By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Bogdan Bogdanovic had much success in Europe and adopted rather quickly to the NBA with the Sacramento Kings but believes he can still improve and didn’t reach his full potential, as he shared with Sportklub’s Sasa Ozmo: “I was never, even when I had the best season, completely satisfied. I always thought I could do better and think I still don’t know my maximum. The injury set me back a bit, firstly because of the way I joined the team because I have never had to play limited minutes before. This has affected my game, as well as changing the role in the team. There were a lot of oscillations due to adaptation, but we were good teamwise with 40 wins and I’m somewhat satisfied.”
Bogdanovic seemed to be in a ‘shooting crisis’ when he got back after the injury and he admitted that it affected him quite a lot: “My knee was operated for the second time and I started to get scared and ask myself if ‘this was it’. It affected me, I was thinking non-stop if I will be able to get back to my former level – I injured ankle joint hundreds of times but I never faced with this kind of injury, and I decided to operate it in the end. Then, during the recovery period after six weeks, when we did everything and strengthened the muscles, my nerve inflames during a run on the treadmill and starts to hurt. I reported it but they couldn’t find a solution. I talked to everybody, the doctor said it’s most likely from the operation, that I will get used to it and it will go away, that the body suffered a trauma. I continued, it still hurt but then I rested for two days, tried to relax and not think about it. The pain went away, I don’t know how, and we strengthened the leg again for a week”, he explained before finishing his point:
“Why am I saying all this? First, they didn’t allow me to stay longer in the gym to what I was used to but they said it would only set me back, that my kinetic chain was disrupted due to practicing too long. I changed the practice plan and it affected my game rhythm – I always knew if the shot was good or bad but I never lost the confidence. It also happened to me that due to the fear of knee pain, I jump out of balance which automatically changes the whole shot so I was shooting too late or too early.”
Bogdan is also reaching the end of his contract but he doesn’t feel any additional pressure because of that, he will continue playing the way he did so far: “I don’t have some kind of pressure, to be honest. I play basketball because I love it and I don’t pressure myself with ‘how much money I should make’. I always thought of money as the addition which comes with basketball and I try to enjoy in every second available. It’s not that I don’t look to earn as much as possible, it’s our job at the end of the day but I don’t have any extra pressure – I play my game and enjoy the basketball, it’s not just a phrase…”