[Old player record] Basketball Mozart! European genius!

Looking back at the 1980s, there were not many European players in the NBA, but many of them still stood firm in the league. A shooting guard from Croatia successfully established himself in the league, opening up the road for European players to enter the NBA in the future.

Drazen Petrovic was influenced by his brother since childhood and showed his talent that was no less than his brother. At the age of 18, he won the Yugoslavia Division I championship in a young club team. After that, he and his brother formed the strongest backcourt combination in Europe at that time, and won the European League championship for two consecutive years in 1985 and 1986.

In the Yugoslav domestic league, Petrovic averaged 37.7 points per game, and even handed out a horrific record of 112 points in a single game. He averaged 33.8 points per game in the European League. After 1986, European teams even competed to invite them and enjoyed the treatment of the number one player in European basketball early on.

It was also at this moment that Petrovic began to find that his talent needed to be fulfilled on a higher stage.

But looking back at the beginning of this story, Petrovic's start in the NBA did not go smoothly. At the 1986 NBA Draft, Petrovic's name was not selected by the Trail Blazers until the 60th pick. At that time, NBA teams generally did not believe that a foreign player who had not been in college could stand firm in the league, let alone a defender who did not have physical advantages.

The Trail Blazers were also Drexler, Terry Porter, Jerome Colsey, Danny Angie and others, so Petrovic had a difficult life at the Trail Blazers. A year and a half later, he expressed his unwillingness to continue sitting on the bench and needed to go to a place that could prove his value in playing.

Time came in January 1991, and the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets and Nets made a three-party trade. The Trail Blazers won Nuggets veteran Walter Davis, while the Nuggets received the Nets' first-round draft pick, and the Nets won Petrovic.

The Nets were in a mess at that time. They chose No. 1 pick Derek Coleman the year before. After they won the trade for Petrovic, they chose Kenny Anderson again in the 1991 draft that year. At this time, the Nets finally got the chance to turn the corner, and Petrovic was the key to the rise.

In the 1991-92 season, Petrovic began to serve as the team's starter, playing 82 games in a single season, averaging 20.6 points per game, ranking fifth in the league's guards with an average shooting percentage of 50.8%, with a three-point shooting percentage of 44.4%, ranking second in the league behind Dana Barros' 44.6%. In addition to his outstanding performance in personal data, Petrovic successfully converted his personal data into record, helping the team enter the playoffs with the sixth seed. Although he unfortunately lost to the Cavaliers led by Elari Nance, Brad Doulty and others in the first round, Petrovic's performance is enough to make the NBA re-examine the past stereotypes of European players.

The 1990 World Championships was Petrovic's last time for Yugoslavia. At that time, there were two players in the team, Divac and Kukochi who later remained famous in the NBA. This group, which is the strongest Yugoslav combination in history, defeated the US men's basketball team 91-99 in the semi-finals, defeated the Soviet Union 75-92 in the finals, and won the FIBA ​​championship that year.

In the 1992 Olympics, Petrovic played for the already independent Croatia. Facing the American Dream Team with Michael Jordan, the first team scored the highest 24 points, and the first ten minutes of the game put Dream Team behind.

For the Dream Team at that time, Croatia was definitely the most difficult opponent. At that time, the US men's basketball team defeated their opponents in various games, but when facing Croatia, they only defeated their opponents 117-85. The US men's basketball team finally won the gold medal, while Petrovic helped Croatia take away the silver medal.

Borrowing the description of Petrovic's mother, Petrovic is Mozart on the field.

Come to the next season, Petrovic's average score has risen again to 22.3 points, with an average shooting percentage of 51.8%, second only to Kenny Smith's 52.0% among the defenders in the league, and his three-point shooting percentage has also increased to 44.9%, second only to BJ Armstrong, 45.3% and Chris Mullin, 45.1% in the league.

Petrovic was successfully selected into the third team of the All-A-Level Team that year, but the team was still eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. However, at that time, the Nets' new army led by Petrovic was progressing, and many star players in the team were gradually playing for the future. But no one expected that Petrovic's future, just like the Requiem that Mozart failed to complete during his lifetime, would eventually become a regret. In the late period, Mozart created many masterpieces, and when he was about to complete the commission for the Requiem creation, his health took a sharp turn for the worse. He finally passed away after only completing the first half. At this time, Mozart was only 35 years old. The same seems to be true for the story of Petrovich. On the evening of June 7, 1993, on the rainy Highway 9 in Germany, Petrovic was riding in a car head-on by an out-of-control truck. The seriously injured Petrovic was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, but he was unable to recover. At this time, he was only 28 years old.

The fall of a basketball genius at its peak is indeed a considerable loss for European basketball.

The Nets then chose to retire his No. 3 jersey, giving the greatest respect to this European genius. Today, superstars such as Jordan and Miller have also been deeply impressed by Petrovic when they look back on their careers. To this day, many European players still regard him as their lifelong idol.

In 2002, Petrovic was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Anthony Moro chose to wear Petrovic's No. 3 jersey when he represented the Nets in the three-point competition.. In 2015, Stephen Curry, who was also a shooter, gave his first championship jersey to Petrovic's mother.

Looking back at this history, on the turbulent NBA stage, Petrovic's story is actually not very amazing, but at that time, this European genius is indeed worthy of the expectations of the Nets to pursue, and has also opened up a basketball dream channel for all European players.

Just like the wonderful music left by Mozart to the world, Petrovic's spirit will never end with the early end of his life. There are still many players who continue to fight on the court with Petrovic's unfinished dreams.