Goran Dragić
RETIRED

Player Facts

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 190lbs.

Wingspan: 6'7"

Date of Birth: May 6, 1986
College Experience: N/A

Selections

All Star: 1
All-NBA: 1
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 6
Positional Size: 7
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 7
Three-Point Scoring: 6
Dribbling: 8
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 5
Interior Defense: 3
Rebounding: 4

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Pace of Play

> Pick-and-Roll Attacks

> Playmaking Prowess

> Southpaw Slashing

> Transition Play

> Playing Off-the-Ball

> Point of Attack D

> Shaky Man Defense

> Unimpressive Off-Ball Defense

> League Average Shooting

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

The cagey veteran guard is an impactful offensive player with nice size. Dragic knows how to apply steady downhill pressure to collapse the defense. The Slovenian southpaw finishes strong with that left hand.

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Pace of Play

The 6'3" guard plays with great pace as an offensive orchestrator. He's been an offensive fulcrum within first units and second units alike. Dragic's max speed is impressive, but ultimately he shines by being able to toggle his speeds so well.

He excels within all basic actions/sets as the one. DHO's are just one way he can score or facilitate the basketball. 2021-2022 saw him average 6.6 dribble drives per game on which he shot a robust 49.1%.

As a handoff receiver, he mixes up his speeds before getting himself into prime position for a floater or a little midranger. Additionally, he can isolate for his squad too when need be; 91st percentile iso scoring in 2019-2020.

Pick-and-Roll Attacks

Goran's top-notch changes of pace are abundantly clear within the screen-and-roll. These sequences often start with Dragic timing his crossover move with the arrival of the fully set screen or alternatively will properly execute the reject.

Once the initial advantage is earned, Dragic proceeds to slalom down the lane, stopping-and-going to remain unpredictable. He has a great veteran feel as he attacks the big two-on-one. Dragic seeks to manipulate the defensive big, shifting them out of position.

Goran uses a soft lefty teardrop against deeply-dropped big men and will even bank this in particularly on side pick-and-rolls. He's even upped the volume of his one-dribble pull-up threes off the ball screen.

2019-2020 saw Goran produce 6.1 points per game as the ball-handler here. This bested guys like Jayson Tatum, Jamal Murray, and Brandon Ingram, plus his own All Star teammate Jimmy Butler. Looking back, he averaged as many as 8.1 ppg from these actions (2016-2017) dating back to when Second Spectrum began tracking this data in 2015-2016.

Playmaking Prowess

The pick-and-roll is where Goran stands out most as a playmaker as well. He has tremendous timing and accuracy on lay-downs and even wraparounds when the big commits to him. The Slovenian guard is also talented at throwing the lob to his right as he drives left.

Goran's peak assists-per-game years came as a Phoenix Sun. The statistical drop-off that has taken place is more a product of decreased usage/minutes per game than it is anything else. As a result, his dimes per-36 and assist-to-turnover ratios have remained steady into his thirties.

Southpaw Slashing

The wily guard uses supreme craft to finish amongst the trees in the paint. He'll get into the body of shot-blockers before extending out to finish away from his body. Moreover, he uses tight spins going downhill to get back to that left side.

The 6'3" guard is also adept at using reverse layups. These can take place on hard baseline drives, or even after a long lateral step to cap off a straight-line drive. Regardless of the circumstances, he finds a way to get to that left that he's so comfortable with.

Dragic is very much left-hand dominant as a finisher. However, his overflowing skill level and guile in the key allow for a steady diet of these lefty layups. Even when driving right, he'll protect the rock along the gather then finish with an inside-hand lefty scoop.

All of that skill as a finisher equates to some nice shooting numbers at the rim. Goran connected on 60% of his shots in the restricted area across 2021-2022. That is a strong figure for any position, let alone a lead guard.

His attacking mindset is the thing that helps him get to the rim in the first place. Goran drove 10.8 times per contest in 2019-2020. That was more frequent than CJ McCollum, Terry Rozier, and Pascal Siakam.

Transition Play

The quick guard continues to provide value in the open court. He can pass, finish, and hit open spot-ups here. Goran's admirable 158 transition points in just 59 games helps to illustrate his worth here (2019-2020).

Playing Off-the-Ball

His ability to play some two-guard/off-ball is predicated on a couple of key skills. One: he is a timely cutter, in the 60th percentile scoring on cuts in 2019-2020. Two: Goran's worked himself into a solid 3pt catch-and-shoot guy (37%+ from 2016-2017 to 2018-2019; 40.4% in 2020-2021).

His expanded spot-up ability in particular has allowed the natural point guard to play some shooting guard. This has unlocked different lineups for his squads over the years that have found him next to one, if not more other ball-handlers. From Eric Bledsoe to Josh Richardson, to Tyler Herro, and even the playmaking Bam Adebayo, Dragic has been a tidy fit as a running mate.

Point of Attack D

His point of attack defense requires he be fully engaged and going all out in order to be serviceable. Dragic, particularly as he ages, cannot rely on killer closing speed to get back into the play. Similarly, he cannot depend on a plus-plus-wingspan for impactful rear-view contests.

Thankfully for him and his squad, he competes well in these spots. That has allowed for an 89th percentile spot defending pick-and-roll initiators in 2018-2019 then a 69th in 2019-2020.

He rounds out the positive side of his defense with helpful rebounding: 3.2+ defensive rebounds per-36 from 2015-2016 to 2021-2022.

WEAKNESSES

Shaky Man Defense

Goran can be a liability on defense from time to time. He's not especially large, laterally gifted nor an elite leaper. The effort level can wax and wane as well.

A more youthful Dragic stood more of a chance at keeping opposing guards in front of him. More recently, Father Time has caused more blow-bys in space while "The Dragon" is defending.

An additional fact that dampens the lefty guard's defense is his minimal versatility. For example, immediate help is required if a switch takes Dragic with checking a bigger player in the post. He was in only the 18th percentile when he had to defend post-ups in 2019-2020.

Unimpressive Off-Ball Defense

Off-ball, Dragic is not a huge contributor on the defensive end. He can jump passing lanes and take it the other way for a score, but even that is infrequent. In 2020-2021 he averaged just 0.7 steals and 1.4 deflections in 26.7 average minutes of nightly action.

His interior defense too is mediocre save for some charge-taking. The 6'3" Goran understands positioning and schemes but isn't going to block many shots for you. This is simply due to his physical limitations, though similar-sized big point guards have had larger impacts on the defensive interior.

League Average Shooting

The clear knock on Goran's offense has and continues to be his perimeter shooting. Besides a couple of aberration seasons, he tends to hover around league average from deep.

A more targeted critique is that his unassisted three-point clip should be better. Goran would be a more well-rounded scorer if he could consistently punish the under. However, he only canned 37% or above of his self-created threes in two seasons between 2014-2015 and 2020-2021.

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Goran took home the Most Improved Player award in 2014, beating out Lance Stephenson and Anthony Davis on the ballot