[外電] Dragic headed to Phoenix

[qhaabk (左R強森 右C席林)]

Suns second-round draft pick Goran Dragic reached a buyout agreement with
Spanish club Tau Ceramica and is en route to Phoenix to sign a contract to
play for the Suns this season.

Dragic ended more than seven weeks of negotiations with the Spanish club by
signing a buyout agreement Saturday night, his agent, Rade Filipovich, told
The Arizona Republic on Sunday. Dragic is on his way to Phoenix with a verbal
agreement that he will sign a four-year contract early this week with the
Suns, Filipovich said. The deal's fourth year will be a team option.

Dragic, a 22-year-old Slovenian, is pegged to become the backup point guard
to Steve Nash, 34, this season and the Suns brass sees him as the franchise's
point guard of the future. The Suns considered the idea of drafting Dragic
with their 15th overall pick in June if Robin Lopez, their eventual
first-round pick, was not available. They ranked Dragic second only to the
top overall pick, Chicago's Derrick Rose, among all point guards in the
draft.
"From Day 1, he wanted to end up with Phoenix," Filipovich said. "It was very
important for us to put him with the team this year.

"He's very excited. People in Phoenix are going to be very happy. He's going
to be a very good player for several years. The Suns fans are getting an
excellent player and should be very excited because he's playing great
basketball and he's a great young man."

The Suns privately were optimistic about the chances of bringing Dragic
aboard this season even though his contract with Tau did not provide for a
buyout until next summer.

Phoenix secretly had flown Dragic in for a workout four days before the draft
and he returned to Slovenia without meeting any other NBA team.

There were hurdles to overcome for a buyout, including a court case that
Dragic's former Slovenian team won against Tau to ultimately give it rights
to a percentage of any buyout. Filipovich said Dragic became nervous last
month that he would not be able to join the Suns this season.

Dragic would have had to pay a $1.5 million buyout to leave Tau next summer.
The Suns are allowed to contribute $500,000 to a buyout. Dragic must pay the
rest, driving up the price of his starting salary with the Suns. Terms of the
buyout or his impending Suns deal have not been disclosed but Dragic was
expected to make nearly $2 million in his first season.

"Think of all the NBA players that went the opposite direction this summer,"
Filipovich said. "It was very important. He's like a top-10 pick."

After initially targeting Tyronn Lue to be the backup and have Dragic come
into a low-pressure role, the Suns changed plans when Lue chose a more
lucrative offer with Milwaukee. The Suns wanted Dragic to be their backup
point guard and chose to wait for resolution on his buyout patiently. They
figured it was more beneficial to Dragic and the team to have him join
Phoenix immediately rather than choose one of the available free agents who
would be willing to take a veteran's minimum offer with the Suns.

"When I was a kid, it was my dream to play in the NBA and it's come true,"
Dragic told The Arizona Republic days after he was drafted by Phoenix. "It
was my wish that the Suns pick me."

Dragic, a lefthander who is 6 feet 4 and 181 pounds, was property of Tau but
was loaned to play in the Adriatic and Slovenian leagues last season. He has
a 37 1/2-inch vertical leap and a 6-foot-7 wingspan.

"He's unusual," Suns Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin
said in late June after Phoenix traded a second-round pick and $500,000 to
San Antonio to move up three spots and take him 45th overall. "He's
lefthanded and very athletic. He attacks the rim with a sort of abandon and
is polished with a good feel of the game. He could be erratic as a shooter
but is mechanically sound and we feel we can work with him on the rest."

Dragic's addition puts Phoenix's roster at 13 players, the minimum number
they are required to keep. The Suns are not expected to exceed 13.

--
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推 highmimi    :!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
→ highmimi    :他是即戰力嗎????
推 highmimi    :Rubio比較像Nash的接班人..長相與球技皆具 ...
推 BrentRoy    :Rubio有防守 是升級版的Nash...
推 adam323     :有人說Dragic是下一個Nash
推 matrixki    :小帥哥　加油
推 BrentRoy    :Dragic的偶像好像是Nash 也是為什麼他只來太陽測試的
→ BrentRoy    :原因
推 jasonlin68  :加油
推 suana       :太陽型男隊!!
推 R9aDelta    :太陽說Dragic是今年新秀PG的no.2，希望沒看走眼。
推 R9aDelta    :以薪水，合約長度已經是把他當第一輪選秀看了。
推 GoGlay      :本來還打算用15號選的,所以某種程度來講也是第一輪?
→ GoGlay      :至少對太陽來說
推 highmimi    :那PG的no.1是誰???
推 jasonlin68  :no.1是狀元郎Rose嗎???
推 sinll       :太陽隊整體的帥度逼人啊 不帥也有型 科科XD
→ sneak       : Rubio有防守 是升 https://daxiv.com
→ muxiv       : 太陽說Dragic是今 http://yofuk.com