Words of wisdom from Goran Dragic are fueling Vlatko Cancar's rise at Summer League

LAS VEGAS — Slovenia’s Cinderella run to the EuroBasket 2017 trophy will be most remembered by Goran Dragic’s heroics in the tournament’s final game where he scored 35 points in a 93-85 win over Serbia to clinch the country’s first European Championship. Dragic was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and later said winning the trophy for his home country was the highlight of his career.

Vlatko Cancar played a little over nine minutes in the tournament’s championship game, attempted just one shot and finished scoreless. But for the 21-year-old, learning from a veteran like Dragic while on the national team and playing with other top hoopers across Europe throughout his short career have been invaluable experiences.

“The best advice I got from (Dragic) is to play hard and to not give a f*** about anybody,” Cancar said. “Just play like you’re the best player.”

Cancar carried that mentality into Friday’s Summer League opener against the Timberwolves. He logged 21 minutes, played calm and composed and showed off a polished floor game. Cancar finished with 11 points on 4-9 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and tallied three steals.

He followed up Friday’s performance with a gutsy outing in the Nuggets’ win over the Celtics on Saturday, where he tallied nine points, four rebounds, two steals, drew a charge and had a number of impressive plays on the defensive end of the floor.

The 21-year-old, who’s relatively unknown outside of Denver and only boasts 485 followers on Twitter as of Sunday morning, has already earned a stamp of approval from Nuggets coach Michael Malone while in Las Vegas. Summer League head coach Jordi Fernandez stressed that Cancar’s advanced basketball IQ for his age sticks out.

“Some guys run and jump really high, some guys are really good athletes, that’s his skill right now,” said Fernandez, who coached against Cancar with the Spanish National Team last summer. “That’s what he brings to us.”

With Slovenia, Cancar played under current Phoenix Suns’ coach Igor Kokosov, who the 6-foot-9 combo forward called “a mentor” and said forced him to focus on the “small things.”

“Maybe I have a little bit of feel for the game,” Cancar responded when asked about his coach’s comments. “But a lot of credit goes to those guys who taught me how to play.”

Denver doesn’t currently have the roster space on its varsity team for Cancar. The Nuggets’ combination of guaranteed salaries and two-way deals for next season means his chances of making Denver’s roster are slim. But another salary-clearing move could still be coming, which potentially means another open roster spot.

Could a future second unit in Denver feature Cancar picking and popping off screens and a two-man game centered around him and Monte Morris? Denver’s Summer League point guard has been a fan of Cancar since he started playing pickup in the Nuggets’ practice gym in May.

“I told the coaching staff when they brought him in for pickup a month ago, I was like, ‘Who is this kid?’ And they told me,” Morris said. “I like his game, big IQ, knows how to play basketball and that’s rare to have. He can pass. He can shoot it and that’s rare to see and it’s a bonus in this league when you have someone that can play point forward for you.”

If Cancar isn’t on the Nuggets’ roster next season, he still can improve while playing abroad. He logged 22 games for Mega Bemax in Serbia and averaged 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game before he went on loan to San Pablo Burgos in Spain. There he played in the ACB League — what many consider to be the second-best league in the world. He averaged 7.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game.

Cancar has an NBA-level three-point stroke and can contribute defensively. Denver’s coaches want the multi-positional wing to act as a playmaker more often in pick-and-rolls as the week goes on.

“He has a great feel for the game. He plays at the wing spot, he can play pick-and-roll, he can pass the ball, he can move,” Fernandez said. “He plays at the four, he can make shots. He rebounds, he’s long.”

For Cancar, making the NBA would be a dream that he’s had since he was 16. He watched the 2017 draft unfold while in Belgrade, Serbia. The draft started at 1:30 a.m. local time and Cancar wasn’t selected by Denver until around 6:30 in the morning, he said. When the broadcast returned from a commercial break, he saw his name on the screen next to a Nuggets’ logo.

He’s felt at home with Denver so far this summer alongside a coach with an international background in Fernandez and a front office that has heavy European ties. Someday, Cancar hopes to make his Denver his permanent residence.

“I think I did a pretty good job I tried to be as active as possible,” Cancar said of his recent play “A lot of credit also goes to my teammates and the coaching staff. Not just me for my good performance. I think I got used to the flow and everything. Everything is going according to plan.”