Bojan Bogdanovic Rookie Ranking
The Nets highly touted European rookie has not gotten off to the start many had hoped. Lionel Hollins named him the opening day shooting guard in preseason, but Bojan has yet to produce as an NBA starter.
There is no need to panic, though. Making the transition from Europe to America would be hard for anyone, nevermind a 25 year-old professional basketball player. He has gone from being the top player on his team in Europe to the last option in the starting 5 and is only getting catch and shoot opportunities.
The worrisome part is that most of Bogdanović’s looks have been wide open and more times than not, he has missed. The Nets rookie is shooting 39% overall and 25% from downtown. His defense has been below average, getting dominated by the Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins and Kevin Martin. It’s not that Bojan doesn’t give effort on the defensive side of the ball, it’s just that he does not have the athleticism ability to keep up with an all world athlete like Wiggins. Not many in the league can match Wiggins athleticism, but Bojan can’t allow easy back door passes like he did multiple times against the Timberwolves.
Despite all of this, Bojan ranks fairly well in the NBA’s Rookie Ladder. NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper ranks him 7th behind Nerlens Noel, Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Elfrid Payton, Nikola Mirotic, and Nik Stauskas. Here’s what Howard-Cooper had to say about the Nets rookie:
The 31st pick in 2011 started each of the first games, a nice platform, but shot 39.1 percent and scored more than seven points once. The experience of playing in Europe and being 25 years old is not showing. Bogdanovic is admitting the transition to the NBA has been harder than he expected.
Being ranked behind players such as Wiggins and Parker is certainly not a knock on Bojan. These are players that could be stars of the league in a few seasons. Many Net fans would be very pleased if this is where Bojan ended the season on the rookie ladder because it would mean he outplayed many of the rookies in this highly touted draft class.
As Bojan Bogdanović becomes more acclimated to life in the United States he will feel more comfortable on the basketball court. It is very obvious that Bojan has the basketball IQ to be in the NBA, now he just needs to learn his role and shoot like he did in Europe. Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.