Croatia - Petrovic's legacy still touches area

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Fifteen years have passed since that day on a rain-slicked German autobahn, when the Volkswagen Golf slammed into the tractor-trailer and crumpled into awkward shapes and the legend of Drazen Petrovic turned again.

All these basketball seasons later, he remains connected to Sacramento, because Beno Udrih grew up a fan and Wayne Cooper became one; because Reggie Theus and Vlade Divac were his teammates and Rick Adelman was his coach. Petrovic, dead since 1993, is attached to the Kings without ever playing for them.

He was a Trail Blazer and a Net and, most of all, a European hero briefly loaned to fans in the United States. Four seasons in the NBA, starting barely half that time, was more than long enough to build a legacy as a gifted scorer and a tireless young guard with a historical level of dedication.

"I don't know if there's anybody that loved the game more than Drazen," said Cooper, a teammate in Portland and now the No. 2 man in the Kings' personnel department as vice president of basketball operations.

"I never, ever had a player who worked as hard as him," said Adelman, who coached Petrovic in Portland and is now the Houston Rockets' coach.

Udrih, the Kings point guard, grew up in Slovenia without any real geographic or national connection – Petrovic was from Yugoslavia, before civil war broke the country apart, about a six-hour drive from Udrih's home. But every basketball fan in the Balkans was emotionally vested in Petrovic somehow, through home-team pride or opponent's disdain, and Udrih would come to see some of Petrovic's style as his own game developed, combining ballhandling skill with a desire to shoot.

Udrih was 6 when Petrovic helped Yugoslavia to the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, 7 when the same national team captured the prestigious European Championships and a month shy of turning 11 when Petrovic was killed in the Bavarian countryside. He later watched videos of Petrovic playing, though, and read the eventual biography.

"People just knew him and the way he played, the way he reacted in every basket he scored," Udrih said. "It was like (the score was) 2-0, and he was like" – Udrih punches a clenched hand into the air – "to the crowd. Even on the road. The people that he was playing against, the fans hated it. But every basket he made, he celebrated with the fist up."

Those were the groundbreaking days for the Yugoslavians, with Divac, Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and Sasha Danilovic starring on the national team and either already driving the revolutionary NBA invasion or close to coming over. Petrovic, a third-round pick by Portland in 1986, made the move before the 1989-90 season.

"At that time, the European players – Vlade had come over – they weren't looked at as superstars or whatever," Adelman said. "When Drazen came, we knew he was a very good player. But when we got him, I started to realize that he was the Michael Jordan of Europe. I mean, he was the guy. He was the superstar of all of them."

In Portland, where Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter were firmly entrenched as starters, he was the third guard. He played 77 games that first season, but at just 12.6 minutes per, and then the Trail Blazers got another veteran guard, Danny Ainge, and Petrovic dropped even further. He was down to 7.4 minutes in 18 appearances when the trade to New Jersey was made Jan. 23, 1991.

Petrovic went from being very popular in the Portland locker room – players were crushed when the deal was announced – to the backbiting Nets. Theus was on that team, and finished as New Jersey's leading scorer before being waived in the offseason and finishing his career in Italy, as Petrovic continued to play off the bench. Beginning in 1991-92, though, Petrovic became a starter and developed into a star while some players claimed he monopolized the ball and resentment grew.

He jumped from 7.6 points a game as a rookie to 10.2 in the season split between the Trail Blazers and Nets to 20.6 in 1991-92 while working exclusively from the opening lineup, finally getting the role he had envisioned. That climbed to 22.3 in 1992-93 as Petrovic was voted third-team All-NBA.