On this day 48 years ago in Sibenik, the legendary Drazen "The basketball Mozart" Petrovic was born.... In just 29 years he spent on this earth, he managed to leave a mark in letters to the European and international basketball....
Drazen Petrovic was by far the most talented/skilled european player ever, had he managed to stay in the NBA (or preferably came earlier to the NBA) you would see why this guy was great... you saw only half of it his last year in the NBA, he finally got his starting job & minutes and was ready to nail the gaspedal next year... but then came the accident... Many people remember him as simply a dead on shooter pure SG, but he was actually a combo-guard SG/PG that could dishout up to ~30 assists (his career high in Cibona was 27 assists), his court vision and passing ability was remarkable, as you can see in 1992 Olympic team for example, he played Point-Guard.... think of a Manu Ginobili with greater scoring & shooting ability........ or think of Pete Maravich with greater efficiency/accuracy... or think of Jerry West.......... or think of a smaller version of Larry Bird... he was more like that rather than Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and such, but he did have their type of role in the NBA...
Here i will be paying some homage with some facts, videos etc. feel free to add in if you so wish...
6× European Player of the Year: 4× Euroscar Award (1986, 1989, 1992–1993)
2× Mr. Europa Award (1986, 1993)
All-NBA Third Team (1993)
FIBA World Championship MVP (1986)
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)
50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors
FIBA Hall of Fame induction (2007)
#3 Retired by the New Jersey Nets
Some random facts / videos:
Petrović's scoring average during the four years with Cibona stood at 37.7 points in the Yugoslavian first division and 33.8 in European competitions, with personal one-time bests of 112 (40/60 FG, 10/20 3Pts, 22/22 FT) and 62 points, respectively.... His scoring sheet was often known to show 40, 50, even 60 in a single game; in an 1986 European League game against Limoges, Petrović scored ten 3-pointers, including seven in a row during a first half stretch, for a final tally of 51 points and 10 assists; the same season he scored 45 points and dished out 25 assists against the reigning Italian champions Simac. Self-admittedly, Petrović needed new challenges, which Cibona and the Yugoslavian league could not offer. Across the Atlantic, the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA had already used their third round pick on young Petrović in 1986. However, he decided to postpone his departure to the United States and in 1988 signed with Real Madrid instead, for at that time a hefty sum of around US$ 4 million......
Point is.... he could score with the best of them (even compared to any of those guys in the NBA at his era), i think he would have growed into a 30-5-5 type of player in the NBA (with his usual shooting accuracy 50-40-90)
Not to get picky, but that 112 point game was against the youth squad players of a Yugo League team. So it really should not count, even though people always want to claim it should.
*Drazen was 14 when he played for the first pro team in Europe, they became later that year one of the top 2 best teams in Yugoslavia. The first game he got to start he was 15 and immediately that game he scored 49 points.
*Drazen believed he was maybe the biggest basketball addict ever, he said he used to play almost the entire days, even in rain, snow etc. mostly shooting jumpshots.
*Could have gone to the NBA much earlier, 5 NBA teams showed interest in 1987-88 but he didnt want to take that path.
*Drazen played his last basketball game versus Slovenia in Wroclow, Poland on June 6, 1993. A day after, when the National team was returning home, he was supposed to fly with them but his girlfriend (Klara) was gona drive home to Croatia in her VW Golf, Drazen finally took the offer and told the team: "I will see you in the morning" (he was always the first on the court). The young lady that drove Drazen, at high speed, lost control of the vehicle in the middle of the storm and crashed into a truck.... There was 2 women in the car, they were only left with injuries, but Drazen died (he was sleeping on the passengers seat and had no seatbelt)
Not to get picky, but that 112 point game was against the youth squad players of a Yugo League team. So it really should not count, even though people always want to claim it should.
It was against SMELT Olimpija (Slovenian pro team), it was a Yugoslavian Cup (top teams in Yugo, Yugoslavia by the way had the best basketball in Europe especially in that era) it was not a "youth squad" team.....
It was more "countable" than Wilt Chamberlains 100 pts against that competition he had, i can tell you that... he was on absolute fire with his jumpshot and kept "chucking" like a mofo, i dont think anybody would have stopped him from taking ~60 shots....
The following game after that he dropped 62 points on much less shots... ironically he had many 62 point games, in European Championship games, European League games, World Cup games....
* Most points in history of Spain Finals: 42 vs. Barcelona /88-89(Game 4.)
* Most 3-points made in history of Spain Finals: 8 vs. Barcelona /88-89
* Most 3-pointers: 9 vs. Limoges (France) on January 22, 1986. (Game 2.)
* Most points in European League: 62 vs. Snaidro Caserte 88/89, 62 vs. Katkan (Finland), Korac Kup-October 21. 1987
It was against SMELT Olimpija (Slovenian pro team), it was a Yugoslavian Cup (top teams in Yugo, Yugoslavia by the way had the best basketball in Europe especially in that era) it was not a "youth squad" team.....
It was more "countable" than Wilt Chamberlains 100 pts against that competition he had, i can tell you that... he was on absolute fire with his jumpshot and kept "chucking" like a mofo, i dont think anybody would have stopped him from taking ~60 shots....
The following game after that he dropped 62 points on much less shots... ironically he had many 62 point games, in European Championship games, European League games, World Cup games....
In that 112 point game, the team's senior players were not playing.
I've also heard that the 112-pointer was not achieved against senior players. I mean, the final score was 158-77. There's something completely fishy in this, don't you think? I would understand if we were talking about a 158-154 game.
Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!
