Real talk coming up: it sometimes still surprises me how good Bojan Bogdanovic actually is. 16 PPG on 50% shooting? Almost 50% from three? Coming from a guy who looks like he should be coaching right now instead of playing? It’s crazy.
Every time I see his balding head, unkempt neckbeard, and chubby, rosy cheeks, I have to explicitly remind myself that Bogdanovic is an NBA player and not a washed-up Euro begging for coaching positions.
Very non-NBA appearance not withstanding, it’s fair to say that Bojan is having a career year right now. I thought he was good last season, but he dialed it up a notch this season. The rest of Croatia’s NBA contingent is either disappointing (Mario Hezonja) or regressing due to misuse (Dario Saric) so it’s good news for them that at least one of their countrymen is still playing a at a constistently high level.
Each and every three-pointer that Bojan shoots this season feels like it’s going to go in. That’s how hot he is from three right now. When the Pacers commentator mentioned that he had dropped below 50% on the season, it made me sad, and I also didn’t quite believe it.
Not until I looked at the game logs and saw some anomalous 1-of-4 three-point shooting performances did I finally believe.
Greatness on the basketball court comes in many forms, but I don’t usually expect it from guys who look like Bojan does. But players like him and Joe Ingles are slowly retraining me. Maybe one day soon I will cast aside my prejudice and evaluate players without my opinion being tainted by their physical appearance.
Enjoyers of my video descriptions can find a secret message encoded within the beginnings of the paragraphs of this description. The secret code word describes the type of game that Bojan had against the Wizards last night.