I admit, when the Kings signed Serbian rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic to a three-year, 27-million dollar contract, I was a little skeptical. That’s a lot of faith to show towards a guy who hadn’t yet appeared in an NBA game and had been drafted late in the first round a few years before. Yeah, he sort of dominated Europe while he was with Fenerbahce (how do you even pronounce that?), but the NBA has seen a lot of Euro stars come and go without making an impact. Somehow, Bogdan and his agent convinced the Kings that Bogdan was not the kind of guy who would wash out quickly and then sail back over to Europe with his tail between his legs.
I would say that their assessment of the situation is correct and mine may have been slightly mistaken. That’s why I try to refrain from having opinions about European prospects until they come over here and show what they’re made of. I also don’t have opinions about Euroleague players because the entire Euroleague concept is confusing to me and I don’t recognize any of the teams and it seems like every summer there’s some sort of “cup” going on there but sometimes it’s national teams and not the normal teams and it just makes me mad and angry when I think about it. So all those factors put together mean I just wait until players show up in the NBA before I even think about thinking about them.
Back to Bogdanovic. I’m looking at the stats and he assists Willie Cauley-Stein way more than any other player: 12 assists to the Willie Whacker, with the next most being four to Garrett Temple. I don’t know if Bogdanovic and Cauley-Stein can accurately be called a “dynasty” or even a “tandem” yet, but my body is preparing for that possibility. Does Srbija have a term for that duo yet?