The Utah Jazz: Bojan Bogdanović’s mid-season player grade

Bogey on offense

It’s this writer’s opinion that every team in the NBA should have at least one lanky, cream-colored European with random-looking apostrophes in his surname who can shoot from distance.

For the Jazz, Bogdanović satisfies that need — in fact, he’s one of the best in the league, really.

This season, Bogdanović is taking an average of 7.2 three-point attempts per game — the most he’s ever taken in his career. And that’s a good thing, as he’s shooting 41 percent from three-point land.

The end result? The ninth most made three-point field goals in the entire Association with 126 splashes and a career-high in scoring for Bogdanović at just over 21 points per game.

And while this might be good for Bogdanović’s personal brand, it’s had an impact on the Jazz’s long-range efficiency, too. The past three seasons, the Jazz’s highest three-point percentage came in at 37.4 percent during the 2016-2017 season — good enough for ninth best in the league.

This year, though? They’re the best three-point shooting team in the NBA at 38.8 percent. While Bogdanović can’t take sole credit for the jump, he’s played a massive part in it.

The rock-solid shooting is all fine and dandy, but it’s the way Bogdanović plays that makes him an easy plug-and-play option for Quin Snyder. Unlike many high-volume scorers, Bogdanović doesn’t need the ball in his hands to have an impact on a game. With Donovan Mitchell’s usage rate currently at 31 percent, Bogdanović is a quality offensive force to partner alongside him.

Furthermore, as a natural bi-product of Bogdanović’s perimeter shooting, he’s a strong floor-spacer for Snyder. When guarded by less-mobile small forwards, he can take opposing players off the dribble. For the most part, however, he’s content to hang out beyond the arc, allowing the Jazz’s slashers to penetrate the lane: Conley, Mitchell, Royce O’Neale, Jordan Clarkson, etc.

We’ve talked about the good — now let’s zero in on the not-so-good …

If there’s a knock on Bogdanović’s offensive game, it’s that he’s not much of a playmaker. This season, at the halfway mark, he’s averaging a pedestrian 2.0 assists per game. Believe it or not, that’s actually tied for the highest assist average he’s put up in his six-year stint in the league.

Bogey’s also a player who doesn’t get to the free-throw line all that much. Through three months of regular-season play, Bogdanović is getting to the line an average of 4.6 times per game. He is, however, draining his free throws at nearly a 91 percent clip, which is good enough for the seventh-best percentage in the league.

* Offensive Grade: A

Night in and night out, while confidently rocking bright-red sneakers and lights-out shooting might be what Bogdanović’s is best known for by Jazz fans, the defensive side of things?

Not so much …