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SALT LAKE CITY — With 4:55 left in the first quarter on Wednesday, Bojan Bogdanovic — the Croatian sniper, the man that teammates have lauded for hitting “just about 100%” from deep in practice — fired up an open 3-pointer.
It was an airball.
The rest of his night didn’t go much better.
“I’m kind of a little bit struggling right now,” Bogdanovic said — and that was before his preseason-worst performance on Wednesday night.
Bogdanovic is an honest man. He’s not going to sugarcoat it — he’s played poorly in the preseason. Really poorly, even. Utah’s prized free-agent signing has shot 27.3% from the field, 25% from deep, and has looked lost at times in the Jazz’s offensive system.
On Wednesday, Bogdanovic was 0 of 9 from the field in Utah’s loss to Portland and 0 of 5 from 3-point range. It was the second game (of five) that Bogdanovic has failed to make a shot.
He finished with one point (a technical free throw), one assist and didn’t have a single rebound. That’s not the type of stat line the Jazz had in mind when they signed Bogdanovic to a four-year deal this summer.
“I was off offensively and no matter how many shots I miss, I’ve got to be more active in the game and do more things,” Bogdanovic said.
So why has Bogdanovic struggled so badly?
The good news: There are some legitimate reasons.
For most of his basketball life, Bogdanovic has spent the summer playing with the Croatian national team. He’s never really had a break — until this year. Croatia didn’t make this year’s FIBA World Cup which meant for five months, Bogdanovic wasn’t playing high-level basketball or continually practicing with a team. And when you compound that with a new environment and a new system and, well, he’s discovered that he’s out of rhythm.
“The feel for the game ... that’s where I’m struggling.”
— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) October 16, 2019
Bojan opened up today about his early struggles. pic.twitter.com/S1Xn5mesUq
“The feel for the game because I didn’t have any game for almost five, six months, that’s where I’m struggling,” Bogdanovic said. “I’m not struggling shooting the ball, I’m not worried about that. At this point, it’s feel for the game, for my teammates, for the space. With more games, more minutes, I’ll be better and better.”
In short, Bogdanovic isn’t playing instinctively. The Jazz’s fast-paced swinging ball movement has stopped at times when the pass has come to Bogdanovic and he has looked lost trying to probe and penetrate. He has looked like a player that is thinking more than just letting the game come to him.
It’s a case of a player adjusting and getting used to a new team.
The bad news: No one knows when exactly he'll find that rhythm again.
But that isn't too big of a worry for the Jazz. They know it'll come in time, that he'll regain the form that has made him such a feared shooter and offensive player.
“He'll get back to being instinctive and making reads, but again, like, like Emmanuel (Mudiay), like Mike (Conley), like Rudy (Gobert), like (everyone), when we throw ourselves into the defensive end I think a lot of these things will take care of themselves and oftentimes, if you're struggling a little bit offensively that can impact you defensively as well. It's connected like that,” Snyder said.
And Snyder made one thing very clear: “I’m not worried about Bojan.”
