Now is a good time to be Knicks player Bojan Bogdanovic. He spent all of last season playing for the struggling Pistons, who only won 17 games, and he began this season still in Detroit, which was on the way to an even bigger disaster, finishing with a 14-68 record this year. But the Knicks rescued Bogdanovic by trading for him along with Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes and other players.
Now, he’s an important substitute on a team that looks like it has a chance to make it to the East finals. Quite a positive change.
But Bogdanovic spent half the season as a starter, scoring an average of 20.2 points in Detroit, but his numbers took a serious hit when he was asked to be a role player in New York. There, his scoring average dropped to 10.4 points.
So it was somewhat surprising that Bogdanovic showed up in the NBA’s tally for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, getting one third-place vote, enough to put him in a ninth-place tie. The award went to Naz Reid of Minnesota. But Bogdanovic’s appearance on the ballot raised questions—and the likely explanation for the confusion became clear.
Bojan Bogdanovic is NOT Bogdan Bogdanovic
Bojan Bogdanovic is definitely not key Hawks substitute Bogdan Bogdanovic, but the two-letter difference might have caused the mix-up. Bogdan Bogdanvoic ended up in fifth place in the sixth-man voting after averaging 16.9 points, 3.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 79 games (33 off the bench) for Atlanta.
The third-place vote was surely intended for the Hawks’ Bogdanovic.
As Alex Burns of 5 Reasons Sports tweeted: “The funniest thing about the Sixth Man ballot is that one voter absolutely meant to vote for BOGDAN Bogdanovic and mistakenly voted for BOJAN Bogdanovic.”
Ryan Blackburn of Mile High Sports wrote, “I’m sorry, does that say Bojan Bogdanvoic at the bottom?”
Even the Knicks fan site New York Basketball ran a joke poll wondering, “Someone voted Bojan Bogdanovic 3rd for Sixth Man of the Year because they: Felt he was deserving (or) Meant Bogdan Bogdanovic.”
To be fair to Bogdanovic, his overall performance this season is quite commendable. He averaged 15.2 points on 45.4% shooting, making 39.8% of his 3s. Those stats definitely warrant a third-place vote, but the issue is that in 57 games, he started as a player in 29 of them, making him not much of a sixth man.
Knicks Are Pleased With Their 6th Man
Moreover, Bogdanovic has other important matters to focus on these days. After a tough transition period to his new role as a substitute, he has been a dependable bench veteran who has helped the team through the early struggles of star guard Jalen Brunson as they take a 2-0 series lead against the Sixers.
Bogdanovic hasn’t shot particularly well, but he has made five crucial 3-pointers out of 12 attempts in the first two games. His consecutive 3s in the latter part of Game 2 were significant.
“As a basketball player, I believe every player wants to be part this environment, be part of playoffs, especially these kinds of games,” he said after the game, according to the Daily News. “Especially with all the time that we hadn’t won the game [were trailing]. It’s a big deal.”
Bogdanovic talked about the shots he made towards the end of the game against the Sixers.
“We were tied and then I believe the momentum shift happened also Deuce [Miles McBride] getting that steal from someone and scoring that layup,” he said. “In the playoffs, every single play and every single turnover, offensive board is significant and it’s crucial for us.”
