Drazen Petrovic

[Centurion1]

ESPN channel has a show called thirty on thirty which is about different stories; one was about this guy. Really sad story. Ironically, hes from my Croatian family branches same hometown (Sibenik). He was very good before he died. Does anybody watch the NBA or follow Euro league basketball at all? I've been ravenous with it as of late. My dad played at UCONN but i never had a chance coming out of High School.

This however is an interesting story about the former Yugoslavia though obviously dumbed down a little bit for the audience and to hold viewers attention.

[Sarmatian]

Drazen Petrovic is probably the best Yugoslavian, later Croatian, basketball player of all time. He didn't get the proper chance in the NBA, due to bias present towards European basketball players back then.

There's another ESPN great show I can recommend, it's called "Once Brothers", where Divac talks about his friendship with Drazen Petrovic, their hopes and fears when they were drafted to the NBA as one of the first European players and how they eventually fell apart due to tragic wars in Yugoslavia. You can also find it on youtube, I believe. I was very moved by it...

[Centurion1]

:thumbsup: Haha what I'm talking about its one of the movies in the series 30 on 30.

Petrovic could easily have been one of the greats if he hadnt died so young. Divac was also a good player.

[Strike For The South]

Drazen Petrovic is probably the best Yugoslavian, later Croatian, basketball player of all time. He didn't get the proper chance in the NBA, due to bias present towards European basketball players back then.

There's another ESPN great show I can recommend, it's called "Once Brothers", where Divac talks about his friendship with Drazen Petrovic, their hopes and fears when they were drafted to the NBA as one of the first European players and how they eventually fell apart due to tragic wars in Yugoslavia. You can also find it on youtube, I believe. I was very moved by it...

Lulz, he didn't get a fair shake becuase Portland was loaded with talent bias has nothing to do with it.
Besides Drexler>Pertovic any day of the week
Besides Besides The best European player is either Sybanois or Nowitski

I also found it hiliarous that they left it open to interpatation wether or not a unified Yugoslavia could've beaten the 92 Dream team. Insanity.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Petrovic was a keen childhod memory. I don't like basketball at all but back then, when he was playing, it was different.
.

[classical_hero]

Lulz, he didn't get a fair shake becuase Portland was loaded with talent bias has nothing to do with it.
Besides Drexler>Pertovic any day of the week
Besides Besides The best European player is either Sybanois or Nowitski

I also found it hiliarous that they left it open to interpatation wether or not a unified Yugoslavia could've beaten the 92 Dream team. Insanity.Well it would have been interesting to see what a Yugoslavian team would have done against the Dream Team, but I doubt that anyone would have been able to stop them from winning the gold.

But it was sad how those two players never had a chance to patch things up, like the rest of the players from that era. It was a shame what happened to Yugoslavia.

[Sarmatian]

Lulz, he didn't get a fair shake becuase Portland was loaded with talent bias has nothing to do with it.
Besides Drexler>Pertovic any day of the week
Besides Besides The best European player is either Sybanois or Nowitski

I also found it hiliarous that they left it open to interpatation wether or not a unified Yugoslavia could've beaten the 92 Dream team. Insanity.

Lulz, I'm not so sure. Fair enough, there was a fierce competition for a shooting guard spot then but the only player that I can for sure say was better than Petrovic is Jordan. I wouldn't put my money on anyone else. I'm not saying he was better than everyone else but I can't say he was worse. I can't really go into big argument because I was a kid when he was playing and most of my knowledge comes from seeing replays many years after.

Could that team have beaten the Americans? Probably not but no one believed it could be done in 2002, although both American and Yugoslavian teams were much weaker than '92 teams.

I'm more sad for the football team from those times. They managed to play respectable football in Italy '90 with all the tensions that were present at the time. Those guys became u-20 world champions and they were supposed to rip everyone apart during the nineties. Prosinecki, Stojkovic, Boban, Savicevic, Jugovic, Mihajlovic, Suker, Boksic, Pancev, Katanec, Mijatovic... Oh, how wish I could have seen them play together carefree, just football, no politics. :disappointed:

As a journalist from Guardian put it, Yugoslavia in the nineties, the greatest team that never was (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/jul/24/newsstory.sport9).

[Strike For The South]

Lulz, I'm not so sure. Fair enough, there was a fierce competition for a shooting guard spot then but the only player that I can for sure say was better than Petrovic is Jordan. I wouldn't put my money on anyone else. I'm not saying he was better than everyone else but I can't say he was worse. I can't really go into big argument because I was a kid when he was playing and most of my knowledge comes from seeing replays many years after.

My dear boy, He was an above average SG with a sweet stroke from 23'9. The biggest problem with Petrovic was that by the time he made it to the NBA he had gotten so use to dropping 100 in the Yugoslavian B leauge he never developed the court vision that's key in becoming a SG.

Allot is also made about his competitivness...which is all fine and good until one remembers the man was more apt to personal 1-1 battles than exporting that fire to the rest of the team

As far as placing Drazen among his peers, he is most certainly behind Jordan, Drexler, and Miller. I would probably put him behind Starks as well. At the end of the day Drazen reminds me allot of Chris Mullin. Scored a fair bit of points and had a good shot but not much else


Could that team have beaten the Americans? Probably not but no one believed it could be done in 2002, although both American and Yugoslavian teams were much weaker than '92 teams.


Gah, everyone guns for us while we treat the olympics as a vacation. But no one beats the 92 dream team. The fact Dino Radja is in your starting lineup makes me lol everytime.


I'm more sad for the football team from those times. They managed to play respectable football in Italy '90 with all the tensions that were present at the time. Those guys became u-20 world champions and they were supposed to rip everyone apart during the nineties. Prosinecki, Stojkovic, Boban, Savicevic, Jugovic, Mihajlovic, Suker, Boksic, Pancev, Katanec, Mijatovic... Oh, how wish I could have seen them play together carefree, just football, no politics. :disappointed:

As a journalist from Guardian put it, Yugoslavia in the nineties, the greatest team that never was (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/jul/24/newsstory.sport9).

Heh and 94 was a pretty weak field, prolly could've made a bit of a run at it

[Sarmatian]

Allot is also made about his competitivness...which is all fine and good until one remembers the man was more apt to personal 1-1 battles than exporting that fire to the rest of the team

That's true. He was used to being THE player in a team and the fact that he never got a proper chance to prove himself only spurred him to show even more of his skill.


As far as placing Drazen among his peers, he is most certainly behind Jordan, Drexler, and Miller. I would probably put him behind Starks as well. At the end of the day Drazen reminds me allot of Chris Mullin. Scored a fair bit of points and had a good shot but not much else

I'm gonna take your word for that. As I've said, I've haven't really watched enough to say either way but I have heard some great coaches and experts saying that he was one of the best of all times and that he could have gotten much bigger if he was given a proper chance, maybe in a different team with less competition.


Gah, everyone guns for us while we treat the olympics as a vacation. But no one beats the 92 dream team. The fact Dino Radja is in your starting lineup makes me lol everytime.

That's the burden best/most prestigious team in any sport has to deal with. Everyone wants their scalp, but in this case it wasn't the olympics but world championship in Indianapolis.



Heh and 94 was a pretty weak field, prolly could've made a bit of a run at it

Aye, that too. Qualified first for 1992 Euro also, disqualified because of the war, Denmark went as 2nd instead and won the tournament. A heaven for what ifs :laugh4:

[Strike For The South]

All fair points, Drazen was insturmental in sparking Euro interest in the NBA which in part helped tone down the "bash brother" mentality that peaked in the mid 90s.

He was a fine player