I get that people don't agree with me or others who feel the same way and that's fine. And I certinaly don't want to make this thread about arguments about whether or not what Goran did is right or wrong, its an appreciation thread for those who still like Dragic. Of course its your right to be upset at him but you don't have to s**t in every thread about Goran Dragic, there's been plenty of sh**tting on Dragic in the trade threads and if that's not enough, create a "Goran Dragic is a b***ch" thread and feel free to bash him in there.

Why come in a thread dedicated to appreciating his contributions to the Suns during his time in PHX to bash him? It literally makes no sense imo when there are other threads which can be used to bash him.

[phrazbit]

Goran, I appreciate you forcing your way out and sparing the Suns from giving you what will become one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

[RunDogGun]

Goran, I appreciate you forcing your way out and sparing the Suns from giving you what will become one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

And we agree again. Broken watch, or are just not as different thinking as we thought?

[SunsRback4Good]

Goran could care less what anyone here thinks of him. The dude will be making bank and enjoying his talents in south beach.

[bwgood77]

I appreciate him too for forcing his way out since he is a very good player and needs to be in the right situation to thrive. Anyone working and trying to make a living should do the same. Will he be overpaid? Yes, but all free agents are overpaid every year. It's too bad for his sake that Bosh is out because that would have been bread and butter for him and likely for the future. Does it make sense for Miami to keep him at any cost since they don't have cap space and he will work perfectly with Bosh in the future? Hell yes, what the hell else are they going to do? Does it make sense for us to go with a younger hard worker like Knight? Yes.

Thanks Goran, for making our season fun last year and for leaving when they made it obvious they wanted you to leave and we both could move on. Definitely not gonna hate you for taking care of yourself though.

[Flying Colors]

i do wish he lets us know earlier he wanted a trade, we could have gotten another pick out of him i bet

[phrazbit]

i do wish he lets us know earlier he wanted a trade, we could have gotten another pick out of him i bet

Also would have been nice if he had given us more than 3 options. Especially considering the 3 were bad teams teams virtually devoid of tradeable assets.

I've always been a fan of his, but quotes and his trade options revealed his true nature. Money, stats, name in lights... those are his priorities. Winning? Thats okay, so long as it does not interfere with any of the other more important things.

Good riddance.

[phrazbit]

Goran, I appreciate you forcing your way out and sparing the Suns from giving you what will become one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

And we agree again. Broken watch, or are just not as different thinking as we thought?

I call things like I see them, I love the Suns but I'm not immune to seeing their many warts either. We probably agree on more things than not.

But to keep things on an even keel, next time we find ourselves in agreement we should promptly revisit the question Golden State tanking in 2012. No doubt we will come away from that topic once again wondering wtf the other could possibly be thinking.

[Revived]

I appreciate him too for forcing his way out since he is a very good player and needs to be in the right situation to thrive. Anyone working and trying to make a living should do the same. Will he be overpaid? Yes, but all free agents are overpaid every year. It's too bad for his sake that Bosh is out because that would have been bread and butter for him and likely for the future. Does it make sense for Miami to keep him at any cost since they don't have cap space and he will work perfectly with Bosh in the future? Hell yes, what the hell else are they going to do? Does it make sense for us to go with a younger hard worker like Knight? Yes.

Thanks Goran, for making our season fun last year and for leaving when they made it obvious they wanted you to leave and we both could move on. Definitely not gonna hate you for taking care of yourself though.

Well put and 100% right imo.

[Superhuman]

Maybe we live in parallel unverses...Dragic was the only one able to create for teammates with "pass first" mentality and only lately reverted to being more selfish when things obviously didn't work. I hope you enjoyed the PG play of Bled last night. Me and wife just watched a replay and she was like "this is our best player now?!?! All he does is reach 1m before the 3pt line, get rid of the ball and disappear...". I guess it was that obvious.

If you think Dragic was a "pass first" guard then we're definitely in different universes. He passed as rarely as the other two, and that has been his MO throughout his career. Goran has never been a facilitator, and when he does try to take on that role, he is bad at it and his play suffers all around, such as in 2011/12.

Exactly. It's like people assume just because Nash mentored him he'd be a pass first point guard. But he's just like 90% of PGs these days that look to shoot first and pass later. Add to the fact that he's a sub par defender, he's not as good as people make him out to be.

I will miss him tho. And I don't blame him at all for chasing the dollar signs, I would do the same.

[Puff]

Goran, I appreciate you forcing your way out and sparing the Suns from giving you what will become one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

Yep, he probably kept us from ourselves. I really do not think it is a given that he gets the max this off season from anyone.

Thank you Goran

[bhawk]

Goran: I appreciate you asking for a trade so that I don't have to sit through another summer of contract extension drama (like Bledsoe). You made it easy for the Suns front office to not overpay for your sometimes questionable contributions. I appreciate that one amazing playoff game against the Spurs that gave us Steve Nash-like hope, but do wish that you could have lived up to that promise. Now that you are a 28 year-old Miami Heat player, I appreciate your recent focus on things outside of your game (like contracts, family, vacations, food, booze, etc) so that those newly acquired PHX draft picks will be that much higher. I appreciate the fact that Bledsoe will have more opportunities to succeed. I appreciate that your empty roster spot has been filled by a player who is 5 years younger and more athletically talented. Overall, I appreciate the fact that you are no longer a PHX Sun.

[NavLDO]

I'm with Frank on this one. Goran got a raw deal. Sure his actions in the last 48hrs were not ideal but I think the Suns screwed him more than he screwed the Suns.

I'm still struggling to understand how it is that this season our coaches and FO could completely marginalise a player who last season was all-NBA 3rd team (and therefore considered one of the top 6 guards in the league), should have been an all-star, won MIP AND had a career year?
WHO DOES THAT?? WHAT OTHER TEAM WOULD "REWARD" THEIR BEST PLAYER IN THIS WAY????
Oh that's right, the same team that somehow could never find a quality backup for Nash until the final season of SSOL, the same team who hired the wrong coach and wasted pretty much an entire season of SSOL etc etc. Anyway that's a conversation for a different thread...I'm just so bitter about Goran leaving...and who could blame him? After proving his worth last season, why shouldn't he feel annoyed that this season he was reduced to standing at the 3pt line waiting for someone to pass to him?

He is a fantastic player and should still be in a Suns uniform. I can't believe all the hate being thrown at him by so many people on this forum. Has everyone just forgotten how much he brought to this team last season? What about his amazing transformation from "Tragic" to Nash's best backup ever in the the magical 09-10 season?

This totally sucks.

Suns gave him a chance by drafting him when really no other team was interested in him, yeah we traded him but he was playing like hot garbage and Houston didn't exactly hand him the reigns to the team either when he arrived in Houston.
Fact is the Suns have helped Dragic more than hurt and he's repayed them by sabotaging them by stating he will only resign with NY,Mia and LA.
If it weren't for the Suns Goran might not have even had a shot at landing in the NBA.

Yeah, I think Frank and others need to remember some details before defending poor Goran Dragic, like what you just posted. then, let's look at these nuggets of info:

26 Jun 2014--

The Suns selected Syracuse guard Tyler Ennis with the 18th pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.
The Suns have Goran Dragic ready to go as their primary guard, but Eric Bledsoe is a restricted free agent. If Bledsoe doesn't re-sign, Ennis could have a chance to get minutes with the second unit

.

12 Jul 2014--

The Phoenix Suns completed a sign-and-trade deal with the Sacramento Kings that will send guard Isaiah Thomas to Phoenix in exchange for the rights to forward Alex Oriakhi, the club announced today.

9 Sep 2014--

Then there is Dragic, who can opt out and become an unrestricted free agent next summer — and will opt out. Then he will quickly re-sign with the Suns because he likes Phoenix, he told a reporter at the World Cup in Spain, as translated at Bright Side of the Suns.

24 Sep 2014--

The Phoenix Suns and Eric Bledsoe agreed on a long-term deal.

25 Sep 2014--

Report: Suns signing Zoran Dragic

So yeah, the FO did make a mistake--in believing statements made by Goran AFTER the Suns drafted Ennis and signed IT. AFTER having his best season, half of which spent playing with Bledsoe. AFTER being successful in playing in a 2PG system. Then they go out and make a strong push for his brother; then sign him the day after signing EB.

The Suns made commitments to Dragic. Wanted him to be in our long-term plans. And as the season progressed, and he didn't get the minutes at the position he wanted, and didn't play up to the level of last season, he decides he doesn't want to re-sign in Phoenix, and blame it all on how Bledsoe and IT are used and how they are limiting his playing time (he never said it exactly, but it was easily inferred by fans as such). OK, no big deal. They honored his trade request--BTW, which he generously provided 2 days prior to the deadline. Then, if that wasn't enough, he and his agent felt like they need to hamstring McD in his ability to trade Goran by saying he will only sign a long-term deal with LAL, NYK, or Mia and also felt it was necessary to state that he didn't trust the FO anymore, basically shouting to the rest of the league that 'hey, don't come and play I Phoenix, they'll screw you over'.

So please explain to me WHY we should be honoring Goran Dragic for all he's done for our franchise? Sorry, I'm not seeing it. And hey, I wasn't privy to the discussions between Dragic and the FO. And I recognize that just because we didn't see or hear, or have knowledge of what happened behind closed doors, that the FO didn't screw over Goran in some way, or lead him to believe that we would trade IT and Bledsoe. Maybe the FO did some shady stuff, of which we aren't aware. But from everything, from signing his brother, to essentially stating we'd either max him or at least darn close to it, it sure does appear that the Suns organization really liked Goran and wanted him to stay a Sun, and were willing to commit to him.

But then, to throw the team and it's fan under the bus like he did, after all this Suns organization has done for him in his career, I'm sorry, but he went out like a bee-otch, and I for one, am not going to 'appreciate' Goran for what he did on his way out. How about taking the 'high road' on your way out of town? Why not say something to the effect of 'in the end, we just were not able to come to an agreement that best suits my professional desires', or something like that.

Again, I'm not naïve enough to believe that McD or Babby didn't screw him over some how. He wouldn't have said what he did if they didn't. But as a high-level player, he has to recognize that what he says publically means something, and has an effect on other players. As well as shrinking the negotiation window from 29 teams to 3. That hurt the Suns--no two ways about it. That had a negative effect on McD's ability to negotiate. And ultimately, that affects the Suns going forward, and could potentially have a negative effect on this organization for the next 5 years, because one of those trade chips was for a draft pick more than 5 years away. The pick(s) could very well have been Luol Deng, or Hassan Whiteside, or who knows what else.

So while I appreciate what Goran did for the Suns for 99.5% of the time he was here, it's that less than .5% of the time that may very well have had a bigger effect on this team than the other 99.5% combined.

[Revived]

Goran: I appreciate you asking for a trade so that I don't have to sit through another summer of contract extension drama (like Bledsoe). You made it easy for the Suns front office to not overpay for your sometimes questionable contributions. I appreciate that one amazing playoff game against the Spurs that gave us Steve Nash-like hope, but do wish that you could have lived up to that promise. Now that you are a 28 year-old Miami Heat player, I appreciate your recent focus on things outside of your game (like contracts, family, vacations, food, booze, etc) so that those newly acquired PHX draft picks will be that much higher. I appreciate the fact that Bledsoe will have more opportunities to succeed. I appreciate that your empty roster spot has been filled by a player who is 5 years younger and more athletically talented. Overall, I appreciate the fact that you are no longer a PHX Sun.

I hate to disappoint you man but Brandon Knight will be a RFA this summer, same type of free agent Bledsoe was last season.

[mixerball]

what everyone seems to be forgetting is that he was on the trade block before he demanded the trade.