NBA Character Chronicles丨The Suns gave up the peak Nash for him, thinking that it was the starting point of the myth, but he had no championship for the rest of his life

Goran Dragic announced his retirement on the first day of the 2024 New Year, which is a new beginning of a new journey in life and the end of his career, and it is difficult to make a decision to say goodbye, I believe that he must have recalled many past events on Chinese New Year's Eve in 2023-2024, and today let me start the time train and take you to relive the basketball story of the Slovenian dragon - Dragic.

A baby dragon is born

Dragic was born on May 6, 1986 in Ljubljana, the capital of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Slovenia, his mother is Slovenian and his father is Serbian, because his name Goran Dragić is very similar to the English dragon (dragon), plus the coat of arms of Ljubljana is a dragon, so Nash gave him the nickname of the dragon, the dragon represents strength and destructive power, Dragic likes this nickname very much, and Chinese fans nickname him "Claw Machine".

Dragic (first from right) and his younger brother

In 1990, the Men's World Cup was held in Slovenia's neighboring Italy, and the football boom swept across Europe, Dragic's father was a semi-professional footballer, which influenced Dragic to practice Xi football since he was a child, and he and his brother Zorran, who was three years younger than him, often played table tennis and basketball together until he was 11 years old, when he injured his foot in football, and the doctor asked him to stop the sport, and then he began to play basketball.

Father and Dragic brothers

In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia announced their independence from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, after the Ten-Day War, Slovenia officially became independent, sports in this small Central European country with a population of only 2 million deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, from men to women, from old to young everyone has their favorite sports, and no matter what the project has a professional venue equipment, according to statistics they are the world's per capita Olympic medals ranked first country, basketball Slovenia inherited the Yugoslav strong body and solid technology perfect combination of fine tradition, the domestic youth training system is very mature, Dragic who changed to play basketball received the most professional trainingLater, he joined the Ilirija club's academy and played basketball fundamentals very solidly.

Childhood Dragic (white in the middle)

In 1998, Slovenian 2.13 meter center Nesterovic was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 18th pick in the first round.

Nesterovic against Mutombo

Every summer NBA offseason, Nesterovic returns to his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in order to maintain his form, he will train at the local club Ilirija, in the summer of 2003 Nesterovic met the 17-year-old Dragic for the first time, in training Drajic and Nestor were on the same team, the two quickly established chemistry, Dragic's passing made him very comfortable, the team coach joked: "How is this kid? In the future, he will definitely go to the NBA to assist you." Nesterovic smiled awkwardly, he didn't want to hit this kid, but it was really difficult to join the NBA as a guard, from the NBA league to the G League to the field court, everyone could see all kinds of guards, Dragic was relatively thin at that time, and the biggest advantage was skillful control and speed, this type of guard grabbed a lot in the United States.

Kokoshkov (left), Dragic (center), Nesterovic (right)

The young dragon grows

Skills need to be improved day after day, reputation is played by game performance, Dragic is not ambitious, joining the NBA is the future goal, but the goal needs to be solid step by step, in 2004 Dragic joined the Slovenian league team Slovan officially became a professional player, soon he surprised everyone with his brilliant performance, that summer he was selected for the Slovenian U19 men's basketball team to participate in the European Youth Championship held in the Czech Republic, and the result was a blockbuster to lead the team to the championship.

Two years later, he was selected by the Basquenian club of the Spanish First Division, the team spent a lot of money to buy him and signed a four-year contract, in the summer Dragic was selected for the Slovenian national team to participate in the men's basketball World Championships held in Japan, that year's World Championships Chinese fans were impressed, especially the final life-and-death matchup between China and Slovenia in the group stage, and it was also the peak duel between Yao Ming and Nestrovic two NBA-level centers, the Slovenian team suppressed the Chinese team all over the court, and China was still 2 points behind in the last 6 seconds of the game and did not pause, and Liu Wei served to Wang Shipeng on the bottom line, Wang Shipeng dribbled to the front court in the last 1 second to face two defenders to shoot a long-range three-point duel, the Chinese players celebrated, Dragic sitting on the court was sad, this World Championships he did not get too many opportunities to play as a rookie, and the Chinese team did not play for a second, it was this failed debut national team experience that made him secretly swear in his heart that he must lead the Slovenian men's basketball team to achieve excellent results in the future.

After the World Championships, he did not join the Basquenia club, in order to ensure playing time the team loaned him to Murcia in La Liga, unfortunately played a few games there before suffering an injury for most of the season, in the summer of 2007 he was selected for the national team again for the European Championships after recovering from injury, coach Alex Pipan started to use new players because of the defeat in last year's World Championships, Dragic got the opportunity, he played an average of 25 minutes per game, helping the team to 6 wins 3 Finishing 7th in the tournament with a losing record, especially in the two matches against France, Dragic and NBA star Parker managed to limit their opponents impressively, while hometown club Olympia applied for a loan after Murcia's loan expired, and Basquenia agreed.

After the baptism of the European Championship, Dragic grew rapidly, and he was entrusted with important responsibilities in the Olympia team, where he became teammates with Doncic's father Sasa Doncic, leading the team to an 18-2 record in the league to win the league championship in one fell swoop, and also performed well in the Champions League.

Doncic's father, Doncic, and Dragic celebrate winning the league

In the summer of 2008, Dragic was invited to participate in the Reebok basketball training camp held in Treviso, Italy, and many NBA team scouts and management went to investigate, and the training camp brought together Batum, Ibaka, Asik, Morty Younas and other powerful international players, Dragic performed well in the training camp, showing his technical characteristics to the fullest, and then he signed up for the 2008 NBA draft.

At that time, the Phoenix Suns relied on Nash for great success, but as Nash got older, the team has been actively looking for Nash's successor, and in the 07-08 season, with the failure of the team's stud O'Neal, head coach D'Antoni left, and Terry Porter took over, and he hired Kokoshkov as an assistant coach, Kokoshkov is a Serbian, very capable and prestigious in the American basketball coaching community, he is the first European coach in the history of the NCAA, joined the Los Angeles Clippers coaching staff in 2000 and became the first non-American coach in the NBA, and in the summer of 2008, because he and Dragic are both former Yugoslavs, Suns executive Cole specially arranged for him to try out Dragic, and this arrangement made Kokoshkov a noble man for Dragic's life.

At the time, the Suns assistant coach Kokoshkov

Kokoshkov was very satisfied with Dragic after the all-round trial, but at that time Dragic faced a big problem, because of the four-year contract with the Basquenian club, if you want to sign Dragic, you need to pay a lot of buyout fees, Dragic showed strength at that time is not outstanding, and the teams generally despise European defenders, a potential second-round pick is obviously impossible to pay millions of dollars first, all teams have lost interest in Dragic, at this time Kokoshkov tried to persuade Korr to sign Dragic, he used his credibility to guarantee that the player has the strength to join the NBAIt was Kokoshkov's strong recommendation that changed Dragic's fate, and after negotiations, the Suns paid a buyout fee of 1.6 million euros to Basquenia, and at the same time traded with the Spurs to get the 45th pick and selected Dragic.

Dragic and Nash

Joining the NBA means a bigger challenge, Dragic really felt what it means to be outside the world, he struggled in his rookie season, once lost confidence, felt that he was not capable of staying in this league, in the most desperate time he called his father and even broke down and cried, fortunately he met good people, team leaders Nash and Hill cared for and encouraged him, Nash shared his training skills and recipes with his little brother, like a mentor to guide him to improve, and Kokoshkov, Dragic regarded him as a second father, he took care of Dragic in life and on the fieldHe always encouraged Dragic when he lost confidence, and the most he told Dragic was "Always work hard and be patient." This became Dragic's motto.

Dragic and Kokoshkov

The 08-09 season is not only a painful memory for Dragic, but also a painful memory for the entire Suns, Coach Terry Porter led the team to two-thirds of the schedule was fired because of poor results, assistant coach Gentry took office, the team missed the playoffs for the first time in many years, 09-10 season Gentry began to innovate the team's skills and tactics, the team re-emerged to return to the playoffs with 54 wins and 28 losses, Dragic also began to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA, as a Nash bench played an average of 18 minutes per game and scored 7.9 points and 3 assists, especially in the third game of the series against the Spurs in the playoffs, the Suns led 2-0 in the first two games, and the Spurs launched a crazy counterattackDragic came off the bench in the fourth quarter of Game 3 to score 23 points, a game that marked Dragic's true foothold in the league, and Kokoshkov said the game was worth $1 million.

The dragon soars

When everyone thought that Dragic would go one step further in the new season, the Suns ushered in another change, Steve Kerr left, and Lance - Blanks took office, the team's building philosophy changed, halfway through the season the Suns used Dragic plus draft picks from Houston in exchange for the more aggressive little black bean Brooks, Dragic and Yao Ming became teammates, but unfortunately Yao Ming did not officially cooperate because of injury problems, Yao Ming suddenly announced his retirement in the 11-12 season, the Rockets began to rebuild unprepared, Dragic and Lowry competed that season, but neither of them could stay at the end of the season, Jeremy Lin's sudden popularity made the Rockets thirsty, and they also won Harden。

Dragic, whose rookie contract expired, received a call from Kokoshkov and Gentry again, he signed Phoenix again without even communicating with other teams, his house and family have always been in Phoenix, the team did not treat him badly, whether it was Gentry or Hunter who took over later, he was arranged for him to start, the only fly in the ointment is that the team owner Sarver is the most famous iron rooster in the NBA, the Suns were in a bad period in those years, he didn't want to spend a penny, 13-14 seasons Dragic made rapid progress, averaging 20.3 points and 5.9 assists per game to win the honor of the most improved player, and he was almost selected as an All-Star in the middle of the seasonOn the second day of his defeat, Sarver happily said to Dragic at the training ground: "I'm so happy that you didn't make the All-Star selection." Dragic was puzzled, and Savor continued: "Because you saved me $1 million." Because Dragic's contract stipulates that he will be rewarded with $1 million once he is selected as an All-Star, Dragic was so embarrassed that he was speechless.

In the 14-15 season, the Suns even signed his brother Zoran in order to keep Dragic, but in the face of serious differences between the two sides on the contract extension amount, the Suns could only put Dragic on the shelf in the middle of the season, and the Miami Heat quickly traded him, Coach Spo said: "No one can refuse a point guard as good as Dragic" On his first day with the Miami Heat, Heat owner Pat Riley called him to his office for a top-level CPU, and he took out all the championship rings he had won from the window, and then showed and introduced the process of each championship in turn, and finally said to Dragic: "Take whatever you like." Dragic was stunned and motionless, and Riley continued: "I hope you can create your own honor in Miami!"

The Miami Heat have a unique team culture, tenacity, passion, and hard work are synonymous with this team. Draft adjustments continue to become a powerhouse in the East, Dragic became the team's top commander, he was finally selected as an All-Star in the 17-18 season, and in the 19-20 epidemic season, Dragic played the best performance of his career in the park and helped the team reach the Finals, but unfortunately he missed several of the most important Finals games due to injury, and the team finally lost to the Lakers, which is the closest he has come to an NBA championship.

In 2016, he recommended his mentor Kokoshkov to the Slovenian Basketball Association as the head coach of the national team, and at the same time, his little brother Doncic also began to emerge, like Nesterovic, Dragic will return to Slovenia every summer to fund the training camp, because of the relationship with Doncic's father's former teammates, Doncic will participate in his training camp every summer, and then improve rapidly every year, Dragic called Doncic a monster.

The 2017 European Championships were held in the three countries, Dragic announced before the game that he would withdraw from the national team at the end of the event, and the whole team wanted to give him a perfect national team farewell game, the master and apprentice together and the genius Doncic was born, the team went all the way to the finals, and in the final with Serbia, Dragic scored 35 points in Doncic's absence to help the team win the championship, He averaged 22.6 points per game in nine games to win the tournament's MVP, and he was honored by the best team, and that year he became a Slovenian hero, and the president awarded him the Order of People's Merit, which represents the highest honor.

The dragon is in retreat

After the park season, Dragic was affected by injuries and was not in good shape, in 2021 the team used him as a chip trade to come to Lowry, perhaps full of desire for the NBA championship, he didn't want to stay with the Raptors at all, the Raptors had no choice but to trade him to the Spurs, and then he defected to Nash to join the Nets to pursue the championship, unfortunately the Nets' All-Star team fell apart instantly, joined the Bulls in 2022, was cut half a season later, he still wants to return to the Heat, despite frequent overtures in the media, the team did not sign him back, and finally he joined the Bucks to continue to pursue the championship, coincidentally the Bucks encountered the Heat in the first round of the playoffs, and the old club Heat staged the Black Eight MiracleOn April 22, 2023, Dragic scored two points in four minutes on the court against his old club, and he may not realize that this was his last swan song in the NBA.

In the end, Dragic failed to win the championship honor, throughout his career personal honors are only a handful, there may be regrets, but life is perfect because of regrets, and the ups and downs are the most exciting part of life, just like Dragic's motto: "Always work hard and stay patient", don't be discouraged during the trough, and work harder to perfect life.