You get your fun where you can find it. The Raptors fandom and Goran Dragic found it in the same place. Let’s catch you up on the drama, in case you missed any of it.
The Raptors traded the ‘GROAT’, Kyle Lowry, for a package centered around Precious Achiuwa that also happened to include the much maligned, Goran Dragic. A casualty of salary matching, the team that Dragic very clearly adored, sent him packing. The Raptors and the Mavericks tried to link up on a trade that would send Dragic to Dallas, but it never came to fruition.
Raptors fans expressed distaste at the idea of Dragic joining the Raptors for a few reasons: Dragic has made gritty/dirty plays towards Raptors players in meaningful playoff games in the past. He’s also much older than what the Raptors are trying to center in their teambuilding philosophy and was viewed as someone who might mitigate the growth of younger players on the roster. We would later learn that Nurse and the organization actually told Dragic directly that he didn’t fit the vision of the team, and that’s why he hardly received any minutes from the jump.
Now, the spicy bit. In a TV interview, Dragic says the following which was translated from Slovenian: “Toronto is not my preferred destination. I have higher ambitions, we’ll see.” It’s not particularly surprising that Raptors fans took objection with that, as they should, and Dragic later apologized, expressing that the Raptors have accomplished more, and are champions, which he isn’t. Dragic ended up playing a paltry 5 games in a Raptors jersey, then spent time with his family away from the team – which we’re to understand as a collaborative decision by the team and Dragic. Nurse’s pre-game comments were particularly illuminating:
“I think the biggest characterization of it all is we probably wanted to focus on our younger guys. We wanted to see our younger guys play a lot more minutes. We made that decision fairly early on. I was meeting with him and talking about the time. We got to the point where he was OK with it. He understood.” – Nick Nurse
Months later, Dragic is traded in the package that would bring back Thaddeus Young and save the Raptors some money. The Spurs picked up a lottery protected first-rounder, and buy-out Dragic. The Nets, with Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and heaps of complementary players picked up Dragic for the stretch run. ‘Higher ambitions’ accomplished.
Now, this is where it gets fun.
The Raptors are allowing fans back into the building for the first time since before Christmas. 18,903 people packed the building, having spent much of their Raptors watch time quiet in their homes, and now staring at newly minted Net, and the oh-so-villainous Dragic, as he takes the floor.
The boos rained down. One of the great features of NBA basketball for fans is how much more accessible the players are. Hardly any equipment, the sideline seats are right there, and if you yell something they might hear it. There’s been plenty of famous back-and-forth between players and fans, good and bad. Does Dragic have the cache in the league that usually dictates booing? Definitely not. Was he fully in control of how little he gave to the Raptors? No, he wasn’t. But, he said something that the fanbase had every right to be upset with (to varying degrees), and these fans are finally allowed back in the building, at a live event that encourages fan engagement. It reached a fever pitch with consecutive missed free throws for Dragic. You could feel the catharsis emanating out of the Scotiabank Arena.
Maybe the least surprising thing? Pascal Siakam – who now famously avoids social media and most fan feedback because of what he’s been through – expressed surprise that the fanbase booed him.
“I don’t know what was going on, I don’t know why Goran was getting booed. I mean, I wasn’t complaining, but I wasn’t expecting that.” Siakam said after the game, later adding: “I was surprised! I don’t know. I like Goran!”
It’s often said that emotions get worse if you aren’t able to express them. The Raptors and Dragic both operated in a cloak and dagger sort of way. So, real and imagined slights became synonymous. The reputation of Dragic was up in the air. A white video coordinator on the Heat playing at practice got picked up and pushed around as if he were Dragic. “Dragic is PRACTICING with the HEAT?? While the Raptors pay him???”.
This storyline was a train track and there was no switching. We were always headed here.
And as a culture, don’t we have the most fun with villains? If you want to win the Oscar, you’d take the role of the bad guy, not the good one. We are fascinated with them.
Goran Dragic felt the crowd. The haptic feedback let him know where he stood with thousands of people all at once. In a later possession, he hit Pascal Siakam with a step-back and drained a jumper. As he was running back on defense he looked at the crowd, held his index finger up to his lips, and before he turned his head away from the camera you could see a smile start to creep across his face.
Villains are fun.
Have a blessed day.
