Drazen Petrovic - Unforgettable

Dražen Petrović (October 22, 1964 -- June 7, 1993) was a Croatian basketball player. A tireless shooter and prolific scorer, Petrović is arguably the most celebrated basketball player ever to emerge from Europe. He is considered the crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA.

At the age of thirteen Dražen started playing in the youth selections of the local BC Šibenka; at the age of fifteen he had already made the first team, just as Šibenka earned a place in the national first division. With young Petrović as the star of the team, Šibenka reached the final of the Radivoj Korać Cup twice (1982 and 1983), losing to CSP Limoges both times. In 1983 the 18 year-old Petrović hit two free throws for Šibenka's victory over BC Bosna Sarajevo in the final playoff game of the Yugoslavian club championship, but the title was taken away from Šibenka the next day by the national basketball federation and awarded to Bosna shortly after, with irregularities in refereeing cited as the reason.

In his many statements prior to arriving in Portland, Petrović voiced lack of playing time as the only possible obstacle to his success in the NBA; in his first season with the Blazers, those concerns were realized. With Portland's starting backcourt of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter already established, the reigning European Player of the Year was reduced to playing 12 minutes per game - minutes collected largely in "garbage time" - allowing him a mere 7.4 points per game. The beginning of the 1990-1991 season brought Petrović's frustration to a climax, as his playing time dropped to 7 minutes a game. At his insistence, 38 games into the season (in 20 of which Petrović didn't see any playing time), a three-way trade with the Denver Nuggets sent him to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for a first-round pick in the following draft.

On January 23, 1991, Petrović became a member of the New Jersey Nets. Petrović was now a part of a team that featured two of the best young prospects in the league, Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman, but a team that hadn't reached the playoffs since 1986. Determined to not let the Portland episode repeat, he immediately responded to the increased playing time (20.5 minutes per game), holding a scoring average of 12.6 points per game in 43 games with the Nets. His first complete season with the Nets was truly stellar: not missing a single game, Petro, as the Americans had dubbed him, averaged 20.6 points in 36.9 minutes on the floor, nearly leading all NBA guards in field goal percentage (51%); he established himself as the team leader and was named team MVP. More significantly, his success translated into team success, as the Nets recorded 14 more wins than the season before and made the playoffs. For his encore, in 1992-1993 season Petrović increased his scoring average (22.3, 11th best that season) and repeated the excellent three-point field goal percentage from the previous season (45%), again nearly leading all guards in field goal percentage (52%). American media honored him with a selection to the All-NBA 3rd Team. However, a failure to receive an invitation to the 1993 All-Star game came as a great disappointment to Petrović; among the top 13 scorers in the NBA that season, he was the only one not invited.

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[gogicccccc]

Pocivao u miru legendo,hrvatska te nikad zaboraviti nece!

[GunsBrother]

A zasto...???? Samo mi kazi zasto si morao da pokvaris sliku o jednom takvom coveku i licnosti sa ovom usranom retardiranom muzikom....?? Vecna ti slava Drazene... pozz iz Srbije...

[wade03berker05]

@gogicccccc cijela Yugoslavija nece ga zaboravit, cijo svet ne ce ga zaboravit

[gomezaparicio1627]

Maestro, de lo mejor en la NBA

[yoekipa]

seselj-Hrvat,draskovic-Hrvat,n­ikolic-Hrvat,pa i vas cetnik ulemek Hrvat po kevi,a da stvar bude bolja nisu nas jebali turci 500 godina...pozdrav od ZNG-e

[SerbianBasketball94]

dragi moj hrvati, pozdravlja vas Vlade Divac, Sale Djordjevic, Dusan Kecman, i Aleksandar Rasic, laka vam noc, ako vam moze biti :PP

[panjix1]

@Dasoderdies ja poznam i nije bio srbin nego crnogorac

[panjix1]

@struja55 ti si kreten

[panjix1]

@TheMachker zna se ko je kriv raspadu jugoslavije

[nenormalitis111]

@comesrb zašto se na svakom videu mora pojaviti netko ko je nacionalistički nabrijan? KOGA BRIGA KOJE SU MU NACIONALNOSTI RODITELJI? I KOGA BRIGA ŠTA JE TESLIN TATA BIO PO ZANIMANJU? vjerovatno postoji razlog zašto su tamo jer svi ti ljudi koje si naveo su djelovali u hrvatskoj i u njoj su stvorili svoja dostignuća. tako da nemoj prosipat govna tamo gdje nije potrebno i ovo sigurno nije video gdje ćeš takvo šta govorit.

[comesrb]

otac mu je srbin,a drugo hrvati,iskreno cu vam reci ne podnosim vas,jer ste nam uvek krali velike ljude,izasao casopis najveci hrvati 20. veka,na prvom mestu,tesla xaaxaxxaxaxaxaax,prvo tesla,zatim rudjer boskovic,ali nema veze,samo cu reci kad smo vec kod tesle da mu je otac bio pravoslavni svestenik