A Sun again, Goran Dragic happy to come home
Jul 19, 2012, 9:11 PM | Updated: Jul 20, 2012, 12:04 am
Goran Dragic is proof you can go home again.
“I am really happy to be back,” Dragic told reporters at a
press conference Thursday. “Phoenix is my home.”
Dragic, who was drafted in 2008 by the Phoenix Suns,
maintained a close relationship with head coach Alvin
Gentry and opted to return to the team and coach that gave
him his first chance in the NBA.
“Alvin [Gentry’s] my guy. He was my first coach in NBA to
give me an opportunity to play and I am really grateful
for that and that’s why it was not a hard decision to come
back to Phoenix,” Dragic said.
The unrestricted free agent point guard signed a four-year
deal worth an estimated $34 million with the Phoenix Suns
and is considered the heir apparent to Steve Nash, and the
guy who will be tasked with leading the team into the
future.
“When we thought about where our franchise was and where
we were headed and really the beginning of a new era of
Phoenix Suns basketball, we thought about who we wanted to
be our pilot, or who we wanted to give the keys to going
forward, and all roads led back to [Dragic],” Suns
President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said.
Babby isn’t concerned with the inevitable Steve Nash
comparisons as he said the organization is focused on
creating a new dynamic in Phoenix.
“When we focused on [Dragic], it wasn’t with the purpose
of duplicating Steve Nash, that’s not possible and that
wasn’t our aspiration,” Babby said. “We wanted [Dragic]
here for his own talents. He’s going to carve a different
path.”
Dragic acknowledged he’ll feel obvious stresses and
pressures in playing a full season as a starter for the
Suns next year, but he won’t let the ghost of Steve Nash
disrupt his transition.
“I don’t want to be like Steve Nash,” Dragic explained.
“He’s one of the greatest point guards in the league. I am
a different player. I play different basketball than him.
The only thing that I want to be like [Nash] is how he
works hard, that he has winning mentality. Still I have to
work hard to improve my game but I know that with our
coaching staff that we’ve got, I can improve all my things
and that I can run this team.”
