Tadija Dragicevic

Tadija Dragicevic - 53rd pick, 2008
Averaged 11.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game for Yesilgiresun in Turkey’s top BSL league. Was a mid-season pick-up designed to help them stave off relegation, which they have done. This is the point of his career T-Drag has reached; midseason pick-up European journeyman. Should be good work for a couple of years, but serves no NBA purpose and hasn’t for a while.

Tadija Dragicevic - 53rd pick, 2008
Skilled offensively, in the post and off the dribble, but slow, and would be possibly the worst defender in the NBA if he came over, and not high enough volume nor efficiency of an outside shooter to merit it. Not coming over.

Tadija Dragicevic (53rd pick, 2008)

- After leaving Red Star towards the end of last season, due to the team's financial difficulties, Dragicevic saw out the season and then signed this summer with ALBA Berlin. He has been a decent contributor on a rather underwhelming ALBA team, averaging 8.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 22 minutes per game in Bundesliga play. Offensively, Dragicevic offers a little bit of everything; jumpshooting, straight line driving, post-up play, size, touch and passing vision. Defensively, he offers absolutely nothing. He'll make money in Europe for a good while yet, but not in America.

(Red Star somehow found a load of money over the summer, paid their way back into the Adriatic League, put together a new cast of players to replace the hordes of talent that they lost......and then ran out of money again. And this time, they're last in the Adriatic League. They've truly imploded. However, Tadija's younger brother Strahinja remains with them. Strahinja is not as good as Tadija.)

Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 5%

Tadija Dragicevic

Dragicevic was the captain of my favourite non-NBA team, Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade), before leaving during the season due to lack of payments. In doing so, he allegedly agreed to forego $120,000 that the team still owed him, which was almost as noble as what Othyus Jeffers did. He then went to play for Roma, where he averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 fouls in 22 minutes per game.

Tadija is a former draft pick of the Jazz with a very accomplished offensive game. Think of someone like Bostjan Nachbar or Linas Kleiza, then make him less athletic and less of a shooter, yet keep him good. Dragicevic can shoot, drive the ball and post-up, scoring in a variety of ways with all the polish of Eric Piatkowski's combat boots. But he just can't play defense. And nor does he want to.

- Tadija Dragicevic

Until recently, Jazz draft pick Tadija Dragicevic was a member of Crvena Zvezda in Zagreb, and the team he's been with for his whole life. A team captain, Dragicevic left the team during the summer, but returned just before the season's start, and was once again the team's best player. He averaged 13.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in the Eurocup, alongside 12.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the Adriatic League.

However, Dragicevic left Red Star last week. And this time, he actually did it. Like the rest of the team, Dragicevic wasn't being paid, so he left the team and signed with Lottomatica Roma in Italy. In doing so, Dragicevic agreed to forego the 120,000 Euros that Red Star still owed him. That was pretty magnanimous of him.

It was my very great pleasure to watch Dragicevic a few times at Crvena Zvezda this year. He is a very polished offensive player. He can drive, shoot and post, to great effect and with poise, grace, charm, penache and refinement. However, he can't defend anybody. And he never could.