Utah Jazz Needs Bojan Bogdanovic to Step Up
In the 2019 offseason, the Utah Jazz reinforced their offense in hopes of building a true title contender around the Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert pairing. First, they traded for Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Mike Conley, taking advantage of Memphis’s rebuild.
Adding Conley provided Spida with the best backcourt mate he’d had in his career thus far, someone who could run the offense and shoulder some of the scoring burden, as well.
Weeks later, they landed Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency. This gave them a sharpshooter and scorer with size who could act as a supercharged third-wheel on offense. Since coming to Utah, Bogdanovic has more than fulfilled his role, having tallied career marks of 18.4 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent marks from beyond the arc. There’s not much left to be desired from a tertiary piece.
Conley, on the other hand, has proven to be a little further past his prime than the Jazz likely anticipated when they dealt for him. In the past season, in particular, he’s clearly taken a step back with only 13.7 points on 11 shots per game — his lowest output in both categories since 2011-2012.
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Compare those numbers to his last season in Memphis, in which he put up 21.1 points on 16 field goal attempts a night, and it’s clear that Conley isn’t capable of producing at the output that the Jazz expected and need from him.
In years past, it’s been proven that Spida needs someone to step up as a true “second-option-on-a-championship-team” threat. Bogdanovic has only had the opportunity to appear in two playoff series with Jazz due to injuries, but in that time he produced as expected with 18.1 points per outing on 45/44/88 shooting splits against the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers in 2021.
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Despite his bonkers efficiency, he actually averaged less shots, with 12.5 attempts per game, in the playoffs that year than he had in the regular season when he took 12.8 a night.
Spida needs a true Robin to take over when defenses key in on him, and Bogdanovic is clearly the man for the job. Head Coach Quin Snyder needs to ensure that his Croatian Sniper gets the touches and shots necessary to produce like a true second option in this upcoming postseason. He’s more than capable of it.
