Most of the hullaballoo during Brooklyn’s late-season playoff push centered on Brook Lopez, there was another player earning accolades: Bojan Bogdanovic, whose late-season push earned him April’s Rookie of the Month honors.
Bogdanovic averaged 12.8 points per game on .522-.435-.789 shooting over the regular season’s last 18 games, including four 20-point performances — the last of which a 28-point explosion that saved Brooklyn’s season. His late-season comfort was one reason why he told Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list that he hopes the Nets do not trade him this offseason as they look to possibly dismantle the team.
The full interview is here — and in Croatian, so Twitter follower and Croatia native @Luzwei helped us out with some translations:
@uuords the editor's title is: "It's great in Brooklyn, I hope I don't get traded"
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he says that, although, the rhythm of games is frequent, the life in NY is great to him. he met a lot of people, mostly Croats in NY
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords as the season went on he got more comfortable and got along better. He lover US, esp NY. He can be free and be him. He likes privacy
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he's mostly satisfied, except that 1 months Hollins left him on bench. he's not sure he got him riled up, but obs that worked.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he says that he couldn't be as aggressive in the 1st months as he was 5th option and the ball would only find him by accident.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords only later, guys started to trust him more and he got more plays called for him. he's really glad he could help.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords when he was leaving to NBA he didn't know what to expect as he didn't watch a lot of games. he said he went there "semi blind".
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he's not gonna say the players are so much better than him (not to sound too cocky), but the recipe for success is being fearless.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords re not playing: he talked a lot with fellow players, asst coaches and Billy King. he trained more than ever, working on his game.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he's glad he was a part of ASG but he's not a man of the accolades so… Attributes a week away in Cali for his later resurgence.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords says his leak was that Orlando game because it brought team success as well. also about ROTM award but in correlation to BKN winning
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
@uuords he thanks KD and DW for his first months there. They helped him a lot with the transition. And Mirza of course. Goes without saying.
— Luzwei (@Luzwei) May 10, 2015
If Bogdanovic sticks around next year, it’ll be interesting to see how his shot develops. Fellow European import Mirza Teletovic needed a year to adjust, and improved his three-point marksmanship substantially from his first to second year. Bogdanovic was also a much better shooter at home, though that may have coincided with his late-season surge — 10 of the team’s final 14 games were at Barclays Center.
