SLO - Small country, great basketball brothers

LJUBLJANA (2010 FIBA World Championship) - He is three years younger (24, 21), but three centimeters taller (193, 196) than his much more famous brother.

Although he is very proud of his sibling and hopes to play alongside him in the NBA, he wants to be even better than Goran.

His name is Zoran Dragic, and he has been called up by the Slovenian national team as one of the country's biggest basketball prospects.

After the Lorbek and Udrih brothers, the Dragic brothers are the next big thing in Slovenian basketball.

Zoran has a great season behind him and has the very real prospect of playing at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

“I trained a lot in the last year and having my coach's trust was also very important,” Zoran said to FIBA.com, explaining the reasons for his recent success in the Slovenian First Division where he plays for the Ljubljana-based Geoplin Slovan.

Slovan is a team that’s well known for producing excellent players.

Goran Dragic, Emir Preldzic, Jaka Lakovic, Jan Vesely and Gasper Vidmar all played there.

Raised in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, the Dragic brothers began their sporting career in football but soon discovered they like basketball more.

“We played it (football) for a week, than we started playing basketball,” Zoran said. “I followed Goran to Ilirija and later Slovan and never regretted it.”

Zoran wears the same number, 9, as Goran did at Slovan.

However, unlike his point guard brother, Zoran is a shooting guard.

“I have always looked up to my brother,” Zoran said.

“I also had a lot of family support.”

So what is it that makes a country like Slovenia come up with so many “brother dynasties”?

“It just happened, I can't say why,” Zoran said.

“I guess it's easier because the country is smaller.

“But it's also true that a ball was put into our cradle and we were all bound to end up as athletes. The Lorbeks' (Erazem, Domen and Klemen) father played basketball himself and brought his sons up in that spirit. I think the same goes for the Udrihs (Beno and Samo).”

While none of the Lorbek brothers will be in Turkey, Zoran hopes Slovenia's new national team coach Memi (Sani's father) Becirovic takes both Dragic brothers with him.

“It's a big honor just being on the preliminary list, but I will do my best to come among the last 12,” he said.

“I think the chances are good.”

Even though Slovenia will be missing their inspirational captain Matjaž Smodis, hopes are still high in the Slovenia camp.

In Group B in Istanbul, they will go up against Team USA, Brazil, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia.

“We are still a very good team, I am sure of that,” Zoran said.

“We have a young team and we will fight until the end. I think there is much we can do in Turkey.”

Zoran’s ambition

Zoran says that seeing his brother play for the Phoenix Suns makes him train even harder.

“His departure to the NBA gave me even more desire to succeed,” Zoran said.

“I want to follow him across the ocean and become a great basketball player like him.

“Basketball is my life. I think I'm on a good path, but there is still much that must be done.”

Zoran, who was speaking while on a short holiday break with his brother on the island of Murter in Croatia, is confident he will become just as good as Goran.

“Maybe even better, who knows,” he said, laughing.

Zoran praised his brother for a magnificent season with the Suns.

Goran made headlines on numerous occasions, including in the play-offs against the San Antonio Spurs.

“It's unbelievable what happened,” Zoran said.

“This is just another confirmation of how good he is. What he did was superb.

“His display against San Antonio in the play-offs, when he scored 23 points in the decisive last quarter, tells you how good he really is.”

Zoran does sound like a player who will give his all to follow his brother to the United States.

If it happens, it would be Slovenia's first brothers to play in the famous NBA.

“That's been my biggest wish from the day he moved to the US,” Zoran said.

He would even like to be a teammate.

“Hopefully it will first happen this summer in Turkey. And then in the NBA.”

Even though Goran is not much older than Zoran, the Dragic brothers seldom played together when they were younger.

“We played a lot of one-on-one when we were younger and when we played the game out on the street,” Zoran remembered.

“But only a few times did we play together in a team. I'm still waiting for this to happen on a regular basis. I am confident we would be great. I think it would be easy, being brothers and playing on similar positions and all.”

If it doesn’t happen now, the Dragic brothers could lead Slovenia in 2013, when the Kosarkarska zveza Slovenije (Basketball Association of Slovenia) hopes to host the EuroBasket.

“With the new arena in Ljubljana, I think we have a great chance to host it,” Zoran said.

“And also, we have a superbly organized Basketball Association that is making every effort possible to make basketball an even bigger thing in Slovenia than it already is.”

Luka Maselj
FIBA