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Brooklyn Nets: Bojan Bogdanovic Lets It Fly

By Andrew Snyder

Oct 26, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic (44) drives the ball against Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller (44) in the second half at TD Garden. The Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 122-117. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 26, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic (44) drives the ball against Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller (44) in the second half at TD Garden. The Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 122-117. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Brooklyn Nets are going to lose a lot of games this season. That won’t stop Bojan Bogdanovic from getting his shots up.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the midst of a full-blown rebuild. Former San Antonio Spurs executive Sean Marks is now the general manager, and he has elected to take the franchise in a new direction. No more big-name signings or trades that end up being underwhelming on the court. Personnel decisions will be focused and rational.

They’re not necessarily tanking, but they are rebuilding with an eye on being competitive in the future. This season is not about wins and losses. This season is about changing the culture and getting the organization headed in the right direction, on every level.

It’s the right move for the team, but it will be painful in the short term. Jeremy Lin will be fun. Brook Lopez might fetch them some young assets in a midseason trade. The team will play hard as scrappy underdogs, but there will still be plenty of losing.

It will be a season where Brooklyn comes up against obstacles and is unable overcome them. The rest of the NBA will stop them from reaching their immediate goals. But, there’s one thing the rest of the NBA can’t stop. They can’t stop Bojan Bogdanovic from launching a three-pointer whenever he damn well pleases. It will happen frequently, and it will be captivating.

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    • This is the season of Lin. This is the season of losing. Most importantly, this is the season of Bojan getting buckets. If their opening night loss to the Boston Celtics is any indication, the Croatian J.R. Smith is going to shoot, keep shooting, and then shoot some more.

    Against the Celtics he shot 9-for-17 and 3-for-8 from deep, with 21 points in only 23 minutes — efficient and impressive volume, to say the least. I would’ve preferred he got up to 23 shots so that he would have averaged one shot per minute, but sometimes dreams don’t come true.

    He led the Nets in scoring, shot attempts and three-point attempts, and looked as confident as ever. He even grabbed five rebounds. Bogdanovic averaged 25.3 points per game for Croatia in the Olympics, so it’s obvious he can score. With a featured role in Brooklyn, he’ll get a chance to show that in the NBA more clearly than ever.

    Last season he averaged only 9.5 shot attempts and 4.3 three-point attempts per game, but as the only shooter in Brooklyn’s starting five I imagine those averages will increase as Jeremy Lin whips him passes to the corner after a pick-and-roll with Brook Lopez.

    Bogdanovic isn’t always open when he decides to let it fly. He might be well beyond the three-point line, or at an awkward angle, but those facts do not dampen his confidence nor his determination.

    I’m not sure if his contributions will help Brooklyn win, but they’ll be fun to watch. Shot selection is an issue, as it is with every shooter that thinks they are in range as soon as they step in the gym. There will be nights with he shoots 10-for-20, scores 30 points, and helps the Nets almost knock off a team they weren’t supposed to even compete with.

    Then there will be nights where his outside shot isn’t falling, he finishes 2-for-12, and Nets fans curse his name on Twitter. The issue with Bogdanovic being a streaky, shoot-first 2-guard is that if he’s not scoring, then he’s not contributing.

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    My grandmother says if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all, so it would be best to avoid the topic of his defense. It’s his biggest weakness. His defense has been below average throughout his career, and that’s what will annoy Nets fans the most this season. If they had an elite rim protector they could probably get away with it. Sadly for them, they do not possess Bill Russell.

    There will always be a soft spot in my heart for players like Bogdanovic. My life motto is “shooters shoot.” Everyone that regularly plays pickup basketball has a friend that runs three-point line to three-point line, launches threes anytime he touches the ball, and plays absolutely no defense. I am that friend and Bogdanovic is living my NBA dream.

    His ideal role in the NBA would probably be as a shooter off the bench for a contending team, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Brooklyn looked to move him sometime this season. Wherever he goes I have one simple and probably ill-advised message for him.

    Next: NBA: Top 10 Shooting Guard in 2016-17

    Keep shooting, Bojan.

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