ducks
05-20-2005, 05:50 PM
Bogut front and center of NBA draft buzz
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
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Picture yourself as an NBA general manager in your office with the door closed, the morning's coffee buzz faded to oblivion, the late-afternoon sun dappling the to-do list on your desk. Sleepy? Go on, doze off ... give in to a little daydream, ... and, well, what do you see?
A 7-footer, for starters. A real center, not some fainthearted Euro-gunner. One who can run the floor and handle the ball, one who can score in the paint going to his left or to his right. Oh, and he passes like Shaq. No, like Sabonis. He thinks the game--let's give him the basketball IQ of a point guard.
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And give him some experience. Couple of years in college. No, international experience. No, wait, both.
Because it's a dream, let's make the guy a model citizen, too. Good work ethic, some other niceties. You know, saving puppies from trees and helping old ladies cross the street. Stuff like that.
If you're a general manager whose team is lottery-bound, meet Andrew Bogut, your dream come true.
"It sure looks like this kid has it all," says an Eastern Conference general manager. "He has all the makings of a big-time star."
On Tuesday in Secaucus, N.J., the whims of hundreds of air-popped pingpong balls will determine the fates of several NBA teams--the league will hold its annual lottery to sort out the first three picks in the upcoming draft. The winner will get the first pick. That means a shot at dream-boy Bogut.
His credentials are impeccable. Bogut, 20, won the Wooden and Naismith awards as the NCAA's player of the year as a sophomore at Utah, averaging 20.4 points and 12.2 rebounds and shooting 62.0 percent. Some question the credentials of his Mountain West competition--Bogut was shut down in the NCAA Tournament by three second-tier Kentucky big men--but remember that Bogut proved himself at the Olympics last summer, averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds for Australia. That included 11 points and eight rebounds against Tim Duncan and Team USA.
Bogut comes with added benefits. His unique background--he is the son of Croatian nationals who immigrated to Australia--has kept him shielded from the sometimes poisonous aspects of big-time basketball culture. He did not spend his youth having his ego inflated by AAU coaches, agents and sneaker companies. When he found himself short on cash at Utah, Bogut did not seek out boosters for a loan. Rather, he did what most of us would do.
He got a job waiting tables.
In announcing his decision to leave Utah for the NBA, Bogut also announced that he will donate $125,000 for new locker rooms at Utah and that he will start the Andrew Bogut 4 Foundation (he wears No. 4) to help underprivileged kids.
He also talked about his idol, Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian shooting guard who was a budding NBA star when he was killed in a car accident in 1993. "What impressed me most about Drazen was his work ethic," Bogut said. "He wanted to be the most physically talented player out there; he was always motivated to improve his game. I hope that I can always be true to Drazen's example of hard work."
An NBA personnel executive who has watched Bogut frequently the past two years says, "When you have a player like him who puts up numbers against competition that is not great, you have to be careful. You want to know if is this as good as he is going to get? Will he work at it?
"I saw Andrew as a freshman, and I saw him again as a sophomore. He was much better from one year to the next. He had worked on a lot. So I don't know that his work ethic will be a question."
No one questions that Bogut is a good player with the potential to be great. But whether he is worth the No. 1 pick is a matter of debate. This draft is expected to have depth, especially at point guard, which could entice the team with the top pick to trade down. Multiskilled wing men such as high school senior Gerald Green and North Carolina freshman Marvin Williams could make runs at becoming the top pick, too. There already is speculation that teams such as the Bobcats and Hornets, who already have centers, would opt for Williams.
Williams is, no doubt, a talented prospect. But is he really the kind of player NBA types daydream about?
"Come on, (Bogut) is a center," the G.M. says. "You have to take him. You can find good forwards. We all spend our time wishing for the perfect big man. This kid is close to being that kind of big man."
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at [email protected].
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
Headshot
Logo
Picture yourself as an NBA general manager in your office with the door closed, the morning's coffee buzz faded to oblivion, the late-afternoon sun dappling the to-do list on your desk. Sleepy? Go on, doze off ... give in to a little daydream, ... and, well, what do you see?
A 7-footer, for starters. A real center, not some fainthearted Euro-gunner. One who can run the floor and handle the ball, one who can score in the paint going to his left or to his right. Oh, and he passes like Shaq. No, like Sabonis. He thinks the game--let's give him the basketball IQ of a point guard.
ADVERTISEMENT
And give him some experience. Couple of years in college. No, international experience. No, wait, both.
Because it's a dream, let's make the guy a model citizen, too. Good work ethic, some other niceties. You know, saving puppies from trees and helping old ladies cross the street. Stuff like that.
If you're a general manager whose team is lottery-bound, meet Andrew Bogut, your dream come true.
"It sure looks like this kid has it all," says an Eastern Conference general manager. "He has all the makings of a big-time star."
On Tuesday in Secaucus, N.J., the whims of hundreds of air-popped pingpong balls will determine the fates of several NBA teams--the league will hold its annual lottery to sort out the first three picks in the upcoming draft. The winner will get the first pick. That means a shot at dream-boy Bogut.
His credentials are impeccable. Bogut, 20, won the Wooden and Naismith awards as the NCAA's player of the year as a sophomore at Utah, averaging 20.4 points and 12.2 rebounds and shooting 62.0 percent. Some question the credentials of his Mountain West competition--Bogut was shut down in the NCAA Tournament by three second-tier Kentucky big men--but remember that Bogut proved himself at the Olympics last summer, averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds for Australia. That included 11 points and eight rebounds against Tim Duncan and Team USA.
Bogut comes with added benefits. His unique background--he is the son of Croatian nationals who immigrated to Australia--has kept him shielded from the sometimes poisonous aspects of big-time basketball culture. He did not spend his youth having his ego inflated by AAU coaches, agents and sneaker companies. When he found himself short on cash at Utah, Bogut did not seek out boosters for a loan. Rather, he did what most of us would do.
He got a job waiting tables.
In announcing his decision to leave Utah for the NBA, Bogut also announced that he will donate $125,000 for new locker rooms at Utah and that he will start the Andrew Bogut 4 Foundation (he wears No. 4) to help underprivileged kids.
He also talked about his idol, Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian shooting guard who was a budding NBA star when he was killed in a car accident in 1993. "What impressed me most about Drazen was his work ethic," Bogut said. "He wanted to be the most physically talented player out there; he was always motivated to improve his game. I hope that I can always be true to Drazen's example of hard work."
An NBA personnel executive who has watched Bogut frequently the past two years says, "When you have a player like him who puts up numbers against competition that is not great, you have to be careful. You want to know if is this as good as he is going to get? Will he work at it?
"I saw Andrew as a freshman, and I saw him again as a sophomore. He was much better from one year to the next. He had worked on a lot. So I don't know that his work ethic will be a question."
No one questions that Bogut is a good player with the potential to be great. But whether he is worth the No. 1 pick is a matter of debate. This draft is expected to have depth, especially at point guard, which could entice the team with the top pick to trade down. Multiskilled wing men such as high school senior Gerald Green and North Carolina freshman Marvin Williams could make runs at becoming the top pick, too. There already is speculation that teams such as the Bobcats and Hornets, who already have centers, would opt for Williams.
Williams is, no doubt, a talented prospect. But is he really the kind of player NBA types daydream about?
"Come on, (Bogut) is a center," the G.M. says. "You have to take him. You can find good forwards. We all spend our time wishing for the perfect big man. This kid is close to being that kind of big man."
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at [email protected].