9Dec/083:07 PM

Top 25 Phoenix Sports Stories of 2008 - #24 The Goran Dragic saga

By Vince Marotta

Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.

It all started last February, when the Phoenix Suns gave up on the Marcus Banks project, and dealt the backup point guard to Miami along with Shawn Marion in the trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to the Valley. Who would play backup point guard? Suns’ brass fell in love with Slovenian Goran Dragic, a smooth-looking left-hander reminiscent of Manu Ginobili, at least in style of play. They were able to swing a draft-night deal with San Antonio, who had drafted Dragic with the 45th overall pick in the second round. Then there was the contract situation Dragic had with Tau Cermica in Spain. The Suns seemed content to let Dragic play out his contract in Europe. But the situation progressed, Dragic reached a buyout with his Spanish team, and became a Sun–although it appears he would have been better off playing another year in Spain. In his first 16 games, Dragic was shooting only 29% from the field, was averaging less than 3 points per game, and had fallen behind rookie Sean Singletary on the Suns’ point guard depth chart.

The Suns’ brass said during the summer that they would have considered drafting Dragic in the first round, and had him rated as the 2nd best point guard in the draft, behind Derrick Rose of Memphis, who was drafted #1 overall by Chicago. Through one-fourth of the season, Dragic ranks 8th among NBA rookie point guards in scoring, at 2.9 points per game.

The Top 25 Phoenix Sports Stories of 2008
25. Holmes beats Mickelson in playoff at FBR Open