Zach Lowe: Goran Dragic is the New King of One-Man Fastbreak

[SDC]

http://grantland.com/features/the-nba-swap-meet/

10 Things I Like and Don’t Like

1. Goran Dragic “rebounds”

The most exhilarating sight in the league begins when Dragic grabs a defensive rebound, or is close enough to the teammate who does so as to enable an instant handoff/outlet pass. From there, Dragic is going streaking without any immediate concern for things that worry normal NBA point guards — a numbers disadvantage, a scary big man already back on defense, or a weirdly angled path up the sideline.

Dragic may not have an endgame in mind, but he understands that just getting the damn ball up the court quickly might open up possibilities that wouldn’t otherwise exist. Maybe he can speed by that retreating big man, suck in some extra attention, and find a spot-up shooter who will appear somewhere behind the play. Maybe he can get all the way to the rim, or a draw a foul.

Maybe the blitz fails, leaving Dragic to pull the ball out and wait for his teammates. No problem. There’s plenty of time left on the shot clock, and Dragic hasn’t cost his team a thing by chasing a quick-strike basket.

The man is fearless and creative, with an endless reservoir of fakes, change-of-pace dribbles, lower-the-shoulder space-clearing bumps, and crazy scoop finishes at the basket. He is, for now, the new king of the one-man fast break.

[SDC]

The most exhilarating sight in the league begins when Dragic grabs a defensive rebound...

Magic Johnson.

[NapoleonII]

Lebron still has the crown.

[PHX Maniak]

I agree with Napoleon. His performance the other night against the Suns showed some of that.

[SDC]

I agree with Napoleon. His performance the other night against the Suns showed some of that.

magic was never a great defender. the highlights show lebron anticipating passes, causing turnovers from the other side for easy dunks.

[bwgood77]

Crazy we may lose him or trade him for limited value after last year.

[Christine-In-AZ]

Crazy we may lose him or trade him for limited value after last year.

I still can not imagine McDonough is going to trade Dragic before the deadline or before the draft, for a pick + a lesser player or 2..."limited value". If so, McDonough's value will go from (still) very high down to horrible for me. Trading Goran couldn't have been part of the master battle plan. If it was, he would (should) have been traded before the season.

If McDonough does trade Dragic in the next week (I doubt it), it's going to be a blockbuster...a many player/parts/teams deal. Something huge that includes Dragic. That would make some more sense (depending on the details to be sure)

I still believe he resigns with the Suns.

[bwgood77]

Crazy we may lose him or trade him for limited value after last year.

I still can not imagine McDonough is going to trade Dragic before the deadline or before the draft, for a pick + a lesser player or 2..."limited value". If so, McDonough's value will go from (still) very high down to horrible for me. Trading Goran couldn't have been part of the master battle plan. If it was, he would (should) have been traded before the season.

If McDonough does trade Dragic in the next week (I doubt it), it's going to be a blockbuster...a many player/parts/teams deal. Something huge that includes Dragic. That would make some more sense (depending on the details to be sure)

I still believe he resigns with the Suns.

I agree. I don't think McD is stupid enough to trade him for pennies on the dollar instead of trading him sooner. At this point it would just be a knee jerk reactionary move that would make him look woefully incompetent.

[Tahleron]

Crazy we may lose him or trade him for limited value after last year.

I still can not imagine McDonough is going to trade Dragic before the deadline or before the draft, for a pick + a lesser player or 2..."limited value". If so, McDonough's value will go from (still) very high down to horrible for me. Trading Goran couldn't have been part of the master battle plan. If it was, he would (should) have been traded before the season.

If McDonough does trade Dragic in the next week (I doubt it), it's going to be a blockbuster...a many player/parts/teams deal. Something huge that includes Dragic. That would make some more sense (depending on the details to be sure)

I still believe he resigns with the Suns.

I agree. I don't think McD is stupid enough to trade him for pennies on the dollar instead of trading him sooner. At this point it would just be a knee jerk reactionary move that would make him look woefully incompetent.

If you make a mistake, the solution to that mistake isn't to double down (unless you're Barkley), there isn't a GM in the league who hasn't taken a risk and lost, you win some, you lose some. Several months removed from finishing 2nd in the executive of the year, is it really time to throw him under the bus?

I like that he got this years best player for very little last year, i like that he drafted Alex Len (other than Alphabet, one of the few promising players of that horrible draft), do we even know if potential offers have changed much that would have made rushing things a priority? It feels very what have you done for me lately, and he seems to have shown his ability to find decent value, and it's not like he was handed a David Griffin roster where the best player on the planet grew up 30 miles down the road and #1 draft picks were on discount at Walmart.

[bwgood77]

I still can not imagine McDonough is going to trade Dragic before the deadline or before the draft, for a pick + a lesser player or 2..."limited value". If so, McDonough's value will go from (still) very high down to horrible for me. Trading Goran couldn't have been part of the master battle plan. If it was, he would (should) have been traded before the season.

If McDonough does trade Dragic in the next week (I doubt it), it's going to be a blockbuster...a many player/parts/teams deal. Something huge that includes Dragic. That would make some more sense (depending on the details to be sure)

I still believe he resigns with the Suns.

I agree. I don't think McD is stupid enough to trade him for pennies on the dollar instead of trading him sooner. At this point it would just be a knee jerk reactionary move that would make him look woefully incompetent.

If you make a mistake, the solution to that mistake isn't to double down (unless you're Barkley), there isn't a GM in the league who hasn't taken a risk and lost, you win some, you lose some. Several months removed from finishing 2nd in the executive of the year, is it really time to throw him under the bus?

I like that he got this years best player for very little last year, i like that he drafted Alex Len (other than Alphabet, one of the few promising players of that horrible draft), do we even know if potential offers have changed much that would have made rushing things a priority? It feels very what have you done for me lately, and he seems to have shown his ability to find decent value, and it's not like he was handed a David Griffin roster where the best player on the planet grew up 30 miles down the road and #1 draft picks were on discount at Walmart.

Yes, I think overall he has done a good job. This was kind of a knee jerk reaction post when there were rumors that Dragic would be traded, and the sole reason would have been because we added a completely redundant player that messed with team chemistry. Already having the dual pg system and drafting one doesn't appear to make sense to add a 4th one when you already can have one pg on the floor at all times without even having to play your rookie and are covered if there is an injury by still having a quality pg and a backup.

But the latest reports seem to say that the Suns have rebuffed all calls about trades for Dragic and are trying to trade IT, which is the obvious correct move.