On February 23, Beijing time, the Nets officially announced that the team has officially signed free agent Dragic.
Last offseason, Dragic was sent to the Raptors in lowry's deal, but the Raptors did not put him in the future plan, from the moment they got him, the Raptors have been looking for a deal, and finally before the trade deadline, the Raptors sent him to the Spurs, and the Spurs also reached a buyout with them.
After the buyout, Dragic quickly attracted the attention of many championship teams, including the Bucks, Heat, Nets, Warriors, Mavericks, Bulls, after some thought, Dragic finally decided to join the Nets.
According to sources, Nash played a major role in Dragic's decision to join the Nets - Dragic was once Nash's replacement, and he can be said to be "true love" for Nash:
In the 2008 draft, Dragic turned down all team offers and only participated in the Suns' audition
After getting the Suns' promise, Dragic paid 1 million out of his own pocket to enter the draft, just to play with Nash
In 2012, Dragic took a 10 million pay cut from the Rockets and returned to the Suns, still because of Nash
Ten years later, Dragic chose Nash again, but the identities of the two have been completely different, Dragic is still a player, but no longer young, he is still chasing the championship; Nash has become a coach, although sitting on a number of superstars, but because of injuries, coaching ability factors have been questioned.
So the question is, how much oil does Dragic have now?
Since he only played 5 games with the Raptors, it is not very informative, taking the heat's last two seasons reference, Dragic's performance:
——In the 2019-20 season, he played in 59 games, 3 bench games, averaged 16.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, shooting 36.7% from three-point range and 57.3% from the field.
—— In the 2020-21 season, he played in 50 games, 11 bench games, averaged 13.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, shooting 37.3% from three-point range and 55.2% from the field.
Although Dragic is a famous point guard, his strength is not combing offense, but personal offense, during the Heat, During the Heat, Before Hiro and Duncan Robinson grew up, Dragic also entered the discussion of the best sixth man, so his joining can inject stronger firepower into the Nets bench.
In addition, during the period when Irving can't play at home and Ben Simmons has not yet returned, Dragic can also act as the team's starting point guard - the Eastern Conference pattern has been extremely chaotic this year, from the first Heat to the fifth-to-last Wizards, there are only less than 11 wins, and the Nets have lost 12 games in the past 14 games, so don't underestimate any game, one more loss may not even be able to score a playoff.
Coupled with Dragic's rich experience on the court, getting him is definitely a good thing for the Nets, but the expectations are not too high, mainly because of Dragic's defense, statistically:
— In the 2019-20 season, Dragic's shooting percentage increased from 45.3% to 48.8% for players in place.
— In the 2020-21 season, Dragic's shooting percentage increased from 44.4% to 45.2% for players in place.
After all, a nearly 36-year-old white defender, the probability of expecting Dragic to contribute too much on the pitch is not too high, on the contrary, if the year continues to decline, Dragic may even have a black hole in the stadium.
Finally, let's talk about Dragic himself - at this stage of his career, the goals of the veterans are basically the same, that is, to win the championship, and the same is true for Dragic, and the biggest regret of his mentor Nash's career is that he did not win a championship as a player, hoping that Dragic can realize his dream.