Anyone here watch Petrovic play?

[sidestep]

I just watched the documentary Once Brothers about the relationship between Divac and Petrovic, and the breakup of the Yugoslavia national team. I really recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Watch on YouTube

I'm looking at his stats for his last two years, and they were phenomenal.
.587 and .605 TS%.
.508 and .518 FG%
.444 and .449 3P FG%
22 pts a game

His 3P shooting wasn't high volume, around 2-3 3PA per game, I guess due to the style of the times, but his 3P shooting was incredible, especially for that era. He was only 28 when died, and could have been even better.

Anyone here watch Petrovic play? I'm interested to hear what that was like.

[MrDollarBills]

fierce competitor. That Nets team he was on was the reason why i became a fan

[jbeachboy]

steve smith and reggie miller talked about how he trash talked in 4 different languages and that he "smelled bad" when they had to guard him which was difficult for players to deal with. he was real cocky and intense player. he would try to go at top players like michael jordan, you can watch old clips and show his passion for game.

[MrDollarBills]

yeah Drazen was a savage. He had no fear.

I was young at the time but it was a period where i got to go to a few games for the yankees and Nets because my dad's company was giving him tickets so he'd take me along with his friends. I loved that team that had Drazen, Derrick Coleman, and Kenny Anderson. Their careers never went the way you'd hope but that was legit talent on those two Nets teams. Drazen was legit B tier and DC could have been an A tier player. I'll never forget the day the news came that he died on the Autobahn.

The Nets have been cursed since then.

[Prokorov]

watched every game he played as a net.... most live as i still lived in NJ then.

Guys was as competitive as jordan, that he was the best and tried to prove it every night. as cocky as they came. he was an insane shooter, not just percentages but range. he would take curry type off balance looong threes when he got hot and drill them.

but most of all, he brought a swagger to the team and had DC always playing solid ball, DC was still young and petro stayed on top of him.

that 92-93 team was the best nets team since the NBA merger. i know kidd the franchise best player, and those teams went to the finals, but the 93 nets never got a chance to grow.

you had DC playing like Karl Malone in his 3rd year, a 20/10 beast with range and handle. you had petro dropping 22 a night. you had kenny anderson who was going into his 3rd year and by 94 was an all-star.

that team had a hall of fame coach (chuck daly) had just made the playoffs, had 3 young all-stars (Kenny, Petro, DC) had veterans who could still contribute (blalock, mo cheeks, bernard king, dudly, mahorn, bowie. had a great glue guy in chris morris. had a beast 15/15 type center in the making in jayson williams....

that team was loaded and poised to HAM on the league...

but in typical nets fashion petro dies, DC gets paid and proceed to become a ricky henderson level dog, chuck doesn want to deal with DC and leaves 2 years later, kenny gets traded, and the vets all leave....

Jayson williams eventually becomes a stud on another young nets team posed to become a 50 game winner, and who gave jordans bulls all they could handle, but then kills a guy and is soon out of the league.

[Prokorov]

yeah Drazen was a savage. He had no fear.

I was young at the time but it was a period where i got to go to a few games for the yankees and Nets because my dad's company was giving him tickets so he'd take me along with his friends. I loved that team that had Drazen, Derrick Coleman, and Kenny Anderson. Their careers never went the way you'd hope but that was legit talent on those two Nets teams. Drazen was legit B tier and DC could have been an A tier player. I'll never forget the day the news came that he died on the Autobahn.

The Nets have been cursed since then.

Derrick Coleman should have had the career karl malone had.

[MaxZaslofskyJr]

The Nets have been cursed since then.

Oh, they were cursed way before that!

[sidestep]

That move he does -- turn to fake in one direction while drop stepping with the opposite foot, then pivot on that foot for a jumper -- has anyone in the NBA incorporated that into his game since Drazen? Cuz I can't think of any. It's really something, a guard using a drop step to get off a jump shot.

[MrDollarBills]

yeah Drazen was a savage. He had no fear.

I was young at the time but it was a period where i got to go to a few games for the yankees and Nets because my dad's company was giving him tickets so he'd take me along with his friends. I loved that team that had Drazen, Derrick Coleman, and Kenny Anderson. Their careers never went the way you'd hope but that was legit talent on those two Nets teams. Drazen was legit B tier and DC could have been an A tier player. I'll never forget the day the news came that he died on the Autobahn.

The Nets have been cursed since then.

Derrick Coleman should have had the career karl malone had.

Derrick Coleman was far more skilled than Karl Malone.

Even Charles Barkley says to this day that Coleman should have been one of the best PFs of all time. He just didn't give two squats about being great

[NyCeEvO]

yeah Drazen was a savage. He had no fear.

I was young at the time but it was a period where i got to go to a few games for the yankees and Nets because my dad's company was giving him tickets so he'd take me along with his friends. I loved that team that had Drazen, Derrick Coleman, and Kenny Anderson. Their careers never went the way you'd hope but that was legit talent on those two Nets teams. Drazen was legit B tier and DC could have been an A tier player. I'll never forget the day the news came that he died on the Autobahn.

The Nets have been cursed since then.

Derrick Coleman should have had the career karl malone had.

Derrick Coleman was far more skilled than Karl Malone.

Even Charles Barkley says to this day that Coleman should have been one of the best PFs of all time. He just didn't give two squats about being great

Idk about "far more skilled". Before TD, Karl was recognized as the greatest PF in history. In fact, many still hold to that since they consider Duncan to have been a center.

Coleman was definitely skilled but Malone was the definition of consistent allstar caliber greatness. What a player...

Sent from my SM-N900T using RealGM mobile app

[Prokorov]

Derrick Coleman should have had the career karl malone had.

Derrick Coleman was far more skilled than Karl Malone.

Even Charles Barkley says to this day that Coleman should have been one of the best PFs of all time. He just didn't give two squats about being great

Idk about "far more skilled". Before TD, Karl was recognized as the greatest PF in history. In fact, many still hold to that since they consider Duncan to have been a center.

Coleman was definitely skilled but Malone was the definition of consistent allstar caliber greatness. What a player...

Sent from my SM-N900T using RealGM mobile app

way more skilled or in the same class... either way point is coleman SHOULD have been right on par with the careers barkley and malone had... if not nipping at their heels as a career 20/10 player. biggest dawg in team history

[NyCeEvO]

Derrick Coleman was far more skilled than Karl Malone.

Even Charles Barkley says to this day that Coleman should have been one of the best PFs of all time. He just didn't give two squats about being great

Idk about "far more skilled". Before TD, Karl was recognized as the greatest PF in history. In fact, many still hold to that since they consider Duncan to have been a center.

Coleman was definitely skilled but Malone was the definition of consistent allstar caliber greatness. What a player...

Sent from my SM-N900T using RealGM mobile app

way more skilled or in the same class... either way point is coleman SHOULD have been right on par with the careers barkley and malone had... if not nipping at their heels as a career 20/10 player. biggest dawg in team history

Yes, there's no disagreement there.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

[MrDollarBills]

Derrick Coleman should have had the career karl malone had.

Derrick Coleman was far more skilled than Karl Malone.

Even Charles Barkley says to this day that Coleman should have been one of the best PFs of all time. He just didn't give two squats about being great

Idk about "far more skilled". Before TD, Karl was recognized as the greatest PF in history. In fact, many still hold to that since they consider Duncan to have been a center.

Coleman was definitely skilled but Malone was the definition of consistent allstar caliber greatness. What a player...

Sent from my SM-N900T using RealGM mobile app

Malone was a better player but regarding raw basketball skill Coleman had more. Range, ball handle, post moves, better footwork. He was a nasty, nasty ball player. I still remember when he was one of the only two men on the planet to dunk straight up on Shaq (Rasheed Wallace being the other in a playoff game, Lakers vs. Blazers early 00s). Coleman laid the hammer on him, i'll never forget the savagery of that play.

He just didn't give a damn about being a top tier player and only did enough to get by on his natural skill (which at one point saw him sleep walking to 20 and 10 games regularly in his early days).

Malone was an all time great and a legendary hard worker...DC could have been better than him, but in his own words..."Whoop de damn doo!!!"

What a waste

[NuggetsWY]

Seldom visit the Nets board but happened by today. I watched Petrovic play (and I wasn't a child either LOL). It was an era when the NBA didn't believe euro-players were good enough and their style wouldn't fit in the NBA. The Blazers drafted Petrovic to be a third string shooting guard who played 10 mpg and would stand outside the three point line to open things up for Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, or Jerome Kersey to drive to the basket. He was given just 2 or 3 shots a game. The Blazers considered him too slow and not agile enough for the NBA.

The Nets didn't have anybody better, so they started him and at the time of his death, there was serious discussion about Petrovic someday becoming labeled as "The GOAT shooter" in NBA history. Another thing that he proved was that Portland never understood him because (as mentioned above), he was a fearless rim attacker. He could not only put moves on people to launch a shot, but he could put moves on them and blow past them. He seemed to always find a way to slam the ball even against the best shot blockers, and there were some great ones back then. One of my favorite memories of his play was a slam against Patrick Ewing - it was unbelievable. I'm not a jump-up-and-down or scream-and-shout fan but that one brought me to my feet with a shout while I was sitting at home. Scared the family half to death. ROFL