Goran Dragic appreciation Thread

[Sunsfan4life]

Well deserved....whether you don't like the way it ended or not still had many highlights in a Suns uniform and was a fan favorite.

Good luck in Miami, Dragon.

[Ring_Wanted]

Good luck, Dragic. You got what you wanted so let's see how green is the grass in Miami.

It's a shame it had to end this way.

[INFORMER]

I think he should definitely be happy he landed in Miami and not NY or LA.

[TOO]

I appreciate that he was a good soldier for a couple of years, and I appreciate the way he threw us under the bus causing the FO to get off their smarmy asses. I was never his biggest fan, but his fire will be missed.

[TOO]

I think he should definitely be happy he landed in Miami and not NY or LA.

Dragic
Wade
Deng
Bosh
Whiteside

That all of a sudden looks really good.

[Shabazz]

Absolute home run for the Heat. Their PG situation may have been the second worst in the league after the Knicks.

[INFORMER]

I really, really like Dragic. He was one of the few things I liked about this current team. But I called it once the Bledsoe trade was made: Goran's days were numbered, one way or another.

[Mori Chu]

Dragic was a freaking soldier. I dare you to watch this again and try not to get pumped up.

[youtube][/youtube]

I will miss this guy. It's really sad that it came to this.

[Ring_Wanted]

I called it once the Bledsoe trade was made: Goran's days were numbered, one way or another.

Dragic after last season, with Bledsoe on the team: I will break my contract, sign a new one and then be calm (or something to that effect, I'm sure we all remember those words). And if I remember correctly, you were saying McD would trade him because he was not his guy. He has been traded indeed, but the reasons couldn't be more opposite. Do you really believe he would have demanded a trade if IT3 wasn't signed?

Anyway, it's all moot.

[Sunsfan4life]

Yea that is obviously his lasting memory as a sun. But whats the best memory from his 2nd stint? the game winner vs Memphis maybe?

[Ring_Wanted]

Yea that is obviously his lasting memory as a sun. But whats the best memory from his 2nd stint? the game winner vs Memphis maybe?

I don't have a specific memory form his second tenure. Just how he mastered the pick and pop with Frye, that midrange step back shot, how he'd score on any big man and how unstoppable he was in the open court.

In 13-14 he basically managed to constantly perform like that quarter against the Spurs, for a whole season.

[INFORMER]

Do you really believe he would have demanded a trade if IT3 wasn't signed?

I don't think he would have resigned. The sudden and forceful trade demand may have to do with more than we are privvy to. I will say this (and it isn't shocking because I wasn't a fan of the signing in the first place): the Suns should have never brought in Zoran. I don't care if Goran requested it.

[INFORMER]

But whats the best memory from his 2nd stint? the game winner vs Memphis maybe?

His domination of the Indiana Pacers.

[INFORMER]

The Suns have traded Goran twice and it has sucked both times.

[Superbone]

I appreciate that he was a good soldier for a couple of years, and I appreciate the way he threw us under the bus causing the FO to get off their smarmy asses. I was never his biggest fan, but his fire will be missed.

He breathed fire on and off the court!

[Superbone]

I called it once the Bledsoe trade was made: Goran's days were numbered, one way or another.

Dragic after last season, with Bledsoe on the team: I will break my contract, sign a new one and then be calm (or something to that effect, I'm sure we all remember those words). And if I remember correctly, you were saying McD would trade him because he was not his guy. He has been traded indeed, but the reasons couldn't be more opposite. Do you really believe he would have demanded a trade if IT3 wasn't signed?

Anyway, it's all moot.

Yep, IT3 was the Jenga block that made it all come tumbling down.

[Superbone]

The Suns have traded Goran twice and it has sucked both times.

He ain't coming back a third time.

[da_suns_fan]

Dragic was a freaking soldier. I dare you to watch this again and try not to get pumped up.

[youtube][/youtube]

I will miss this guy. It's really sad that it came to this.

Its a shame Hornacek took the ball out of his hands this season and instead gave it to Bledsoe and IT.

THe guy is a a helluva basketball player and crafty as hell. One of my all time faves.

[specialsauce]

He was my favorite player on the Suns. The way he bailed on them and put them in this situation just screams of prima donna. I hope he rots in Miami.

[Shabazz]

ESPN Grades on the Dragic trade:

Phoenix Suns: B+
It's unclear whether reports that Suns majority owner Robert Sarver intended to hang on to Dragic were a bluff or whether the owner was talked out of a self-defeating stance. Either way, the Suns did reasonably well when put in a tough spot by Dragic's public trade demand. Phoenix was unable to get the promising young player it wanted in a Dragic package -- his insistence on going to markets with few talented prospects made that almost impossible -- but did get a pair of lottery picks.

Whether this scenario was better than re-signing Dragic is a different matter, though I'm not sure a team with as many young players as Phoenix should necessarily be giving a 29-year-old player a five-year max deal. In the end, getting picks for Dragic might be for the best.

Kudos to Suns GM Ryan McDonough for getting Miami to give up an unprotected 2021 first-round pick. It's possible that McDonough isn't even around to see that pick in six years, but it has the chance to be a major boon to the franchise.

Miami Heat: C
This is perhaps the NBA's most fascinating and riskiest trade since the Brooklyn Nets acquired Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Celtics at the 2013 draft. I can see a scenario where acquiring Dragic propels the Heat back into contention, seemingly impossible after LeBron James' departure. I can also see a scenario where Miami has given up two lottery picks for the right to overpay a guard who's already peaked.


The Heat were the most reasonable trade destination for Dragic because, of the teams he desired to play for (the L.A. Lakers and New York Knicks being the others), they were the only that couldn't sign him outright this summer. Miami's best hope of getting Dragic was making a deal now, and that proved enough motivation to give up a pair of first-round picks.

The other element driving a deadline deal, of course, is the Heat being in the midst of a playoff race. Currently tied for seventh place with the Charlotte Hornets, a game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, Miami was previously more likely than not to make the playoffs -- but not by much. (My most recent simulation showed the Heat reaching the postseason 57 percent of the time.)

With Dragic in the fold, Miami is not only a favorite to make the postseason but a possible sleeper. Consider this: Per NBA.com/Stats, the Heat have outscored their opponents by 30.7 points per 100 possessions in the 44 minutes the foursome of Chris Bosh, Luol Deng, Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside have played together. That's a tiny sample size, obviously, but it suggests the potential of a Miami team with a healthy Wade and an unleashed Whiteside.

And remember, that success has come with perhaps the league's weakest group of point guards. Put Dragic with the other four players and the Heat have a starting lineup as talented as any in the East outside of Cleveland. It's also a relatively cohesive one. Miami already went through the hard work of learning how to utilize Wade off the ball next to James, meaning Dragic can step into a primary playmaking role where he'll run the pick-and-roll with Whiteside and the pick-and-pop with Bosh -- similar to the conditions in which he thrived last season in Phoenix.

Now, Miami's depth is still an issue. Take any one of those four players out of the Heat's lineup and the numbers crash quickly. Dragic will help there, too, since he can pick up lead ballhandling duties with Mario Chalmers at off guard in Wade's absence, but trading four players for two -- one of whom (Zoran Dragic) has played 14 minutes in his NBA career -- doesn't exactly strengthen Miami's bench.

Because Milwaukee has a 7.5-game lead in the standings, the Heat are basically stuck in either the seventh or eighth seed, meaning a difficult matchup in the first round. And assuming they re-sign Dragic to a max deal (five years and potentially more than $100 million), next season they'll bring back largely the same group, a year older. Whiteside is the only starter on the right side of the peak age for NBA players, and at 25 he's not far from it. In the summer of 2016, Miami will have the opportunity to rebuild with Deng, Wade and Whiteside becoming free agents. If the Heat struggle, an aging group of Bosh, Dragic and Wade might not be a draw to free agents in a market where nearly every team will have huge amounts of cap space. That's where things could start to go wrong.

Miami will send Phoenix a pick two years after its obligation to the Philadelphia 76ers is satisfied (most likely this season, assuming the Heat will now make the playoffs). That 2017 pick is top-seven protected, limiting the downside, but Miami could still send away a lottery pick. Then in 2021, the Heat's pick goes to the Suns with no protection whatsoever. The 2021 Draft is a long ways away; assuming the current age limit is still in effect, one-and-done picks in 2021 are currently in seventh grade. There's a long history, however, of NBA teams making costly mistakes by not worrying about a seemingly distant future.

If Miami is going to possibly pay a heavy price down the road, the team better at least win now. We'll see whether adding Dragic makes that a reality.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... ragicTrade
Shockingly pro-Suns.