Utah Jazz: 3 goals for Bojan Bogdanovic in the 2021-22 NBA season

Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic 2021-22 Goal #1: Improve Defensive Rating

Bogdanovic’s reputation as a defender is somewhat complicated. Teammates and coaches raved about his defensive efforts in last season’s playoff run, but the numbers told a different story.

In fact, the Utah Jazz wing’s Defensive Rating over the 2020-21 playoffs was 124. That cartoonishly poor figure almost certainly comes with a lot of noise, but his -0.6 Defensive Box Plus/Minus does indicate that those teammates and coaches were a little biased in their assessment of his efforts.

Asking Bogdanovic to suddenly evolve into a world-class defender in his age 32 season borders on delusional, but improvement seems like a fair request. His Defensive Rating from last season was 112: the exact same mark as his career average.

It’s not a very strong mark, and Bogey should aim to improve it over the course of the 2021-22 season. While the Utah Jazz posted a league best 107.5 team Defensive Rating last season, adding another defensive plus into their wing rotation through internal growth would be a much-welcomed boost to the club’s championship odds.

Royce O’Neale is Head Coach Quin Snyder’s most reliable wing defender, and he’s rock solid. Joe Ingles is a heady team defender with an exceptional basketball IQ, but his athletic limitations render him unable to be relied upon to consistently defend any given team’s second-best player on a nightly basis.

On some nights, Ingles can do exactly that, but there are certain matchups that stand to pose him problems. If Bogdanovic could emerge as a net positive defender, that would at least help to minimize the impact of Ingles’ limitations.

Again, nobody should be expecting Bogdanovic to suddenly compete for a spot on one of the league’s All-Defensive Teams. If he could simply post a Defensive Rating under 110 for the first time in his career, it would be a blessing for the Utah Jazz.