:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/26203537/bojan_bogdanovic.0.jpg)
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 points, retaining his Euroleague scoring lead Friday night but Fenerbahce fell to the continent's best team, Olympiacos of Greece, 95-82. It was Fener's third loss in the Euroleague and the first in the Round of 16, the first round of the league's playoffs.
The 6'8" swingman shot 6-of-15, including 0-of-3 from deep and helped lead a Fener comeback in the second half but it fell flat. Former Houston Rocket Vassilis Spanoulis, Europe's top point guard, led Olympiacos with 28 points.
In an interview published Friday in the Croatian newspaper, Jutarnji List, Bogdanovic was once again asked about his intentions for the 2014-2015 season. As he has been all season, in fact since last summer, Bogdanovic was non-committal about the Nets.
Q. "Will you be in NBA in 2015?"
A. "It's early, much too early."
"I do not know whether it will happen in the summer, but I know that before I go to the NBA I would like to win something with Fener. Something big. I am not in hurry to go anywhere, and now I have a great coach Zeljko Obradovic. For it is great in Istanbul ... I really do not think about going to the NBA.
The issue is likely to be money. As a second round pick in 2011, the Nets can pay Bogdanovic whatever the market --and their cap space-- can bear. Europeans team may be able to pay him more in the short-term, but if he's as good as the Nets hope, he's likely to make more money in the NBA long-term. He is a free agent. Unlike the last two years, he is free of any buyout considerations which restrained him from signing with the Nets in July. Instead, they moved on to sign Andrei Kirilenko and Alan Anderson.
Thanks to NetsDaily poster BosniNetsFollower for the translation.