NBA Awards Rankings: New No. 1 in Sixth Man of the Year race

Bogdan Bogdanovic tends to get tossed aside in these conversations — probably because he plays for the Atlanta Hawks. It's hard to get excited about Atlanta as a whole, despite the stellar performance of several individual pieces. In addition to Bogey, Jalen Johnson is a frontrunner for Most Improved Player, while Trae Young should start cracking some early All-NBA ballots.

The Hawks rely on Bogdanovic for quite a bit offensively. He's a legitimate secondary ball-handler. That aspect of his skill set is less essential when both Young and Dejounte Murray are healthy, but Bogey is comfortable working ball screen actions and driving the lane. Where he truly pops, however, is the outside shooting. Aside from Young, Bogdanovic is the Hawks' only true volume shooter. He's getting up 8.9 attempts per game from 3-point range, the highest clip of his career, and converting at a 38.2 percent rate.

Bogdanovic essentially serves two different purposes for Atlanta. He elevates the second unit, or he is Young's favorite perimeter complement. Bogey is comfortable traversing screens and firing catch-and-shoot 3s. When Young sits, Bogdanovic offers much-needed juice off the dribble in addition to the shooting gravity.

Atlanta's middling 14-19 record, which sits 10th in the Eastern Conference, is probably the primary factor working against Bogdanovic at this point. He fits the traditional profile of this award, averaging 17.7 points and 2.7 assists on .440/.382/.909 splits in 28.5 minutes.