Finally, Dragic in the flesh …
September 23rd, 2008, 8:19 pm · Post a Comment · posted by jerrybrown
We finally got our first look at new Suns guard Goran Dragic in the flesh during an open workout on Tuesday. And he showed about what we expected, both good and bad.
He is at home with the ball in his hands. He has very good court vision and keeps his teammates happy with distribution. He penetrates to the basket often and has a variety of Steve Nash-like improvisational shots off either leg and with either hand.
He was also huffing and puffing pretty hard, but some of that can be attributed to spending a month playing one-on-one instead of five-on-five while waiting for his contract situation to finally clear. His defense wasn’t overly impressive, especially when matched up with shooting guard Raja Bell (Steve Nash didn’t practice Tuesday, and neither did Shaquille O’Neal or Amare Stoudemire.) His shot was off target, but fatigue likely played a role in that as well.
After the practice, Dragic was headed back to Slovenia – beginning the 13-hour journey that will take him through L.A. and Paris and eat up and entire day with time changes. He hopes to have his work visa in a few days and begin the journey back to Phoenix in time for media day on Monday.
“I want to improve my game and help my teammates as soon as possible,” Dragic said. “I have to work hard, listen to the coaches and be patient. I know this team has a lot of great players and I am new player and I want to learn.
“I like to penetration. I think I can be a little version of Tony Parker if I can learn to work as hard as he did to be great.”
The coaching staff and front office people have been happy with what they have seen, but are trying to temper expectations a little after calling him the second-best point guard in the draft this summer.
“He’s showing everything I’ve seen on the tape,” Suns coach Terry Porter said. “He has a very good sense on how to play that point guard position and he does a good job of passing the ball in traffic. He has quick hands and good defensive concepts and he’s stronger than he looks.
“He’s still young he’s going to have his bumps in the road, but I like his qualities. He competes very hard and he knows how to play and how to read situations in the open court.”
Just how he will fit in remains to be seen, but he will get every chance to join the rotation.
“I don’t know how soon or how much he’s going to play. Training camp and preseason is going to tell a lot,” Porter said. “He’s definitely in our plans. I think he has the potential to play some consistent minutes. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”
