Indianapolis • Bojan Bogdanovic is having a tremendous season: averaging over 20 points per game, making game-winners, and making a huge difference for the Jazz. For example, when he’s on the court, they’re about 16 points per 100 possessions better than when he’s not.
But if you look at what observers at the beginning of his career said about Bogdanovic, this season would have seemed absurd. After all, the pick used to select him was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Norris Cole, the replacement level point guard. And once the Wolves got a hold of it, they traded it for $1.25 million in cash, plus a 2013 second round pick used on Lorenzo Brown, who was sub-replacement level.
“The thing that you heard about him early in his career in the league was he could shoot the ball,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder pointed out. “As you’re around him, you realize he could score — his ability to drive and make plays not just for himself at the rim, but his willingness to be unselfish and create for his teammates when that’s appropriate. There’s a versatility to him offensively.”
That versatility really comes from his two-year stint in Indiana. The Nets and Wizards saw him primarily as a floor spacer for their other players, and he spent about half of his first three seasons coming off of the bench. But the Pacers saw his ability to help them in multiple ways, and started him immediately upon acquiring him in 2017.
And then when star guard Victor Oladipo went down with a long-term quadriceps injury last year, Pacers coach Nate McMillan tapped Bogdanovic to lead the team. He did. Keeping the Pacers afloat with a No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, he was their leading scorer.
“We enjoyed the time that he was here. He just gave us consistent play every night, you know what you were going to get from him," McMillan said. "And I thought he really improved on both ends of the floor. You know, working to defend as well as become more of a scorer.”
Bogdanovic appreciated the opportunity that the Pacers gave him.
“I really established my game and myself the two years I was in Indy,” Bogdanovic told UtahJazz.com. "Especially when Victor went down. I became the first offensive option. I had a lot of green lights, and I showed other teams in the league what I was capable of doing.”
And the Pacers appreciated his durability: “It takes a lot to keep him out. He missed very few things with us, as far as practices and games," McMillan said. It’s true: Bogdanovic played in 80 games with the Pacers in his first year with them, 81 in the second year.
“Every day he comes ready to go. And you never have to worry about him,” McMillan continued. “I mean, when that ball is tossed and the lights are on, he’ll be ready to go."
