better shooter:Peja or Drazen Petrovic?

[uolj]

Petrovic was only on the Blazers for 1 full season, plus about 1/4th of his second year, right?

So in 1989-90, as a rookie, he played behind Drexler, Porter, and Danny Young at the two guard positions. He got 12.6 minutes per game as opposed to Young's 17mpg (Drexler and Porter got 37 and 35mpg). Unless he took over as the backup PG in a three guard rotation and squeezed out Young's minutes, what was Adelman supposed to do? Bench the superstar?

 

[piksi]

Petrovic was only on the Blazers for 1 full season, plus about 1/4th of his second year, right?

So in 1989-90, as a rookie, he played behind Drexler, Porter, and Danny Young at the two guard positions. He got 12.6 minutes per game as opposed to Young's 17mpg (Drexler and Porter got 37 and 35mpg). Unless he took over as the backup PG in a three guard rotation and squeezed out Young's minutes, what was Adelman supposed to do? Bench the superstar?

Play more than 7 man rotation

 

[uolj]

Besides, how can you be so bitter about him not getting tons of playing time in just 1.25 seasons? It's not like he languished on the bench for five years before exploding in New Jersey. He only had 20 mpg his first partial season with the Nets, too.

 

[Heuge]

Play more than 7 man rotation

That team had a nine man rotation. 12 minutes a game as a rookie is nothing to scoff at. (especially from a 3rd round pick.)

 

[piksi]

That team had a nine man rotation. 12 minutes a game as a rookie is nothing to scoff at. (especially from a 3rd round pick.)

Hard to call that man a rookie. Anyways we will never agree on this.

 

[Heuge]

Hard to call that man a rookie. Anyways we will never agree on this.

I guess this helps me understand your blind hatred for RA. If I had a favorite player and he didn't get the chance I thought he deserved I would be bent to.
But as an outsider, who doesn't really care, he was given the same chance that every other player of that time got. I am not sure the coach did anything wrong here.
You are right though, we will never agree on this, and I respect your opinion on this.

 

[SaCKiNgS24]

in 1993 i was 9 years old and had absolutely no interest in basketball or the NBA...

so i have never heard of or seen this DP guy....so i can't answer that

in 1993 i was 8, its always good to know bout history of the NBA

 

[uolj]

This was also the year after Drexler's best season as a pro, and the year the Blazers made it to the Finals. Sure, it's possible that they might have beat the Pistons if Petrovic had played more. But that's a tough argument to make.

Anyways we will never agree on this.

I wasn't paying attention at the time, so I am open for convincing, I just haven't heard anything that makes sense. Why did the Blazers' coach suck so bad? What should he have done that would have been better for his team?

 

[sloter]

Drazen was a SG not a PG.

He was a combo guard.

 

[piksi]

He was a combo guard.

in other words - he was dominating the ball.

 

[nAj jAn™]

Was he the greatest European player ever played?

I think both he and Vlade were very popular European players in the NBA that time. I don't know Drazen but I saw him in Vintage NBA once and he was definitely a great shooter! A passionate player, more like a Ginobili but with pure stroke.

And he is a greater player than Pedja.....many European players now are slowly picking up and getting better than their hometown star Pedja. That Pavlovic guy from the Cavs has a great potential to be a great player than Pedja....

 

[bozzwell]

Was he the greatest European player ever played?

This we will never know because Drazen was killed in his prime and when his NBA career just took off. Sabonis, OTOH, came to NBA when his knees were already gone. It is somewhat of a convention to say that they were two best Eruopean players ever. While I wouldn't disagree with that, my one caveat is that they both had advantage of showcasing in NBA where ther is a number of great bball players in Europe who never bothered with NBA.

I think both he and Vlade were very popular European players in the NBA that time. I don't know Drazen but I saw him in Vintage NBA once and he was definitely a great shooter! A passionate player, more like a Ginobili but with pure stroke.

And he is a greater player than Pedja.....many European players now are slowly picking up and getting better than their hometown star Pedja. That Pavlovic guy from the Cavs has a great potential to be a great player than Pedja....

Pedja is nowhere near being on of the best ever European players. He's not even best Serbian player. This is what Kings fans often forget, because of all the acrimony on kingsfans.com to make case against Pedja comparassments with The Great One are often invoked. That is just not right. Pedja is a great player in his own right and an inspirational figure because of how much adversity he overcame to get to be starting SF on a great team. Full stop.

 

[bozzwell]

While impressive (and it is), world basketball wasn't as good then as it is now.

I disagree. The opposite is true (IMHO). The World/FIBA basketball is wilting away as they young prospects a leaving for NBA to sit on the bench and never develop and European leagues and competitions are increasingly imitating NBA (at least in the number fo games played and somewhat in style). The net result of this is that what traditionaly made European basketball great (6 hours of practice every day and fewer games gave players ample time to perfect skills and develop sound fundamentals) is slowly dissapearing.

Pick and roll will kill European basketball.

 

[hurley]

I'm old enough to just vaguely remember Drazen. Nets years only, nothing with Portland. I do however, remember my father talking about him lighting up his beloved sixers. I think he was also in the original NBA Jam acade game. For some reason drazen and a guy by the name of mike izziolino seem to ring a bell from the countless quarters and hours spent on that game.

 

[sloter]

I disagree. The opposite is true (IMHO). The World/FIBA basketball is wilting away as they young prospects a leaving for NBA to sit on the bench and never develop and European leagues and competitions are increasingly imitating NBA (at least in the number fo games played and somewhat in style). The net result of this is that what traditionaly made European basketball great (6 hours of practice every day and fewer games gave players ample time to perfect skills and develop sound fundamentals) is slowly dissapearing.

Pick and roll will kill European basketball.

EXCELLENT POST!!! It is definitely true that European basketball is mimicking more and more NBA players, but aside from a few phenomenons (Nowitzki, Kirilenko, Gasol, Pedja) most of European players that come to NBA today are just role players.

The players who came to the NBA in early 90s were impact players. Only from old Yugoslavia there were Divac, Kukoc, Radja, Petrovic, Danilovic (who in his short NBA career made some significant contributions and led the Mavs in scoring when he was on their team) and there were a couple of more who would have made significant contributions had they opted to come (Zdovc, Komazec) and probably tens of role players who played briefly or could have been role players (Savic, Paspalj, Djordjevic, Naumoski, Vrankovic, Curcic, and a couple of others).

NBA didn't pay nearly as much attention to Euros as they do now ... I don't think that Milicic would have been picked at #2 had he been born 10 years earlier (and his rookie class was the best one in the last 10 years or so). But what's also true is that very few of these new players can raise their form at will in any particular game (like Drazen could). That's a part of the reason why S&M team did poorly in the last Olympics. All good players, but not playing with their heart and head and not giving everything they can to win every single game.

And this is not a problem with Europe only, it's a difference between the basketball as it was played 15 years ago and now. There used to be lots of improvisation and not everything was so robotic as it looks nowadays.

 

[hurley]

Princeton basketball is the way basketball was meant to be played. It's amazing to watch five scholars compete against true athletes. They play as a team and they play smart. I'm so happy that Pete Carille(sp) has remained on our stafff so far.

 

[sloter]

Yes. Princeton and motion offense are my favorites too. Lots of action off the ball makes getting good looks a lot easier.

 

[piksi]

EXCELLENT POST!!! It is definitely true that European basketball is mimicking more and more NBA players, but aside from a few phenomenons (Nowitzki, Kirilenko, Gasol, Pedja) most of European players that come to NBA today are just role players.

The players who came to the NBA in early 90s were impact players. Only from old Yugoslavia there were Divac, Kukoc, Radja, Petrovic, Danilovic (who in his short NBA career made some significant contributions and led the Mavs in scoring when he was on their team) and there were a couple of more who would have made significant contributions had they opted to come (Zdovc, Komazec) and probably tens of role players who played briefly or could have been role players (Savic, Paspalj, Djordjevic, Naumoski, Vrankovic, Curcic, and a couple of others).

NBA didn't pay nearly as much attention to Euros as they do now ... I don't think that Milicic would have been picked at #2 had he been born 10 years earlier (and his rookie class was the best one in the last 10 years or so). But what's also true is that very few of these new players can raise their form at will in any particular game (like Drazen could). That's a part of the reason why S&M team did poorly in the last Olympics. All good players, but not playing with their heart and head and not giving everything they can to win every single game.

And this is not a problem with Europe only, it's a difference between the basketball as it was played 15 years ago and now. There used to be lots of improvisation and not everything was so robotic as it looks nowadays.

Bodiroga ?

 

[bozzwell]

Bodiroga ?

Good example. But you have to admit that Bodiroga is an exception by today's standards of European players. 15-25 years - not so.

 

[bojan_pecanac]

I've never seen Drazen play on tv. I have seen some videos about him and my dad use to tell me about him all the time. BTW - What political comments did Drazen make?

 

[sloter]

Bodiroga ?

In early 90s Bodiroga was still very young and very unknown.

 

[sloter]

BTW - What political comments did Drazen make?

That he is Croatian (although his family is part Serbian) and he supported Croatia's push for independence and whatever comes with it (Serbian aggressors, blah blah). Standard stuff, much like most of the other Croatian sports players, then and now.

 

[TheSerbianQueen]

Btw. some more crazy Drazen stats:

He scored 112 points in a game against Smelt Olimpija (the team from the best Yugoslav then, which probably wasn't too bad at the time either).
Most points in Euroleague: 62.
He was ok...

Yeah, you are right...... I remember those game!
He had some crazy games - the guy sometimes just really didn't know how to miss, even if he wanted to. One of my teachers (from back home) was married to a basketball player and we often got tickets for games, so I had few opportunities to watch Drazen play. He was by far my favourite player for the longest time and the reason I ever got into playing basketball.

 

[sloter]

Yeah, you are right...... I remember those game!
He had some crazy games - the guy sometimes just really didn't know how to miss, even if he wanted to. One of my teachers (from back home) was married to a basketball player and we often got tickets for games, so I had few opportunities to watch Drazen play. He was by far my favourite player for the longest time and the reason I ever got into playing basketball.

One of my teacher's was Drazen's teacher and team manager of Sibenka when Drazen played for them. I heard loads of stories about him.