Dragic is the most underrated player in the league

[Impuniti]

Arguably the best PG in the Eastern Conference, or if not, 2nd after Kyle Lowry.

If he makes the finals, you kinda of have to give him the crown for now.

[Kurtz]

These 2 were on the same team once

Probably the 2 most underrated players in the NBA (until these playoffs).

[sunsbg]

Won Slovenia EU championship, now close to winning NBA championship. Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

[Alonzo_Morning]

Y u steal my thoughts

[JB2]

How much is he getting paid this summer?

[gottamakeit]

Has always been one of the most fun players to watch, and always has the heart of champion. Injuries and sometimes his role on the team just got in the way.

It’s so fun watching him on this heat team run the high screen pick and roll. You know exactly what he’s going to, and you just can’t stop him from forcing his way to the rim.

It’s crazy what a night and day difference there is in comparing the aesthetics of Dragic and Harden on the pick and roll. Dragic’s is a thing of beauty, while Harden leaves you disgusted.

I think the conversation that's missing is how open the court is for dragic to drive in these playoffs. Help defenders are not leaving any of Miami's shooters. And Bam commands attention as well.
That's why Dragic is having his way with teams. To his credit, he's converting a lot of his looks and making the right plays. He's so fun to watch. I love this Miami team

[Speadge]

Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

We're too busy with Tour de France right now There's just two millions of us, we can't be everywhere all the time

On a serious note, we didn't "discover" how good Dragic is just this summer, we always knew that. We watch and praise his games regularly, he have a lot of domestic attention, but unlike Luka he's not something new, he built his career more steadily and somewhat spoiled us in this process.

[Kingarella]

As a Slovenian I'm so glad Dragić found a team that fully trusts and supports him. Been watching Dragić since he was 17y old and he surpassed all my ecpectations. He is a class act, a winner, a gamer.

[wolfram]

He does his best work in the summer

Watch on YouTube

Goran is a LEGEND in Slovenia. His performances for our national team are forever written as the best ever. We can just hope Luka matches that one day.

And for those who underestimate Eurobasket. It is really hard to win it all in such a tournament. Many NBA and Euroleague players. There are several elimination games and to put up 35 pts in the Finals under FIBA rules is spectacular. He also couldn't finish the game as he had cramps, showing how gruelling that tournament was.

[blueNorange]

heat having butler, crowder, and dragic all on the same team is too much toughness.

[Sgt Major]

He does his best work in the summer

Watch on YouTube

And we were so pissed because our almost 3rd team lost to that Slovenian team
Dragic and Prepelič destroyed us

[J_T]

Won Slovenia EU championship, now close to winning NBA championship. Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

Three reasons:
1. Because there are way more Luka fanboys that are NOT Slovenians, he has huge non-Slovenian following. The only people saying that Luka fanboys are Slovenians are Luka haters, because they are implying that being Luka fan is all about shared nationality and not his actual performance and style of play.
2. Because Dragic doesn't have haters talking about him all the time (at least since his early NBA seasons, the "Tragic" days, he had tons of haters back then, you were probably one of them). I know that you don't see yourself as being a hater, but I think it's time to call it the way it is: before you, there has been no mention of Luka in this topic. It is you who brought him up first (as you often do) and of course it's always in a detracting way. For me that' a definition of a hater.
3. He is probably a legend in Slovenia already, it goes without saying that he would always be "the captain", the guy who brought the country gold medal. Europeans perceive international competitions differently.

I was just watching his MMA video yesterday, I thought there were some funny bits there (and a lot about basketball), you can check it out.

Watch on YouTube

He talks about Luka as well a bit, I thought it was funny how he described him as a ball boy when he was a kid at his (and his father's) games: "he either had sandwich or ball in his hands"

A video referenced in that video is this one, by the way, although most of us have probably already watched it:

Watch on YouTube

Yeah, the guy is tough, and his in your face game has brought him many enemies (I'd have to think that him being white didn't help him either to be honest). But probably most people either don't remember or just don't know that he had a tough NBA career start. You can get a refresher here.
Goran Dragic Thrives on Memory of Being Called 'Worst Player in the NBA'
It had to be emotionally very hard, especially because of the way he came into the league. He said in one of the interviews, that both he and his agent had to take huge loans to pay the buy out clause in Europe so that he could come and play in NBA. Just imagine, that you are being called worst player in NBA, are nicknamed "Tragic" and have taken a big loan betting on having a successful NBA career. By the way, how crazy is to have an agent that actually believes in you and will stake his own money to get you into the league?

Regarding his AS selection, I don't agree with the detractors saying he only got it because of the injuries. Unfortunately for players that are borderline AS players they don't often get selected when they should have been selected, but with a delay of a year or two. In my opinion he should have been selected before, but he was unfairly ignored.

One of the most memorable episodes of his career has to be that terrible Suns experiment with 3 point guards, where Dragic was waiting in the corner all the time and was visibly frustrated. He was also being lied to by the management and it became clearer and clearer that Suns were one of the worst organizations in the league. They pretend to take care of the players well, but in fact they are lying to them all the time and then even attack them in the media. It was pretty clear even at that time that it was Dragic who was right there, as other players have supported his side of the story, confirming the toxic and deceiving nature of the FO.
Phoenix Suns front office takes shots at Goran Dragic
But today I think it's even funnier reading the statements from that article. Goran is definitely a team player, but it's a two way street, the organization has to be respectful as well.

And I think this is one of the reasons why Goran is thriving in Miami as well. Whatever his role was, it was clearly communicated. He had been shopped around very often and even more often rumored by the fans and media (Heat fans should admit that they were actively supporting him getting traded, especially during the phase when they were advocating complete rebuild). But Riley was always honest with him and Goran publicly said he doesn't take it personally. On the other hand you have to give Riley a lot of credit. There was a lot of interest for Dragic and it would have been an easy choice to trade him, get "something" back and appease tank fans. But the reason he didn't trade him was because he valued him more than what other GM's were offering. He saw no reason to trade him just for the sake of trading and creating another hole in the squad (and PG hole is not an easy one to fill).

Yes, often underrated by fans, media and (some) organizations. But not Miami FO or HC.

[DaddyCool19]

Won Slovenia EU championship, now close to winning NBA championship. Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

Watch on YouTube

;app=desktop

He even has a song

[Enso]

Won Slovenia EU championship, now close to winning NBA championship. Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

Three reasons:
1. Because there are way more Luka fanboys that are NOT Slovenians, he has huge non-Slovenian following. The only people saying that Luka fanboys are Slovenians are Luka haters, because they are implying that being Luka fan is all about shared nationality and not his actual performance and style of play.
2. Because Dragic doesn't have haters talking about him all the time (at least since his early NBA seasons, the "Tragic" days, he had tons of haters back then, you were probably one of them). I know that you don't see yourself as being a hater, but I think it's time to call it the way it is: before you, there has been no mention of Luka in this topic. It is you who brought him up first (as you often do) and of course it's always in a detracting way. For me that' a definition of a hater.
3. He is probably a legend in Slovenia already, it goes without saying that he would always be "the captain", the guy who brought the country gold medal. Europeans perceive international competitions differently.

I was just watching his MMA video yesterday, I thought there were some funny bits there (and a lot about basketball), you can check it out.

Watch on YouTube

He talks about Luka as well a bit, I thought it was funny how he described him as a ball boy when he was a kid at his (and his father's) games: "he either had sandwich or ball in his hands"

A video referenced in that video is this one, by the way, although most of us have probably already watched it:

Watch on YouTube

Yeah, the guy is tough, and his in your face game has brought him many enemies (I'd have to think that him being white didn't help him either to be honest). But probably most people either don't remember or just don't know that he had a tough NBA career start. You can get a refresher here.
Goran Dragic Thrives on Memory of Being Called 'Worst Player in the NBA'
It had to be emotionally very hard, especially because of the way he came into the league. He said in one of the interviews, that both he and his agent had to take huge loans to pay the buy out clause in Europe so that he could come and play in NBA. Just imagine, that you are being called worst player in NBA, are nicknamed "Tragic" and have taken a big loan betting on having a successful NBA career. By the way, how crazy is to have an agent that actually believes in you and will stake his own money to get you into the league?

Regarding his AS selection, I don't agree with the detractors saying he only got it because of the injuries. Unfortunately for players that are borderline AS players they don't often get selected when they should have been selected, but with a delay of a year or two. In my opinion he should have been selected before, but he was unfairly ignored.

One of the most memorable episodes of his career has to be that terrible Suns experiment with 3 point guards, where Dragic was waiting in the corner all the time and was visibly frustrated. He was also being lied to by the management and it became clearer and clearer that Suns were one of the worst organizations in the league. They pretend to take care of the players well, but in fact they are lying to them all the time and then even attack them in the media. It was pretty clear even at that time that it was Dragic who was right there, as other players have supported his side of the story, confirming the toxic and deceiving nature of the FO.
Phoenix Suns front office takes shots at Goran Dragic
But today I think it's even funnier reading the statements from that article. Goran is definitely a team player, but it's a two way street, the organization has to be respectful as well.

And I think this is one of the reasons why Goran is thriving in Miami as well. Whatever his role was, it was clearly communicated. He had been shopped around very often and even more often rumored by the fans and media (Heat fans should admit that they were actively supporting him getting traded, especially during the phase when they were advocating complete rebuild). But Riley was always honest with him and Goran publicly said he doesn't take it personally. On the other hand you have to give Riley a lot of credit. There was a lot of interest for Dragic and it would have been an easy choice to trade him, get "something" back and appease tank fans. But the reason he didn't trade him was because he valued him more than what other GM's were offering. He saw no reason to trade him just for the sake of trading and creating another hole in the squad (and PG hole is not an easy one to fill).

Yes, often underrated by fans, media and (some) organizations. But not Miami FO or HC.

top tier post sir

[ArtMorte]

He's averaging 22 points these playoffs, has never averaged more than 20 in a regular season, he's really brought his A game to these playoffs.

[limbo]

The evolution of Goran Dragic has been amazing to witness.

When this dude came into the league he was this quiet/serious dude that mostly got by because he was quick as hell and had good size for a PG. His vision was too spotty to be a floor general, his decision making questionable at times, his jumper highly inconsistent and defensively he was getting bullied due to his skinny frame...

This dude just put his head down and kept grinding. Kept adding things to his game, kept getting stronger in the gym, kept getting more savvy on the court... Despite getting shifted around the league and failing time and time again, his confidence never waned, he just got tougher next time.

Now, at 34, he's just a complete basketball player on offense. Not as fast or atheletic as he used to be, but he picked up enough tricks along the journey to know how to respond in pretty much any type of defense they throw at him.

But above all, Dragic now brings a level of intangibles most people simply don't have. Humility, selflessness, heart, toughness, confidence, positive attitude, leadership. These things can only be developed after you came from nothing and grinded for your spot your whole life. Also, i think that 2017 EURO Championship victory lifted a ginormous weight off Dragic... Maybe similarly to LeBron winning a chip for Cleveland. Once you're able to achieve a goal like that, you're whole outlook on life changes. It's like your mind gets liberated from being s prisoner of your own dreams and now you can finally go out there and just enjoy playing basketball for the love of the game and camaraderie instead of these overarching goals and expectations everyone else is constantly putting on you.

[Orin]

Dragic for FMVP! Seriously though, I'm kinda sad we wasted his best years with crappy teams. If only Bosh didn't go down, we would have seen much more of this awesome Goran in the playoffs.

[Archx]

Wonder why Slovenian Luka fanboys don't praise him in such threads.

We're too busy with Tour de France right now There's just two millions of us, we can't be everywhere all the time

On a serious note, we didn't "discover" how good Dragic is just this summer, we always knew that. We watch and praise his games regularly, he have a lot of domestic attention, but unlike Luka he's not something new, he built his career more steadily and somewhat spoiled us in this process.

Haha yeah indeed, there is just not enough of us, we can't be everywhere And also, we have our own forums where we gave him A TON of praise over the last 10 years or so.... I'm just happy i have a reason to stay up late again and watch Miami beat Boston.

[Mirotic12]

Goran is a LEGEND in Slovenia. His performances for our national team are forever written as the best ever. We can just hope Luka matches that one day.

And for those who underestimate Eurobasket. It is really hard to win it all in such a tournament. Many NBA and Euroleague players. There are several elimination games and to put up 35 pts in the Finals under FIBA rules is spectacular. He also couldn't finish the game as he had cramps, showing how gruelling that tournament was.

Pretty much just about every coach and player that has played in all three of the Olympics, the FIBA World Cup, and the FIBA EuroBasket say that the EuroBasket is clearly the highest level tournament of the three.

And it's very obvious that it's much higher of a level than the Olympics. Every Olympics has like 3 or 4 teams that might not even be able to win a game at EuroBasket.

[Alyosha12]

Am i too late to post a photo?

Its kind of funny, how many PG duos he was part of in his career.