Before the start of this article, I would like to express my pain that I share with thousands of my fellow Bosnians and others that are currently in Srebrenica burying 175 victims. This is a sad day for every sane person in the world, the day of the biggest post-Nazi genocide in Europe. Never forget Srebrenica 11.7.1995.
As you all probably know, the Nets finally signed Bojan Bogdanović, Mostar-born Croatian player who previously played for Fenerbahce in Turkey. He is a small forward who can also play the shooting guard position, but standing in at 6 foot 8 inches, he might be a good solution on the power forward position, where the Nets have only Garnett and Teletovic.
Bogdanovic was picked by the Miami Heat as the 31st pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, but through a series of trades came to then New Jersey Nets in a draft night trade. For a couple of years he consistently said he will stay in Europe but the call of NBA basketball was apparently too much for the young Croat.
The 25-year-old averaged solid numbers in Euroleague for the past 3 years with Fenerbahce, with the only downside being that he shot the three over 40% for 2 seasons but fell to just under 30% last season.
What needs to be known about him, is that he is not a rebounder, not a distributor but a scorer and he has proven that during his time in Cibona Zagreb where he was the go-to scorer, and in Fener that is, will respect to Cibona, a much better team.
He won the league with Fener last season, and was an All-Star of the Turkish league in 2013. Now, that might not seem as so good, but Turkish league is second best national league next to the Spanish one. I am not counting Euroleague, because it is played on an European level.
He is someone who is constantly looking to score, his court vision, although improving, is still pretty bad. He shows good potential but the Nets, as it seems, have signed another Mirza Teletovic. Someone who is a particularly good at scoring but not good at other things he is supposed to do, but showing huge potential.
Now, when Teletovic came to Brooklyn he was under a lot of pressure by our, Bosnian media to perform as the first Bosnian player in the biggest league of them all, but with Croatia having legends such as Petro and the three-time NBA champ with Jordan and the Bulls, Toni Kukoc I don’t think that pressure will be the problem for Bojan. Also, he is proven in Euroleague and with winning that Turkish title he comes into this season with a lot of confidence. But, I think that all Nets fans know that you cannot expect an amazing season right away, and especially that applies to Balkan players.
So, be patient. Bogdanovic is an amazing player and a great signing for the future, which we know Brooklyn kind-of lacks. What he lacks is discipline as well, as he was once kicked out of Croatian national team camp due to undisciplined behavior.
All in all, after waiting for him so long, I think that a lot of Nets fans expect a 10+ PPG guy but with those positions filled quite nicely for now, I think he won’t really get as many minutes this year.
But in one or two years, with some experience and confidence he will become a very solid starter or sixth man. All I have to say is treat him like Teletovic, give him time and space and he will deliver.
If he fixes his discipline problems and upgrades his defence and rebounding, he could be a good converted power forward. Anyway, good luck to Bogdanovic and the Nets, but don’t expect anything too amazing this season.
New York Sports Hub 
Could he be as good as Marquis?
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