Name: Bojan Bogdanovic
Height/weight (per Basketball-Reference.com): 6-7, 216 pounds
Career/2014-15 stats: 78 G, .453 FG%/.355 3FG%/.821 FT%, 9.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 106 offensive rating, 111 defensive rating
How he was acquired: Traded by the Timberwolves (as a draft pick) to the Nets on June 23rd, 2011 for a second-round pick and cash considerations
2014-15 season recap: Although the Nets acquired Bogdanovic’s draft rights back in 2011, they were only able to pry him away from Europe last summer, signing him to a three-year, $10 million contract. At 25, the Croatian forward was on the older end of the rookie scale, and displayed the tell-tale signs of someone struggling to adjust to the American style of basketball as well as America itself.
Bojan, in the first month-plus of the 2014-15 season, averaged right around 10 points per game but shot under 43 percent from the field and 33 percent from three. He had a couple of huge games early on that indicated just how good he could be when he got his feet under him, but the inconsistency–especially on the road, where he was about seven points worse than at home over the course of the season–limited his effectiveness.
His playing time, and productively, dipped significantly in December before bouncing back in 2015, as he was forced to become a more prominent member of the Nets’ rotation. More struggles ensued until a return from a post-All-Star break ankle sprain seemed to rejuvenate the Brooklyn sharpshooter, who started to put up double-digit games with ease the rest of the year. Before the ASB, he slashed .411/.310/.851 while after it he slashed .513/.429/.750, a clear sign of him getting used to playing in the NBA and with the Nets.
Then, in the playoffs, he ebbed and flowed much like he did during the season, as he had big games (15 and 19 points respectively) in the Nets’ Game 3 and 4 wins but was mostly nonexistent in the others. A rocky transition to the NBA game was to be expected for Bogdanovic so the issues he faced can be written off to a certain extent, meaning his rookie season was a relative success.
Expected role: In his second year in the NBA, with a full season in both the US and the world’s top basketball league behind him, Lionel Hollins will need the 26-year-old to step up his scoring output for a Nets team that may have trouble scoring from the perimeter. Brooklyn signed him to stretch the floor and make threes and while he showed the potential to do that in 2014-15, he didn’t convert at nearly the rate he was needed to, especially from beyond the arc. This season, he’ll be relied upon to knock down open triples as a key member of the starting lineup.
Best-case scenario: The sky is truly the limit for Bojan, who was some poor play on the road away from being one of the NBA’s most impactful rookies. The hope is that he can figure out his issues during games not playing in Brooklyn to regularly score 12-15 points a night and force defenses to make sure he doesn’t touch the ball. That would greatly reduce the scoring load on the aging Joe Johnson, who eats up single man-to-man matchups with an undersized defender guarding him. The play of Bojan and Joe will go hand-in-hand, so there’s no knowing how effective they can be if both plays their role successfully.
Worst-case scenario: Bojan (78 games) was about as durable as could be during his rookie campaign, but an ankle injury suffered over the summer in international play is cause for concern that could adversely affect his sophomore season. If that ankle flares up again, Bojan’s movement will be limited as will ability to get solid lift on his jumper, which would dash his three-point efficiency. This could result in a shortened season filled with more of the inconsistencies that plagued his 2014-15 season.
General thoughts: As one of the Nets’ more shrewd pickups of the Billy King tenure, Bogdanovic is a clear part of the team’s future who is so close to establishing himself as a solidly productive NBA player. He just has to put all the smaller pieces together–like his three-point efficiency, defensive skills and rebounding, which should be a plus for the lanky European–to achieve his full potential.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
