The Atlanta Hawks have been a bit of a disappointing team this year. Some (including myself) thought that they could challenge for a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference (and they still could), but they have not played up to that level quite yet. There is still plenty of time in the season, but a 9-10 start is now how head coach Quin Snyder envisioned the season starting.
However, a bright spot for the Hawks has been their offense. Atlanta is 2nd in the NBA in PPG, 16th in field goal percentage, 9th in three-point percentage, third in offensive rebounding, and fourth in free throw attempts. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 3rd in points per 100 possessions, 11th in effective field goal percentage, 4th in offensive rebounding rate, and 4th in free throw rate.
While it might be too early to be talking about NBA awards, I do want to talk about the fact that I don’t think Bogdan Bogdanovic is getting talked about enough as a candidate for sixth man of the year. If you look at Caesar’s Sportsbook, Bogdanovic is tied for 7th in the sixth man of the year odds (+2000). Tim Hardaway Jr (+250), Austin Reaves (+250), Immanuel Quickley (+425), Malik Monk (+500), Cole Anthony (+700), and Caris LeVert (+1800) all have better odds than Bogdanovic and he is tied with Russell Westbrook and Cam Thomas.
Bogdanovic is not getting enough love as a sixth man of the year candidate this year and the Hawks offense is elite whenever he is on the floor. The Hawks are +6.5 points better per 100 possessions when Bogdanovic is one floor per Cleaning the Glass and he is averaging nearly 16 PPG off the bench while shooting 45.2% from the field and 38.9% from three.
The only player on the list averaging more points off the bench is Hardaway Jr (16.76 PPG). Bogdanovic is also second in steals off the bench, averaging 1.47 per game.
There are still a lot of games to play, but I think that Bogdanovic should be mentioned more in this conversation.
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