Bojan Bogdanovic was one of the basketball’s breakout starts at the Rio Olympics.
The Nets shooting guard led the tournament in scoring, averaging 25.3 points-per-game while representing Croatia, leading them to the knockout round. Unlike Luis Scola, this was Bogdanovic’s first trip to the Olympic Games.
“It was a great experience for me and all my teammates because none of us had ever been to the Olympics before,” Bogdanovic said at HSS Training Center. “It was a busy and tough summer for me and my teammates, but it was also a great result in the end.”
Croatia fell to rival Serbia in quarter-finals, but Bogdanovic sees just getting to the Olympics was an achievement for a Croatia team that most didn’t think had a chance to qualify.
“No one expected us to play in pre-Olympics tournament,” Bogdanovic said. “We started national team, many guys didn’t want to play for us. We had a completely new team, the young guys, also the coach was new.”
The new coach, Aleksandar Petrovic – brother of the late Drazen Petrovic, a former Net and Olympian – was a blessing for Bogdanovic, giving him a leadership role.
“He gave me the team in my hand and he gave me the green light on offense,” Bogdanovic said.
Bogdanovic’s Olympics impressed Nets brass back home. Head coach Kenny Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks both praised Bogdanovic’s Olympic performance, citing the expanded leadership role the 27-year-old took on.
“We recognize what’s he’s done and we respect it tremendously,” Atkinson said. “To be the leader of that team, the coaching staff has great respect for him and I think our players have great respect for him too.”
Between qualifying, the Olympics and training back in Croatia, Bogdanovic hasn’t taken much time off this summer. He’s back in Brooklyn working out, but Marks said the team will try to give him some rest before the grinding NBA season starts.
“He’s chomping at the bit to get out there, but he’s put in some hard yards this summer, so it’ll be bringing him along slowly,” Marks said. “It’s almost that you have to hold him back a little bit because it’s a grind in the season and you’ve already put in your training camp hours.”
It’s understandable that Bogdanovic would be eager to get back out there. He’s on a run and it’s tough to leave a heater, though he stresses that his strong play this summer is no accident.
“I think that I’ve gotten better especially because I put hard work in after last season,” Bogdanovic said. “I worked a lot with my personal coaches in Croatia. That helped me to play on that level in the Olympics.”