2017-18 Pacers Player Reviews: Bojan Bogdanovic

2 of 3

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 20: Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers drives against Rodney Hood #1 of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first half of game three of the NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on April 20, 2018, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Per Game Counting Stats

14.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.7 steals, 47.4/40.2/86.8 shooting splits

Bogdanovic didn’t make any massive leaps when looking at his counting stats, but it is fair to say that this was his best season. He wasn’t as close to reaching the 50/40/90 club as teammate Darren Collison, but he was closer than some may have realized.

Like many other Pacers, the team’s style allowed Bogdanovic to have more opportunities than he had in past seasons with other teams. In Brooklyn, Bogdanovic had the opportunity but not the talent around him to put him into positions to succeed. For Washington, the talent was there but not the opportunity.

In Indiana, Bogdanovic had a perfect balance. Aside from Oladipo, no one in the starting unit required the ball to have success. Bogdanovic played well within the offense, allowing him to do his thing at an efficient clip.

Advanced Stats

Continuing to beat the efficiency drum, the advanced statistics show even further how well Bogdanovic did in that area. He finished the season with a 60.5 True Shooting Percentage, which was a career-high mark for a full season. His free throw rate of .241 (number of free throw attempts per field goal attempt) was the second-best mark of his three-year career after last season.

He was careful with the ball, handing it over just 10.1 percent of the time—a full percent better than his previous career best.

It’s hard to quantify defense in statistics, but the numbers do suggest this was Bogdanovic’s best season on that end of the floor. His 1.1 steal percentage, 1.6 defensive win shares, and -1.9 defensive box plus/minus are all either career bests or tied for it.

His lack of athleticism hurts him on defense, but as he showed against LeBron James, Bogdanovic has the instincts and size to at least be useful in one-on-one situations.

Shot Selection

Attempts: Rim – 31 Percent; Mid-Range – 27 Percent; Three-Point – 42 Percent

Accuracy: Rim – 61 Percent; Mid-Range – 44 Percent; Three-Point – 40 Percent

In today’s game, it would be great to see any player shoot more at the rim and from deep than in the mid-range. While Bogdanovic did that, it would still be nice to see the mid-range number creep closer to 20 percent of his shots and his attempts at the rim to move closer to 40 percent.

Shooting 44 percent in the mid-range is solid; it put Bogdanovic in the 88th percentile among forwards in that category, per Cleaning The Glass. Indiana’s offense called for a lot of mid-range shooting, simply because those were the shots defenses were giving them.

While the analytics call for more threes and close twos, Bogdanovic was simply doing what was asked of him and he did it well.

Home/Pacers News