Bojan Bogdanovic deserves some All Star buzz

Bojan Bogdanovic is not going to be an All Star in 2020. I’ll come right out front and be honest with it. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it.

It’s quite rare that an NBA team gets multiple players into the All Star game. It’s especially rare for a team to get more than two. In fact, it usually involves having a pretty special season start and having a little luck as well (like being in the Eastern Conference...). With the Utah Jazz on an absolute tear right now and finding themselves 2nd in the West, they are pretty much guaranteed 1 All Star, likely 2. But it’s pretty obvious who those two will be: Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

Don’t let that take away from just how good the team’s third best player has been this season. Bojan Bogdanovic has taken another step up in his game and has arguably played like an All Star as well.

• After having just 4 30+ point games in his first 399 NBA games played, Bogey has 9 this season. That’s as many or more than Brandon Ingram, Joel Embiid, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, CJ McCollum, LeMarcus Aldridge, Kyrie Irving, Nikola Jokic, Jaylen Brown, Tobias Harris, Kyle Lowry, and Jimmy Butler.
• There are only 19 players in the NBA scoring 21+ points with a 56+% true shooting percentage. Bojan Bogdanovic is one of them, along with teammate Donovan Mitchell. That’s typically an All Star
• To get even more specific, players that have average 21+ points, 4+ rebounds, and have a TS% >60 have been an All Star 108 times in league history. Only 12 times have they not. And 7 of those that weren’t were on a team with a losing record. Bojan is doing this on a team that’s playing >.700 basketball right now.

He may not be flashy. He may not be explosive. But he’s been one of the most effective in the game this year. Just look at how beautiful this shot chart is:

By the way, he’s on pace to crush the Jazz record for most 3’s made in a season. Joe Ingles is the current record holder at 204 makes. After 44 games Bogdanovic sat at 134 threes, which is on pace for 250 in 82 games!! The Jazz front office wanted to bring in some snipers this summer. Well they absolutely found one in Bojan. He’s been automatic this year shooting over 41% from 3. Only 5 other players in the NBA have at least as many field goal attempts (675) and have a TS% at least as high as Bogdanovic (.607). And he has more than 100 less free throw attempts than the next least player.

So, while the national media won’t give him much attention, and even the local media hasn’t talked about his game being All Star worthy, you should realize for yourself as a Jazz fan that he’s been every bit as worthy this year. We love you Bogey!!