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Ryan McDonough started the introduction describing how he's been scouting Zoran for a while now, but even more closely so, since last year's Eurobasket in Slovenia when the Dragić brothers shined for the host nation. They repeated their success on an even bigger stage this year in Spain, with Zoki at times outperforming his All-NBA brother. After approaching Goran Dragic with the idea first and him of course being all aboard, the wheels turned and Zoran Dragic is now a Phoenix Sun.
As a Slovenian this presser got me all mushy and proud and every time I've seen him in a Suns uniform since it just makes me happy all over. Zoran, for his part looked confident enough, his English is better than I knew and he has this cool demeanour about him. I loved how he smoothly renounces the nickname his big bro tried to bestow on him. We get a little glimpse of Zoki- the pleasant, bright, calm guy, who much like his brother transforms into an aggressive force (with the added energy of a 3 year younger Dragic gene) when stepping on court.
When asked who was more happy he'd signed with the Suns; him or Goran, Zoran's answer is "probably I was" though Gogi provides a better quip of camera: "Our mom" - surely true. But since Tom Leander pointed out in a later interview that he couldn't have slapped the smile of the Dragon's face throughout the press conference we'll call it a tie between the bros.
Two more fun things:
- Ryan
is only human; hemixes up his dragon's names and replaces the Z for a G by mistake. Wonder how many times that will be a problem. - Zoki speaks Slovene in this video. Okay, so it's only one word (something like "I mean") and he says it while correcting himself, but still. See if you hear it.