Wizards: Bojan Bogdanovic Finding His Niche Off Bench

The Washington Wizards took a real gamble on Bojan Bogdanovic, trading away their first-round pick. So far, the move has paid off for both parties.

The Washington Wizards have come out a bit sluggish since the All-Star break. They are 3-3 so far with Bojan Bogdanovic on the roster and they’re still adjusting. Part of the problem has been the Wizards’ performance on the defensive end.

Before the All-Star break, the Wizards’ allowed opponents to score just 105.3 points per game. Since the All-Star break, they’ve allowed 109.0 points. In fact, they have allowed more than 100 points in five of their last six games.

The Wizards are 21-23 when allowing 100 points or more this season, per basketball-reference.com.

However, newly acquired forward Bojan Bogdanovic has given the Wizards a huge lift off the bench. In their previous game against the Orlando Magic, he saved the day for the Wizards, allowing them to avoid back-to-back home losses.

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The team trailed 61-45 at halftime and trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. But they came storming back, outscoring the Magic 70-43 in the second half. The team won 115-114, with Bogdanovic scoring 15 of the Wizards’ 36 points in the fourth quarter.

Bogdanovic stepped up in a big way, pouring in 27 points off the bench and sinking a career-high eight three-pointers. He put the Wizards up 112-111 with 1:02 left in the game. Then he made the game-winning three with 46.8 seconds left in the game to put them up for good, 115-114.

Bogdanovic shot 9-for-12 from the floor and 8-for-10 from three. In the fourth quarter, he was 5-for-6 from three. His eight three-pointers are now a Wizards’ franchise record as well.

His final shot gave point guard John Wall his 10th assist of the game and 40th of the season. Fitting it came on a game-winning shot from their newest player Bojan Bogdanovic.

Bogdanovic Finding His Niche

Bogdanovic is improving by the game. The third-year sharpshooter is finding his niche as instant offense off the bench.

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He is averaging 15.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game so far while shooting 53.6 from the floor and 58.8 percent from three through six games so far with the Wizards.

However, the key hasn’t just been playing Bogdanovic, it’s been keeping him in the game. The more he plays, the more of a rhythm he gets in. The Washington Wizards are 3-1 when he plays more than 22 minutes per game and 0-2 when he plays less than 22 minutes per game.

Take Bogdanovic’s performance against the Toronto Raptors on March 1. He played roughly 25 minutes and scored a game-high 27 points off the bench in a 105-96 victory. Against the Raptors, he went 6-for-7 from three and 9-for-12 from the floor.

In his first game with the team, Bogdanovic played just over 17 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers back on Feb. 24. He scored just two points but grabbed four rebounds. The next game in 33 minutes, he was 5-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-6 from three with 15 points.

The Wizards escaped Sunday night despite trailing the Magic for much of the game. leading by as Bogdanovic gave the Wizards some big minutes and came up with big baskets late in the game. He played all 12 minutes in the final frame finishing the game with Wall, Beal, Porter and Morris.

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As other players continue to find their place in the rotation, look for Bogdanovic to be featured in a lot of those rotations as well. Hopefully he gets more than 22 minutes per game, as the team usually gets good results.