How Dražen Petrović won Houston the 1994 NBA title and why Kevin McHale will repeat the success

I dragged on and on with posting this topic because, frankly, I was worried it might get swamped with Lin discussions and other unimportant stuff. The title is a litttle bit sensationalistic, as it should be, but I'm glad I can offer some fun trivia to ClutchFans:

1. For the 20th anniversary of Dražen's death, his brother Aleksandar (now a basketball coach, also a former head coach of my hometown club) recently revealed on Croatian television that, in 1993, Dražen, then a free agent and an All-NBA Third team member, had offers from 4 different teams - New Jersey, New York, Houston and Panathinaikos (Athens). Although the American media suggested that he might return to Europe where he was regarded as a basketball genius, Aleksandar said Dražen was more open to staying in the NBA, but not with New Jersey. Dražen was enraged by not making the All-Star team in 1993 and wanted to prove himself one last time on the big stage, but he thought the Nets didn't have a clear direction and he wanted to win now, much more than later.
So, if Dražen wasn't killed on that dreadful rainy day in Germany, and after eliminating Panathinaikos and New Jersey, it seems like Houston or New York was his next destination. Oddly enough, those teams met each other in the NBA Finals the following year (we all know who won that contest ) and Dražen Petrović would've more than likely been on the winning side. His sharpshooting would either push New York past the Rockets or have Houston win in less than seven games.

2. Rudy Tomjanovich (originally Tomjanović) is a Rockets' legend and the only coach to bring Houston an NBA title. Two, to be exact . It's also fair to mention that he's a son of Croatian immigrants. Interestingly, current Rockets' head coach Kevin McHale also has family ties to Croatia - his mother's name is Josephine Patricia Starcevich (Starčević), and both of her parents were immigrants from the beautiful town of Split (the birthplace of Toni Kukoč and Dino Radja, among others).

History repeats itself, fellas, and it's safe to say a Croatian will once again bring glory to the city of Houston. :grin:

 

He isn't the only guy on the board to know something about international basketball, and I'm Croatian, so yeah

1. Unfortunately no, he's Jewish-German.

2. And a long dick, I bet.

 

Meh, from reading his posts I noticed that he does follow European basketball and sometimes has good insights, but all of it is shadowed by him acting as a know-it-all and as if he's better than everybody here. He says outrageous stuff just to gain other people's attention and then argues till the world ends. Or until he's banned.


Scionxa, Once Brothers is a good documentary, but it's told only from Vlade's point of view and he presents himself as a great, humble guy. He's quite disliked here in Croatia for openly supporting Serbian aggressors during the war and stomping on our national flag.
Great video, btw:
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/c4TsDb7Stsk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...shed-dreams-broken-passenger-article-1.948653

At approximately 5:20 p.m., they encountered a truck that had crashed through the guard rails and was blocking all lanes of traffic. According to the police, the truck driver got out of his vehicle to try to warn oncoming traffic. But it was too late. Szalantzy's attempt to turn away from the truck left Petrovic most vulnerable on impact.
Petrovic, who was sleeping, flew out of the front window. His head hit the truck's diesel tank and he died instantly. Edebal, who is 6-2, wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was crushed in the back seat.

Yeah, that was a poor choice of words on my end. McHale has the chance to win a championship because of his similar pathways with Rudy.
Dražen would just be a cherry on top of the 1994 title run.

Why shouldn't I?