Olympic NBA Prospect Power Rankings: Semifinals
1. Bogdan Bogdanovic
Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s play in Serbia’s wins over Venezuela and China was outstanding, as he scored 19 points in each of the two games. Obviously those two teams were among the least talented in Rio, but it was a great sign to see Bogdanovic dominate lower-level competition.
However, the 23-year-old did not play great in the preliminary round against the U.S., France or Australia, shooting for a low percentage and making less of an impact against the best opponents in Group A.
Serbia earned the fourth seed in the group, but had a tough quarterfinal match against top-seeded Croatia on Wednesday.
This was the game we’ve been waiting to see from the shooting guard, who was on fire in the third quarter, scoring 14 points in the period to turn help turn a six-point deficit into a 14-point lead heading into the fourth.
Bogdanovic finished with 18 points on the night, a signature game for the Kings’ prospect, who showed up when the lights were the brightest.
He certainly is not afraid of the moment and did not hesitate to keep pulling the trigger once he got rolling.
Although it’s easy to get carried away from single-game performances, Bogdanovic has already shown signs that he can take over games when he gets hot and is capable of shooting his team back into a game when it’s down.
Serbia’s next test is against Australia in the semifinals, where Bogdanovic and company look to pull off an upset and advance to the gold medal game.
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Australia defeated Serbia by 15 in the preliminary meeting between the two teams, but it was a close contest for nearly the entire game before the Boomers pulled away late in the fourth quarter.
Bogdanovic did not play well in the first meeting against the Aussies, but his confidence should be sky-high after a fantastic quarterfinal game and if the young Serb is hitting his shots, it adds another dimension to the already formidable team.
Even when he was not at his best, Serbia pushed the U.S., losing by three points, and fell to France by one point.
Fans should not rule out a Serbia victory over Australia and we could end up seeing Bogdanovic go up against the U.S. in the final.
If not, there’s a good chance it’ll be Serbia vs. Spain, playing for bronze.
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Either way, we have two more games to evaluate the two remaining NBA prospects in our rankings.