The Detroit Pistons knew they were getting one of the most consistent shooters in the league when they traded for Bojan Bogdanovic and he hasn’t disappointed.
Bogdanovic has been thrust into a bigger role with the Pistons suffering so many injuries, posting the second-highest usage rating of his career at 33-years-old, which no one was expecting coming into the season.
Many thought the Pistons were just getting an old player who was proficient at catch-and-shoot 3-point shots but not much else, but since having to shoulder more of the offense, Bogdanovic has shown he is more than just a traffic cone who can shoot 3-point shots.
Bojan is scoring the most points per game of his career, and is actually shooting fewer 3-pointers than he has going back to his 2017-18 season with Indiana.
Bogdanovic put up another 31-point effort last night against the Heat, shooting 12-16 overall and a scorching 7-of-9 from the 3-point line.
He’s now 16th overall in 3-point percentage at 44.1 percent, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, as he has taken WAY more attempts than anyone ahead of him on the list.
But Bojan Bogdanovic is not just getting it done behind the 3-point line and is putting up numbers that place him among the best shooters in the entire NBA.
Detroit Pistons: Bojan Bogdanovic’s surprising statistics
Bogdanovic is putting up the best shooting numbers of his career even though he’s being asked to do more on a bad team. He is just percentage points away from the 50/40/90 club, shooting 51/44/87, so he only comes up short on free throws.
If he were to hit those marks, he would be just the 6th player in NBA history to shoot 50/40/90 and average more than 20 points per game, so Bojan is currently in Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry territory as a shooter.
After last night he is shooting a scorching 51.9 percent from the floor overall, highest of his career. His 44.1 percent 3-point shooting and 61.3 percent effective field goal percentage are also the highest of his career. He’s shooting more 2-point shots than he has in his career (7.8 per game) and hitting 57.7 percent of them.
Almost all of the players ahead of him on these lists are bigs who get most of their shots at the rim, while Bojan is doing it mostly with jumpers.
Possibly the most surprising stat for Bojan Bogdanovic is that he is hitting 54 percent of his mid-range shots, which is 3rd-highest in the league, just behind Jaylen Brown and Kevin Durant, and just ahead of mid-range masters Bradley Beal and DeMar DeRozan. Bojan is shooting an incredible 62 percent on shots between 10-14 feet, 2nd-highest in the NBA behind Kyrie Irving.
Bogdanovic has been much more of a 3-level scorer for the Detroit Pistons this season in an increased role, and has also improved as a passer, averaging the most assists of his career.
He’s been even better than advertised and looks like a guy who will be a perfect fit with their young guards once they are both on the floor at the same time. Bogdanovic has already been mentioned in myriad trade rumors, but as long as he is shooting like this, his value to the Detroit Pistons is higher than any of the proposed offers.