Bojan Bogdanovic’s Injury By The Numbers

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Last week the Utah Jazz’s Bojan Bogdanovic underwent season-ending surgery to repair an injury to the forward’s wrist. Bogdanovic is the team’s second-leading scorer behind Donovan Mitchell, and one of the league’s best floor spacers despite the injury. Bogdanovic is one of four players this season to average better than 20 points per game while shooting above 40 percent from three. However, beyond the basic stats, a deeper look reveals the true loss of Bogdanovic this season.

Five Man Units

Looking at the Jazz five-man units, Bogdanovic is commonly found among the team’s best groups. For the season, the Jazz have 12 lineups that have played more than 20 minutes together with a positive Net Rating. Net Rating measures a team’s offensive rating minus their defensive rating. Of those 12 units, Bogdanovic appears in nine of them.

That includes the Jazz most heavily played and most consistent unit. That lineup consists of Bogdanovic, Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles, and Royce O’Neale. That unit has played together for a total of 570 minutes and has a Net Rating of 13.7.

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— utahjazz (@utahjazz) October 12, 2019

How does that compare to the rest of the NBA? Unfortunately for the Jazz, it’s been arguably the league’s best five-man unit.

Currently, that group is the only unit to play more than 500 minutes together with a Net Rating better than 10. In fact, only the Denver Nuggets have another five-man unit that has played 500 minutes together with a positive Net Rating of any kind.

One problem with that number is the relatively few league lineups that have played 500 minutes together. To date, only four such NBA units exist. However, if you were to cut that number in half, the Bogdanovic led group still ranks second in the league.

Raw Minutes

Another issue facing the Jazz with the loss of Bogdanovic is the raw minutes the forward plays. The Croatian forward has played the third-most minutes on the team behind only Mitchell and Gobert. Likewise, Bogdanovic has the third-highest minutes per game average.

Furthermore, Bogdanovic appears in seven of the team’s 10 most common five-man lineups. If the team can retake the floor in late July, they’ll be without one of their most familiar faces.

Bogey nutmegs Cedi Osman and Rudy finishes the play with a dunk. #TakeNote #UtahJazz #NBA #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/NHn784jHgU

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) March 3, 2020

Worse yet, the lineup that has played the most minutes together without Bogdanovic hardly features any Jazz starters. Mike Conley is the only consistent starter in the lineup that includes Ingles, Jordan Clarkson, Georges Niang, and Tony Bradley. That unit has seen the floor together in just 10 games and has played a total of 78 minutes. Luckily for the Jazz, that unit has an unexpectedly high 28.9 Net Rating.

However as postseason rotations are shortened for most NBA teams, that lineup may feature players the team hadn’t planned to use in the playoffs. Now, the group may be forced into playing extended minutes during the most stretch of the season.

Depth With Injury To Bogdanovic

Though the Jazz feature one of the league’s deeper rosters, they aren’t particularly well-stocked with players of Bogdanovic’s ilk. At 6 foot 8 inches, the forward is capable of defending opposing frontcourt players and is a mismatch offensively. While the team has other shooters in Ingles and Niang, neither can be considered as similar scorers to Bogdanovic.

You've seen Bojan Bogdanovic's game winning shot against the Bucks. Here is a look back at his 17-point 3rd quarter that set the stage for the drama. #TakeNote #UtahJazz #NBA pic.twitter.com/831yO5Rhsg

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) November 9, 2019

The Croatian’s ability to dominate quarters offensively allows a guard like Mitchell to take an extended break from carrying the offensive load. Now, that responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Conley and Clarkson. Though both players are adept scorers neither does so as consistently as Bogdanovic.

As a result, the team will likely have to rely on little-used lineups to carry the team at season’s end. The good news for the Jazz is the league’s hiatus will have given Conley and other players who have experienced injuries this season to return to full health. However, as the team prepares to retake the floor, it might look and act like a completely different team due to the injury to Bogdanovic.