In their latest episode, Vice Sports dives into the career of Croatia’s legendary basketball player Dražen Petrović and how his arrival into the NBA changed the outlook of European players forever.
October 18, 2018 – Dražen Petrović is arguably the most important player in Croatian basketball, even though his life was cut short in 1993. The 6’5 Šibenik native and shooting guard moved up in the ranks from Šibenka and Cibona to Real Madrid and the NBA. He was not only named the Yugoslav and Croatian ‘Sportsman of the Year’, but he was named the best athlete in Yugoslavia, one of FIBA’s 50 greatest players, one of the 50 greatest EuroLeague contributors, the top scorer in the Spanish League, and the FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket MVP – and that’s just in Europe.
Petrović had a wildly successful career in the United States as well after he joined the Portland Trail Blazers for the 1989–1990 season. Though he saw limited playing time on the Blazers, Petrović became a new member of the New Jersey Nets in 1991. Dražen was known as a team leader on the Nets, and it didn’t hurt that he averaged 20.6 points and 36.9 minutes on the floor in the 1992/93 season. Petrović’s field goal percentage also placed him near the top of all NBA guards – and he even helped the team to the playoffs for the first time since 1986. His achievements did not go unnoticed, and he was honored with a selection to the All-NBA Third Team. The Nets even retired his number 3 jersey following his death.
And Petrović’s legacy still lives on today.
In the latest Vice Sports episode of ‘The Way We Ball’, released on October 16, 2018, the popular portal examines Dražen Petrović’s legacy and what it has meant for other European players like Dario Šarić.
“A generation ago, the barrier to entry for foreign players to the NBA was at an all-time high—considered “soft” and unable to keep up with American competition, European players carried a stigma. But when Dražen Petrović arrived in 1989 and team Croatia went toe-to-toe with the Dream Team in the gold medal game a few years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics, the outlook for a new generation of players like Dario Šarić changed forever,” writes Vice.
And in a 20-minute video, you can get to know Dražen and his legacy a bit better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=QpgdnucBqQA
Vice Sports also published a one-on-one interview with Dario Šarić where the “24-year-old cult hero discusses his role on the Croatian national team, LeBron’s decision to spurn Philadelphia, how often he thinks about beating the Celtics, and more.” You can find that here.
