Today’s Sacramento Bee has a tremendous story remembering the late, great Drazen Petrovic, who died tragically 15 years ago this year. For those of you who don’t recall Petro, he was the first great European player to truly make a mark in the L. The guys could run, handle and shoot the hell out of the ball.
His run in the NBA lasted only four years (playing for both the Blazers and the Nets) but, as the article points out, his impact on basketball was huge. Read the story HERE and then check out some of the video evidence:
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Myrie says:
“…DC….Yo DC….kick it out to me for the three DC….”
famous Drazen quote. happened almost every game when he was in New Jerz and teammed with Kenny the Kid and Derrick Coleman.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Amar says:
*cough* detlef *cough* . . . drazen was a really nice player, and it’s a shame how he died, or how he and vlade never made up. (he died hating his best friend) but please Dime, detlef was much better than drazen (more versatile, could board and play defense, hit the three and make nice passes).
as far as we can go, though, in terms of the ‘what if’ machine, if Sabonis came to the L back when he was drafted (len bias draft) he would have been the best euro ever. (if you don’t know, ask david robinson who got destroyed by a young sabonis back in international play)
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Patrick Cassidy says:
Detlef was serious, there’s no arguing with that. Especially because he had all of those skills AND was 6-11.
One thing we can agree on though is that Sabonis could have changed the game if he came over earlier when he could still run and jump.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Amar says:
the other factor in all of this, which is really crazy, is that sabonis would have had two major impacts on the nba game. the evolution of the bigman would have happened sooner (with guys like dirk and so forth being center height, but having SF skills and SG shooting range), because Sabonis had legit three range and great passing skills. and secondly, the blazers would have been too amazing in those late 80’s, early 90’s to the point that jordan’s bull possibly could have ended up with ZERO rings until 97/98
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
GEE ...First the Dolphins now the Heat?!?! says:
Sabonis would have put many centers to shame had he come early. Whoever he was with would be talking about at least 2 championships.
Sabonis was still doing his thing as old as he was.
Also he would have been H.O.F. easy!
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
yoda says:
you cant compare detlef and drazen. detlef went to high school in USA and then went to college there, so hes hardly europian by basketball standards. thats like saying ben gordon or lual deng are brits. and for those of you who dont know much about drazen europian games, he was really nasty.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
BustJlaze says:
Dude was definitely nice…but will somebody PLEASE MAKE A QUALITY HIGHLIGHT REEL FOR THIS DUDE?! All the Drazen P. youtube joints are WAAAAAACK!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Yuckmouf says:
Drazen only played 4 years. if he had a full career, he would embarras Det
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
doc says:
u cant make better highlights he just shot your eyes out. And I know Sabonis was sick and all that but Mike wouldnt have no rings untill 97-98 or whoever he played for would of had 2 chips. Thats some strong statements.