Dragic is the most underrated player in the league

[tribulations]

I will never understand why Cubes reneg'd on the Dragic trade in 2019

[FlatearthZorro]

He's the best offensive player on the heat imo


And he's tough as nails too. Doesn't get the love he deserves.

He's always been an all-starish level talent. He's been playing at a superstar level these playoffs. He's averaging around what 28 a game against us in 2 games.

On a side note- he does flop a ton, too. I guess the league is headed that way. The flop on Tatum's drive was funny as heck. He held his mouth, Tatum's hand(elbow) was nowhere near his mouth. He also knows how to initiate contact while a defender is basically standing in front of him not doing much to command a foul. I noticed that as he's gotten 3, maybe 4 of these calls in 2 games. He's crafty.

[leolozon]

You have to wonder how far the Mavs would have gone if they didn't back out of the Dragic trade and if KP was healthy...

[sunsbg]

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.

Good to hear he's deservedly a legend in Slovenia. He was a Sun, plays hard, so not sure why you think I have ever been a Dragic hater. It's the whining/fishing for fouls that puts me off in Luka's case.

No problem calling me a hater. I see it as having a fan rivalry born at draft time with certain slovenians, who were anti-Ayton all the time. I was pro Luka in the Trae debates, not that it matters. Rivalries are fun, but I can pull a Durant and form a Luka fans superteam with Bob8 any time.

[Speadge]

I will never understand why Cubes reneg'd on the Dragic trade in 2019

Mavs forum was also, generally speaking, against this deal. There were maybe two-three guys who tryed to explain them how good Goran is.
So much about getting D.Wright and saving some TPE (for what?) ...

[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.

Good to hear he's deservedly a legend in Slovenia. He was a Sun, plays hard, so not sure why you think I have ever been a Dragic hater. It's the whining/fishing for fouls that puts me off in Luka's case.

No problem calling me a hater. I see it as having a fan rivalry born at draft time with certain slovenians, who were anti-Ayton all the time. I was pro Luka in the Trae debates, not that it matters. Rivalries are fun, but I can pull a Durant and form a Luka fans superteam with Bob8 any time.

Yes, I know that you had very rational thought process when it came to that draft (not that I would call drafting Ayton irrational, just some of the reasoning WHY pick Ayton was irrational; my mock draft was 1. Luka 2.Ayton since start of the season).
As for hater or not hater, think about it. You are smart enough to realize how it looks. Don't bring Luka to every conversation like that.
Regarding why I thought that you were Dragic hater - because all Suns fans were Dragic haters back then. I don't know how old you are, but we are talking about the first stint with the Suns, not the second one. He was mocked all the time like very few other player were. Poor guy. He had to cope with that AND Shaq.

[UcanUwill]

Love Dragic, he is one of my favorite players, I know he rubs a lot of people off, but I believed in him when he was still Nash back up in PHO. That said, these threads as off late are basically - ''Talented player had a very good game recently, the thread.''

[sunsbg]

Yes, I know that you had very rational thought process when it came to that draft (not that I would call drafting Ayton irrational, just some of the reasoning WHY pick Ayton was irrational; my mock draft was 1. Luka 2.Ayton since start of the season).
As for hater or not hater, think about it. You are smart enough to realize how it looks. Don't bring Luka to every conversation like that.
Regarding why I thought that you were Dragic hater - because all Suns fans were Dragic haters back then. I don't know how old you are, but we are talking about the first stint with the Suns, not the second one. He was mocked all the time like very few other player were. Poor guy. He had to cope with that AND Shaq.

Unfortunately, I'm old enough, but didn't post on forums back then, fortunately. I didn't know it was that bad with Dragic. Normally I don't hate young Suns players, especially later picks. I have been harsh with a 4th pick in Bender in discussions with Suns fans, who didn't recognize a bust in his 3rd season. All in all, even if I'm a hater I'm an inexperienced one, so there is a chance I fix it.

In my 30 years of being a Suns fan, C was always an important position and a good C seen as the missing piece. The organization had lost two coin flips to net two great C's in KAJ and The Admiral, which has always been a theme for discussion among Suns fans. The fit with Booker obviously. Not expecting Luka to be that much better then Ayton in their peaks. Pretty simple reasoning.

[benhillboy]

I think opposing players look at his age and his gray hair and think “nah he won’t cook me.” Next thing they know they’re on a platter being sliced and rationed. He plays with such rhythm even when he takes a ballsy, questionable shot you can tell it’s gonna be bottoms because he’s so in tune with his form. He’s such a great fit with Jimmy who effortlessly assumes PG duties when asked. He knows exactly when to reel The Dragon in as well as unleash his destructive fire breath upon your village.

He’s also in such ridiculous shape. The Heat be doing some scientific clinical trial bionic man experiment ish with their conditioning program.

I always liked him but didn’t realize he has a career .519 eFG and steady 2:1 assist to turn. I think his whole game is predicated on an underrated, super tight handle. With his change of directions and speeds there are times when there simply isn’t an answer from the opposing team but take a timeout and hope he isn’t in the game when play resumes. He’s really had a stellar basketball career.

[goodboy]

Love Dragic, he is one of my favorite players, I know he rubs a lot of people off, but I believed in him when he was still Nash back up in PHO. That said, these threads as off late are basically - ''Talented player had a very good game recently, the thread.''

I'm sorry I shouldnt have laughed at this

[BenoUdrihFTL]

Dragic 22/5/5 on 58% TS with minimal game-to-game variance, 115 ORTG for the playoffs, all vs good to great defensive teams. Heat lowkey load managed Dragic all season, saving him for the playoffs and now we've essentially got 3 all-stars surrounded by a loaded and dynamic supporting cast with seamless fit. When you think of it in those terms it shouldn't really be too surprising that we're 2 games away from the Finals, even if I can barely believe it myself lol

[MrGoat]

I will never understand why Cubes reneg'd on the Dragic trade in 2019

I didn't get it at the time and I still don't get it. We could have added Luka's Slo Bro from the World Cup team (and we could have really used him in the first round) and it wouldn't have long term cap ramifications. But noooo, we wanted Olynyk and Jones, or to save room for more summer shopping despite the big names mostly being gone at that point and we just ended up giving bloated contracts to Powell and Kleber that we could have given them anyway. That offseason was a debacle for us.

[UcanUwill]

Love Dragic, he is one of my favorite players, I know he rubs a lot of people off, but I believed in him when he was still Nash back up in PHO. That said, these threads as off late are basically - ''Talented player had a very good game recently, the thread.''

I'm sorry I shouldnt have laughed at this

me right now :

Watch on YouTube

[timO]

Hes rated well, hes putting his best postseason numbers at 34 in only his 4º playoffs.

[cupcakesnake]

Dragic has not always been in a position to shine during his NBA career, but anytime a team has put the ball in his hands and asked him to go to work, he's been excellent. At his peak performance, he's a taller, more well rounded Tony Parker. He's often been relegated to a lesser role, being a steady-handed role-playing point guard who doesn't take too much off the table. Solid but unspectacular starting point guard.

The early career playoff performance in Phoenix, the all-NBA season, the 30-11 run with the heat, the Eurobasket Championship/MVP are all the proof I need to know how elite he can be. Surrounding those bright spots are injuries, splitting point guard duties with way too many players (first Lowry, then Bledsoe, then Bledsoe AND Isaiah, then Wade, then Waiters/Winslow).

Glad to see he's getting a chance to shine on the biggest stage. His career has been frustrating if you root for him, but also really fun and filled with great moments.

[Doctor MJ]

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.

I mean, Dragic may well win the Finals MVP. Odds remain well under 50%, but the Heat may win the title, and if they do so against the Lakers, they aren't exactly stacked in the back court.

[bwgood77]

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.

That Ryan McDonough front office was THE WORST experience as a Suns fan. Many loved Goran, KNEW he had been told Thomas would be traded, but the Suns were dragging their feet with that and soon they ended up trading both of them because Goran wanted out, then trading a coveted soon to be unprotected Lakers pick for Brandon Knight for the right to vastly overpay him which hurt them for years.

So many things..THIS, drafting Bender over Jamal Murray, trading Bogdanovic and two more firsts for Chriss, drafting Josh Jackson over Isaac or Fox, Ayton over Doncic...the list goes on....Suns fans are happy McDonough is gone, but many hated losing Goran the way they did even though they got two firsts for him....it's funny how coveted that 2021 unprotected Heat pick was...it was traded around a few times (Suns got Bridges for it)....when it's now obviously not going to be a very good pick.

Sorry to get off topic a bit....it's just thinking about stuff like this with the FO just brings back nightmares of all the awful mistakes Ryan McDonough made.

[Heej]

Watch on YouTube

This was the game where everyone who was around back then still knows to this day that he has "it". What a starcrossed career this man has had. Proud of him

[BlazersBroncos]

That Ryan McDonough front office was THE WORST experience as a Suns fan. Many loved Goran, KNEW he had been told Thomas would be traded, but the Suns were dragging their feet with that and soon they ended up trading both of them because Goran wanted out, then trading a coveted soon to be unprotected Lakers pick for Brandon Knight for the right to vastly overpay him which hurt them for years.

So many things..THIS, drafting Bender over Jamal Murray, trading Bogdanovic and two more firsts for Chriss, drafting Josh Jackson over Isaac or Fox, Ayton over Doncic...the list goes on....Suns fans are happy McDonough is gone, but many hated losing Goran the way they did even though they got two firsts for him....it's funny how coveted that 2021 unprotected Heat pick was...it was traded around a few times (Suns got Bridges for it)....when it's now obviously not going to be a very good pick.

Sorry to get off topic a bit....it's just thinking about stuff like this with the FO just brings back nightmares of all the awful mistakes Ryan McDonough made.

Its insane how decent of shape they are in right now when you read this lol

[Doctor MJ]

That Ryan McDonough front office was THE WORST experience as a Suns fan. Many loved Goran, KNEW he had been told Thomas would be traded, but the Suns were dragging their feet with that and soon they ended up trading both of them because Goran wanted out, then trading a coveted soon to be unprotected Lakers pick for Brandon Knight for the right to vastly overpay him which hurt them for years.

So many things..THIS, drafting Bender over Jamal Murray, trading Bogdanovic and two more firsts for Chriss, drafting Josh Jackson over Isaac or Fox, Ayton over Doncic...the list goes on....Suns fans are happy McDonough is gone, but many hated losing Goran the way they did even though they got two firsts for him....it's funny how coveted that 2021 unprotected Heat pick was...it was traded around a few times (Suns got Bridges for it)....when it's now obviously not going to be a very good pick.

Sorry to get off topic a bit....it's just thinking about stuff like this with the FO just brings back nightmares of all the awful mistakes Ryan McDonough made.

There's been so much absurdity involving the Suns since Sarver took over, but the Dragic thing always stood out to me because they had him twice.

Now, they had Nash twice too, but the story there makes sense. They mistakenly thought Kidd was a better point guard than Nash, because Kidd was a great point guard. They eventually bring Nash back and he becomes Mr. Sun. Happy story.

With Dragic they let him go the first time basically because they just aren't that impressed.
He looks impressive in Houston so they bring him back.
He makes All-NBA with them...but they still convince themselves that Bledsoe and Morris are better than him and kick him to the curb again.
He once again proves to be great elsewhere.

The Knicks have a similar thing going with THJ, and it just really shows an organization who has no idea how to evaluate players. They work backwards looking to decide who their stars will be ahead of time, and everyone else if force fit into whatever role they think they need. That makes them look worse than they are so the team gives up on them until they see how the player later looks in a competent organization. Rinse and repeat.

Of course, THJ isn't an All-NBA guy, so the Suns error here is more egregious, particularly when you see the ugly things they said about literally the only Sun of the era that displayed excellent.