Goran Dragic Cementing Status as NBA's Most Underrated Superstar
Few players suiting up in Spain at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup have been more impressive than Goran Dragic.
For Slovenia, he was Mr. Everything.
The ball was nearly always in his hands, and he was given free rein to exert his pick-and-roll prowess at all times. If he wasn't scoring, it was going to be rather difficult for the Slovenians to keep pace with the opposition. And they did keep pace until running into the Team USA juggernaut, so draw your own conclusions.
Even if the other team was throwing constant double-teams at him, he was still responsible for generating offense at all times.
It wasn't too much of a challenge.
After Slovenia was eliminated from medal contention by a second-half onslaught from Team USA, Dragic bowed out with per-game averages of 16.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Making those numbers even more impressive are his percentages—55.4 percent from the field and 35.5 percent beyond the arc.
Amazingly, those are severely depressed by a 6-of-15 outing against the Americans' suffocating defense. Lithuania also got the best of him earlier in the tournament, slowing him down after an absolutely scorching start to the group stage.
Through three contests, Dragic was actually averaging 20.3 points and 4.7 dimes per game while shooting a blistering 70.6 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from downtown. And he was doing so while putting on a masterfully entertaining show, one that captured the attention of so many, whether they call Slovenia home or not.
The mid-range jumpers were on point. The one-man fast breaks were as well.
Everything was working for Dragic despite the heavy defensive attention, which just about cemented him as the NBA's most underrated superstar.
"[Eurobasket] helped me a lot," Dragic told Suns.com's Greg Esposito, referring to last year's tournament, when he averaged 15.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. "I had a great tournament. My confidence went up and then I just continued to do that in a Suns uniform."
Phoenix general manager Ryan McDonough, also speaking with Esposito, agreed: "Goran played with terrific effort and energy while leading the host team to an impressive fifth place finish in front of the Slovenian fans. He came into Suns training camp in great shape after playing in the Eurobasket and he went on to have the best season of his NBA career."
Now we're due for a repeat, but with one difference.
Dragic is just better now. He's an established stud with a fantastic All-Star-caliber campaign under his belt, and now he'll be going into Suns training camp both in great shape and with experience as a star working for him.
Entertaining Style
There are certain players who always draw crowds.
When LeBron James is in the arena, there's only going to be standing room left. When Kevin Durant comes to town, you'll have a tough time finding a ticket. Ditto for Kobe Bryant and a healthy Derrick Rose. Others have significant impacts on ticket sales, even if their presence doesn't guarantee a sellout—Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, etc.
But Dragic hasn't been a needle-mover yet, even though he absolutely should be.
According to ESPN.com's attendance figures, the Suns sold out 90.3 percent of away arenas they visited. That tied them with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks for the No. 20 spot in the Association, which really just isn't acceptable with a player this entertaining.
In fact, take a look at how wins correlated with away attendance percentage:
There's a bit of a trend there, but the Suns are on the wrong side. With 48 wins, they should have a higher attendance figure even without factoring in Dragic's entertaining play. At least they aren't as disrespected as the Toronto Raptors, though.
Once Dragic's style is brought into the equation, this seems even more ridiculous. Part of being a superstar is entertaining crowds (whether that's how it should work or not), and the talented guard did that as well as anyone.
He's a tough, physical player who never quits. Beyond that, he's unbelievably slithery, snaking his way through defenders with full control of the ball and finishing through and around contact with ease. Chris Paul is the master of using subtleties to create space and finish plays over the outstretched arms of taller opponents, but Dragic isn't too far behind him in that area now.
That's one of the most impressive highlight reels you'll see that doesn't contain a single dunk.
A master of the between-the-legs pass, Dragic routinely finds ways to dazzle below the rim. Few things were more enjoyable to watch during the 2013-14 season than this particular guard pulling down a rebound and navigating through an entire swath of defenders en route to the tin.
Then again, he was pretty good at finding circuitous paths to the basket in half-court sets as well:
The Suns' playing style is enjoyable enough, but it's Dragic who made Phoenix such a fun League Pass team. And yet, too few people tuned in.
Though that's all relevant to his underrated status, it stems from more than the viewing habits of his fans and supporters of the NBA in general.
Ridiculous Numbers
During the 2013-14 season, Dragic (who was somehow not an All-Star, mind you) averaged 20.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Now, let's run a couple tests, via Basketball-Reference.com's Play Finder, to see the types of exclusive clubs he managed to join with those contributions to the Phoenix cause.
Only eight qualified players in the NBA managed to average 20 points and five dimes per game last season—Curry, Dragic, Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, James, Damian Lillard and Isaiah Thomas. Already quite the impressive group.
How many of them did so while shooting over 50 percent from the field?
Just Durant, James and Dragic.
Any time you're on a three-man list with the MVP winner and runner-up, you're enjoying some pretty fantastic company. But how many of them did so while shooting over 40 percent from downtown?
Just Curry and Dragic.
That's still what I would call pretty fantastic company. Plus, you'll note that Dragic is the only recurring name in those two clubs.
However, let's attack this a different way.
In 2013-14, only three qualified players in the NBA joined the 50/40 club: Boris Diaw, Dragic and Marcin Gortat. The versatile San Antonio Spurs forward averaged 9.1 points per game and went 45-of-112 from three-point range throughout the season; the Washington Wizards center put up 13.2 points per contest and made his only shot from downtown.
Dragic averaged 20.3 points per game and went 122-of-299 from beyond the arc.
Who stands out in that group?
At this point, you should already be convinced that Dragic deserves more credit than he's getting. But to cement that point—just as he cemented his underrated status with a dominant FIBA showing—let's take a gander at how he scored his points.
In the NBA, there are two overarching ways to knock down a bucket: creating the shot yourself or waiting for a feed from your teammate. Both take a certain amount of skill, but it's generally harder to maintain eye-popping levels of efficiency when you're doing the heavy lifting for yourself.
Fortunately, Basketball-Reference.com tracks what percentage of made shots required assists. During this breakout season, Dragic—who was quite efficient, lest you forgot—needed the benefit of a pass on only 20.9 percent of his two-point makes and just 53.3 percent of his makes from downtown.
As you're about to see, those are ridiculously low numbers.
On the following interactive chart, you'll see each player who averaged at least 20 points per game last season represented by a dot, one that shows his effective field-goal percentage and the number of his total makes that were assisted:
Being in the bottom-right corner is a good thing, as that means the player in question was both efficient and created more looks for himself. Obviously, that's not easy to do.
Just take a second to find Dragic and marvel at his placement.
Not only was he one of the most efficient volume scorers in the Association, but no 20-point player created a larger percentage of his own looks. Not even Curry or Irving, two undeniable wizards with the ball in their hands.
But let's take it one step further and look at every player who has averaged at least 20 points per game since 2000 (when the percentage of makes that were assisted first started being tracked):
It's still not tough to find Dragic.
Plenty of players have been able to post more efficient seasons, and a handful have created more of their own looks (here's looking at you, Chris Paul). However, the combination that Dragic just produced is nearly unsurpassed. In fact, I'd argue there are six insanely positive standouts on that graph:
- The cluster of dots on the far right representing James' last two seasons.
- The two dots low on the Y-axis and in the center of the X-axis, which show vintage Chris Paul in New Orleans.
- The two dots out on their own in the bottom-right section: Dragic and Curry in 2013-14.
Even when looking at data from the last decade-plus, Dragic's season still stands out.
Again, he wasn't an All-Star.
Somehow.
That situation should be remedied in 2014-15, though there's no guarantee given the strength of the backcourts in the Western Conference. But even if Dragic doesn't get that nod, dominating on a worldwide stage like he did at the World Cup should still bring far more attention to his game.
Simply put, this Phoenix guard is a superstar. He might not have the household recognition so commonly associated with that descriptor, but he certainly has the entertainment factor down pat and his numbers more than justify the title.
Right now, he's the most underrated superstar in the game. Hopefully that changes soon, if for nothing other than the sake of those who haven't witnessed this Suns standout.
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