What Can Bojan Bogdanovic Bring to Brooklyn

Prior to the FIBA World Cup, the casual NBA fan have never heard of Bogdanovic. Only known to dedicated NBA and Nets fans, he blossomed and began gaining mainstream notice from the FIBA World Cup, where he played valiantly for the Croatian National Team. He sparked the comeback against France scoring 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, staging a potential catastrophic collapse of the French squad. But, he missed a crucial 3-Pointer to give Croatia the lead. Nonetheless, he is a natural born leader and is a player to count on when you need production.

Naturally, one would compare Bojan Bogdanovic to Mirza Teletovic. Both European Basketball stars, who were the focal point on their respect teams, now had to transition to the environment of the NBA. They have similar styles of basketball. Neither of the two men have much athleticism, but have supreme fundamentals and crafty moves to create the shot. Mirza Teletovic is more dimensional, leaning toward the 3-Point shot for his offense, comparative to the late, great Dražen Petrović. Bogdanovic is more multi-dimensional. He can create his offense from the 3-Pointer, but he can be productive and potentially dangerous in the post, which is a lost art in the NBA. With his low athletic ability but his high basketball IQ and ability to create his own shot, people have prematurely compared him to Paul Pierce.

With Lionel Hollins running the helm for Brooklyn this season, Bojan will most likely be coming off the bench for Brooklyn. Hollins had dealt with international players before, most notably, Marc Gasol. With Hollins’ system Bojan can come off the bench as the 1st or 2nd relief for the 2-Guard or the Small Forward. Hollins can play Bogdanovic in situational play as well. In a situation where Hollins will need to stretch the defense he can play:

PG: Williams

SG: Johnson

SF: Bogdanovic

PF: KG/Teletovic

C: Lopez

By having KG or Teletovic playing the 4 who both can step back and take a mid-long range shot, it opens up Lopez down low because the defense would not be able to collapse on Lopez due to the major 3 point danger waiting for the ball to be kicked out to them to shoot. Ball movement will be key to playing this type of offense, and Hollins will be implementing that into the new Brooklyn offensive scheme.

Bogdanovic has the potential to be a three point mogul. He has shot 40% beyond the three-point line twice in his career. Being able to break down a defense with his crafty skill will give allow him to gain minutes from Hollins. Nets fans cannot expect him to bring instant offense from the get-go, due to the differences between the NBA and basketball overseas. Just like Teletovic, he will start off the season slow and receive limited minutes. But toward the end of the year, Bogdanovic will gain more playing time from Hollins if he can successfully transition into the NBA. Realistically, Bogdanovic will be averaging around 12.1 PPG in 18-20 MPG his season. If he can quickly adapt to playing in the NBA, he can be a valuable weapon for Brooklyn.