European Prospects

The Slovenian PG was one of the positive surprises of the this year’s edition of the Eurobasket in Spain. Now he is playing his first season in the Euroleague and he mostly does it at his own favor.

After a somehow slow start into the Euroleague season, Dragic is now putting up more regular numbers. He scored in double figures in 7 of the last 8 Euroleague games and he is also turning regularly around 3-4 assists per game. Scoring mostly on drives, where he uses his good athletic abilities, he still has no regular three point shot which he can hit. He improved in that exercise in the last game though so that he is not at nearly 30% from behind the arc.

There is still some work to do on his shooting mechanics so that you can hope on a better shooting percentage in the coming months. As defenses often let him open, he is forced to take more shots from behind the line than he wants. And this also makes his penetrations less dangerous as he has more trouble to beat his opponent of the dribble.

What is interesting in his physical combination of good size, great speed and athletic skills is his defensive potential. He was one of the key players in Slovenia’s run in the Eurobasket this summer to qualify for the Pre-Olympic tournament. His presence on the court was always paired with huge defensive pressure on the opposing guards and easy buckets on the fast break.

For the moment, Dragic still has to improve in decision making; he is not a floor general at the moment. But as he is getting huge minutes in the Euroleague, he should improve in this area in the future. However, he will probably never become a true PG leader who is a pass first guy. His scoring skills are at the moment more developed than his passing so that he is more of a scoring PG right now.

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