On Friday night, the talented 19-year-old shooting guard for the Townsville Crocs will take on the Sydney Kings, fit and hungry. His shooting by a party gatecrasher is a whole season behind him now. But he is happy to tell the "pretty crazy story" of how he almost died. 

Djeric, who grew up in Bankstown, was part of the Australian under 19 squad set to compete in the World Championships in the Czech Republic last year. On June 15, he was counting down the days before flying out with "best mates" such as Dante Exum, now playing in the NBA with the Utah Jazz.

But at an 18th birthday, a random act of violence snatched those championship hopes away. Djeric said it was a normal party, with some drunk people he thought were all talk. He went outside the house when he heard the sounds of a fight, saw a large brawl and then a man running toward him. 

"I look a bit to the left and at first I hear like a firecracker noise and see like a camera flash," he said. "As soon as it struck my leg I knew what happened."

Lying on the driveway, he was afraid he might be shot again. "Obviously my leg gave way, but in my mind I was like 'Shit, I better get down', just in case he was going to shoot again."

Then there were the other thoughts going through Djeric's mind. Chief among them: "Will I play basketball again?"

It could have been much worse. The bullet touched but did not shatter his thigh bone. An inch to the side and it could have pierced a major artery. Doctors said he could have bled to death.  "I got the X-ray photo and when I first saw it I was just like, 'Wow'," Djeric said.  "I'm lucky and I'm unlucky in the same sense. Unlucky that it happened to me, but lucky in how close it was to ending my life, ending my career."

Training with the Australian Institute of Sport helped him get back on the court within four months, ready for his first NBL season with the Crocs. 

His mental recovery was even better, he said. "No flashbacks, no mental scarring."

But the missed world championship stills plays on his mind. 

"I was extremely angry and disappointed about not going to Worlds; that's what killed me the most," he said. 

"Sometimes I feel like I want to think about it all, if I can't go to sleep or whatever and I bring myself back to the event."

Asked whether police had caught his shooter, Djeric said it was an "ongoing process" before admitting, "I have no idea".

"I want to keep away from that sort of stuff and just focus on basketball."

During his time off the court, Djeric worked hard to become "a better student of the game", studying old matches of the Serbian national team. He is proud of his Serbian heritage (his parents fled the Yugoslavian war in 1993) and loves the national team's style of basketball. 

While the Crocs have lost their first two games of the season after taking out the pre-season blitz, Djeric is confident they can pick themselves up. 

"I think we've got a real good shot at making the playoffs, and causing a few upsets this year," he said. 

Djeric knows that as a teenager he still has plenty of time to wear a green and gold jersey as an adult, after representing Australia in under 17 and under 19 divisions.  But he acknowledges he can become frustrated with himself for not improving quickly. That impatience was on display last year when he tried to shed his crutches and start shooting hoops again.  "That was a complete failure," he said. "I was stumbling around like Bambi." 

When he returned to the court fully fit , the feeling was "unbelievable".

"You realise how much you actually love the sport and how much it means to you," he said.  "You come back and you're relieved that you're back to where you belong, you're back to your home."