Daily Bulls

Even though Bulls fans couldn’t see guard Goran Dragic (Slovenia) and center Marko Simonovic (Montenegro) get past the quarterfinals, both players were significant factors for their home countries. Dragic and Simonovic will have a quick turnaround with the Bulls training camp starting in a couple of weeks. Let’s take a lot at my grades for Dragic and Simonovic during EuroBasket 2022.

Goran Dragic

Slovenia finished EuroBasket with a 5-2 record, and their quest to repeat as EuroBasket Champions ended on Wednesday in a 90-87 loss to Poland. Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic, had the expectations to make a deep run but couldn’t get past Poland in the Quarterfinals. They showed some weakness in their two losses, with their only group-stage loss coming against Bosnia and Herzegovina, 97-93. Slovenia had some significant wins in group play against France with Rudy Gobert, 88-82, and Germany with Dennis Schroder, 88-80.

In the round of 16, Slovenia got a 16-point win against Belgium, 88-72; Doncic dropped 35 points and led a fourth-quarter surge to take demand of the game to advance. Poland vs. Slovenia was a game of runs, and Poland had the last big run in the fourth quarter with a 17-6 run to take an 87-80 lead with 1:13 left in the game. But Slovenia couldn’t finish the late rally, and Klemen Prepelic missed a game-tying three. Poland pulled off the upset 90-87. Luka Doncic struggled shooting 5-for-15 from the field, resulting in 15 points. Dragic performed well with 17 points, shooting 7-for-15 from the field, but led Slovenia with five turnovers.

Grade: A-

Usually, at 37 years old, you should be retiring or not have a significant role on the team. But Dragic is not done playing, and that was well proven with him averaging 14.9 points, 3.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. Dragic scored double-digits in all games that he played at least ten minutes. Slovenia gave Dragic some rest in their 103-88 win over Hungary but played six minutes and scored five points. Overall, he improved on the defensive end, had four games with at least two steals, and was energetic in every game.

The starting guard argument will be an interesting topic when training camp starts in two weeks. The Chicago Bulls coaching staff will have difficulty choosing to start opening night with either Ayo Dosunmu, Goran Dragic, or someone else. Dragic played his heart out for his home country, but he and Luka Doncic couldn’t repeat as EuroBasket Champions.

Marko Simonovic

Montenegro couldn’t get past the round of 16 but finished EuroBasket 2022 with a 3-3 record. With Nikola Vucevic not playing, Montenegro wasn’t expected to make a deep push to win their first-ever EuroBasket Championship. But at least they made the round of 16 and played against one of the host countries, Germany. Germany dominated the first half outscoring Montenegro 48-24. But Kendrick Perry and Marko Simonovic combined for 20 points in the fourth quarter to cut the lead down to three, 80-77. But a Kendrick Perry unsportsmanlike foul cost them the game, and Germany got their lead back up to five. The final score was 85-79.

Grade: B-

With no Nikola Vucevic, Marko Simonovic got the opportunity to play more minutes for his home country of Montenegro. Simonovic finished the EuroBasket 2022, averaging 8.7 points, and 4.2 rebounds, shooting 50% from the field and the three-point line. But he came off the bench and played at least 20 minutes in four games out of the six games. Simonovic shot above 40% from the field in those four games and two games above 70%. He showed some flaws he will have to fix while playing with the Windy City Bulls next season with his rebounding ability and defense. When the next EuroBasket tournament happens, expect Simonovic to become a starter.

Follow us on Twitter!!!!

Check out other Posts!!