NEW YORK — Goran Dragic never envisioned calling Steve Nash “coach.”
The two had a mentor-mentee relationship from 2008-10 in Phoenix, where Nash — a Hall of Fame-bound point guard — had the Suns’ starting job on lock, and Dragic — a wet-behind-the-ears rookie — was soaking in as much as he could.
An on-the-court mentor is different from a mentor shouting from the sidelines. In a way, Dragic conceded, this is all a bit weird.
“We are friends, but it’s all business,” the Slovenian point guard and new Nets addition said on Wednesday. “He’s coach, he’s been my mentor and he’s my mentor again.”
Nash’s and Dragic’s goal remains the same, even if their location has changed: to win as many games as possible and be the last team standing at the end of the season.
Dragic is going to play a critical role in the Nets’ ability to improve their seeding and claw out from the grasp of the NBA’s play-in tournament. If the playoffs started today, the Nets would be one win shy of securing the seventh seed but two losses away from missing the playoffs altogether.
Their odds decline significantly in games Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) doesn’t play — he’s ineligible to play at Barclays Center under New York City’s existing vaccine mandate.
Dragic, a former All-Star and All-NBA guard who has started 60% of his games, projects to support the Nets significantly in games Irving is unavailable. His role is imperative, just like Nash’s role in bringing him to Brooklyn.
“When you recruit you never give away your secrets,” Nash said.
Dragic spent most of this season more than 4,000 miles away from his new home in Brooklyn — at his home in Slovenia after stepping away from the Toronto Raptors in November.
The Miami Heat traded him to the Raptors in August as part of the deal that sent All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry to South Beach, making Dragic the elder statesman on a roster with only one active player boasting more than four years of NBA experience. Due to his age, the Raptors only played their veteran guard in five games.
“It’s been a unique situation this year for me,” he said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get along in Toronto. They said they want to go young and they didn’t see me to be part of that team. In the end, they were really correct towards me.”
Dragic harbors no ill will toward Raptors management. The front office, led by president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, was candid and forthright with their intentions after acquiring the veteran guard in the Lowry deal.
“We talked and they said, ‘Look, we’re gonna trade you and do what’s best for your career,’ and we kind of agreed that I go home to be with my family, with my kids until everything resolves, and it did,” Dragic said. “They told me what they were going to do, and they did. I wish them all the best.”
Yet, Dragic’s timeline to actually take the floor in Brooklyn remains up in the air.
In Slovenia, the Nets’ new guard was around his family and loved ones, but not the NBA competition needed to keep him in tip-top shape.
Dragic said he practiced every day and played pick-up games twice a week, but the NBA is a different animal. Pick-up games in European rec centers pale in comparison to the pace of pro basketball in the United States.
“Of course I’ve still got to get in game shape,” Dragic conceded. When asked if he’s close to game-time conditioning after Wednesday’s practice, he responded: “I don’t know. We’re still discussing that. We’ll go day by day. Today I felt well. Of course I’m tired because I had to wake up early and everything. But I think in the next few days we’re going to make a decision.”
Dragic also said his decision to go to the Nets wasn’t easy.
He said there were six teams vying to add him to their roster, and all of them were championship contenders, including the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers. Had it not been for the relationship between Nash and Dragic, he would have picked Milwaukee or Los Angeles, per Hoopshype’s Michael Scotto.
“I chose Brooklyn because I think they have a really good chance to win a championship, especially to play alongside [Kevin Durant], Kyrie, Ben Simmons, [LaMarcus] Aldridge,” Dragic said. “Those are the guys who have already played in big games, and because of Steve, of course. Steve was my mentor. It’s only fitting that when I came to the league I played with him and, you never know, to finish my career with him would be awesome.”
Dragic would sit next to Nash on the plane as a young player, learning how to be a professional. He noticed how Nash would be the first player in the building every morning, how he would take care of his body, how he would go through the same reps every single day, perfecting his craft. Dragic took note of how eating healthy helped Nash play late into his career. It’s why the Slovenian guard was one of the most sought-after buyout market candidates this season, even at age-35.
Dragic’s arrival in the NBA would have been further delayed if another NBA team owned his draft rights.
“That’s why at that time I made that decision I was going to come from Europe to the NBA. Only because of Steve,” he said. “If that were some other team, I probably would have stayed in Europe another two or three years.”
History repeats itself, and Nash has lured his mentee away from the opposition all the way to Brooklyn, where the Nets desperately need point guard help.
Irving is part-time, James Harden is gone and Patty Mills’ natural role is as a sixth man scoring off the bench.
Dragic is a natural fit. He can start in Irving’s absence, support Mills off the bench and be an extension of Nash in all the minutes he’s on the floor.
“I think our relationship, his IQ, and his experience: Those are all reasons why it’s gonna be simpler for him to understand what we do,” Nash said. “Now he might not look like himself for a while because he hasn’t played basketball in many months, but there’s no doubt that he’ll get up to speed as quickly as possible, and his understanding and ability to fit into the group will be about as easy as it gets.”
As for the Raptors? Well, Dragic has them circled on his calendar.
“We’re going to play against them twice in the next week,” he said. “So it’s gonna be interesting.”
