Watch: Goran Dragic Hilariously Rips Former Teammates & Praises Raptors' Athleticism
Years ago Goran Dragic could have looked around his NBA locker rooms and felt confident in his athletic abilities. He was a young pup in the league, a skilled guard with a bevy of impressive ball skills who would seek out contact driving to the rim.
"He's a tremendously physical guy," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said reflecting on playing against Dragic for so long. "I remember always saying he's driving you and you're gonna have to absorb his contact. I mean, you’ve got to stand in there and take his contact because he'll put his body and his forearm and his head, anything he can do to get you off him and to finish the layup."
He used to be the pesky underdog, the second-round pick who defied the odds and became a valuable rotation piece, starter, and one-time All-Star. But looking around Toronto's locker room these days, there's a little bit of physical insecurity, Dragic joked about Tuesday.
"Probably I’m the least athletic of all those guys coming here to play," he said with a smile.
Toronto's roster is loaded with versatile 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-9 players who can attack opposing teams with their physical gifts. It's a far cry, Dragic said, from some of the other teams he's played for over his 12-year career.
"In Phoenix, we got Jared Dudley. He's not so athletic," Dragic joked. "Then I play in Houston with Luis Scola, he’s not athletic. All my favorite teammates. But here, every position is athletic."
This roster is the most athletic group Dragic said he's been a part of. More athletic than those recent Miami Heat teams with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, those pre-James Harden Houston Rockets teams that included Kyle Lowry, and the late Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire Phoenix Suns teams.
Toronto is hoping all that athleticism will make them a defensive juggernaut this season as they try to push the limits of small-ball roster construction.
Further Reading
The Raptors are trying to be at the forefront of defensive innovation with their versatile roster
Raptors Roster Rundown: what to expect from Toronto's final 17
OG Anunoby is poised to become the guy for the Raptors with Pascal Siakam out early
