Utah Jazz: JP Strong sells out, Rudy rocks and other feel-good-ness

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 06: JP Gibson, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, signed his contract with Jazz president Randy Rigby before joining the team in uniform for the annual preseason intrasquad scrimmage at EnergySolutions Arena on October 06, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 06: JP Gibson, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, signed his contract with Jazz president Randy Rigby before joining the team in uniform for the annual preseason intrasquad scrimmage at EnergySolutions Arena on October 06, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Goran Dragic Slovenia EuroBasket 2017
Slovenia’s players celebrate after defeating Serbia during the FIBA Eurobasket 2017 men’s Final basketball match between Slovenia and Serbia at Sinan Erdem Sport Arena in Istanbul on September 17, 2017. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images /

Goran Dragic receives a special gift

This one isn’t exactly a Jazz story, but it was too good not to include here.

One of the real highlights in Jazzland over the summer was assistant coach Igor Kokoskov directing Slovenia to a gold medal at EuroBasket 2017. Kokoskov’s sideline mastery was undoubtedly one of the tournament’s best stories.

That said, his team wouldn’t have enjoyed such a run if not for the MVP performance of Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic. And after leading his team to the Euro title he was involved with what may have been the best moment to come out of the event.

Growing up in what was once part of Yugoslavia, Dragic’s basketball idol was Drazen Petrovic. The former New Jersey Nets sharpshooter helped Yugoslavia capture two Olympic silver medals, a bronze, a gold and a bronze at the FIBA Worlds, as well as gold and bronze medals at the aforementioned EuroBasket tourney.

He’s as responsible as anyone for growing the sport in the region. However, Petrovic’s incredible life was cut short in an automobile accident in June of 1993.

Following Dragic’s big win, Petrovic’s mother surprised the Slovenian star with her late son’s Nets jersey. It was a sentiment that moved Dragic to tears —

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Without question, this is an example of sports at their finest.