Bogut in Oz, Philippines too?
MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) – Better start saving up those coins, because one of Australia’s greatest basketball exports is about to become one of our most significant imports, coming to a court near you.
In case you missed the news, Olympic and NBA championship centre Andrew Bogut this week signed a deal with the Sydney Kings to, presumably, finish his career in the Harbour City.
Ever since Bogut burst onto the scene as MVP of the 2003 FIBA U19 World Championship, dominated at the University of Utah, made a precocious senior debut at the Athens Olympics and was taken first in the NBA Draft, this day has been spoken about Downunder.
It was more a very hopeful wish that a man who was made the NBA All-Rookie Team, All-NBA Third Team, All-Defensive Second Team and led the world’s best club competition in blocks would ever play in his home country, but circumstances can change.
After a string of bad luck throughout his career, the 82-plus game NBA season has long been a challenge for the Bogey man, and at 33 years old it was a mountain he possibly could no longer climb.
The NBL’s 28-game regular season, played over four months, is a completely different kettle of fish. While NBL teams maintain a far more arduous practice schedule than their NBA counterparts, you can bet coach Andrew Gaze and the Kings will manage their star recruit’s workload through that.
If Bogut can remain healthy and produce his quality team basketball at both ends, his presence will be a huge boost for the NBL.
Lets do this Sydney! Thanks to everyone out there for all the support (and non support, thats fine too 👍) Great day for the @NBL and the @SydneyKings pic.twitter.com/TnBE8X0D8C
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) April 24, 2018
The big fella has media credibility in this country, has almost 400,000 Twitter followers and, given how lazy some media outlets are, his tweets often become news. When Bogut promotes the NBL it will get noticed.
But it’s not just the local league that is excited about his return, Bogut’s presence will be a major fillip for Australian basketball in general, because – Liz Cambage aside – he is a strong supporter and promoter of all things hoops in this country.
For Basketball Australia, Bogut’s decision to keep playing in the NBL greatly enhances the chances he will be ripe and ready to represent the Boomers at the FIBA Basketball World Cup next year.
The fact he signed a two-year deal means, if the Aussies progress from China 2019 to the Tokyo Olympics the following year, he’ll likely make his fourth summer games his basketball swansong.
“A part of this mindset was the NBA’s 82 games, a lot of flights, non-stop you’re basically on auto-pilot from October until, a couple of years for me it’s been until finals which is June,” Bogut said.
“So for me to come back and play 28 games and hopefully more for the Sydney Kings with playoffs and finals, that played a big part.
"I’ve committed to the World Cup in 19 and the Olympics.”
With both those events in friendly timeslots for Australian viewers, and the likely presence of Ben Simmons alongside him – not to mention the two lead-up games in Melbourne against the USA – a massive window is appearing for the Boomers to jump up in the public’s rankings of our national sporting teams.
Before that, there is also the possibility of Bogut adorning the court in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying windows.
IT'S OFFICIAL! Welcome to the @SydneyKings @andrewbogut! #GoBoomers #NBL19 https://t.co/LK6ZLScO5U
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) April 24, 2018
The then-Lakers centre told AAP earlier this year he would not play in the off-season qualifying windows in June/July and September in order to rest his body – but as I said earlier, circumstances can change.
Rather than needing rest, at some point Bogut will now need game time to get himself going again.
The Boomers next stop is Chiba in Japan on Friday 29 June, followed by a quick hop across the Philippine Sea to the 20,000-seat Mall of Asia in Manila to take on the second-place team in Australia’s group.
If Bogut feels ready to begin his comeback to basketball before then, what better way to get the wheels ticking over than to be a part of the Boomers? It might make the Filipinos wish they’d schedule this game at the new 50,000-seat Manila Arena.
With Patty Mills already out of the NBA playoffs, and two of Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova and Ben Simmons to be in the next fortnight or so, there is a real possibility there could be some form of NBA representation in Manila.
What an event that would be with some of the world's best talent on show in arguably the world’s most basketball-mad nation - just another big tick for the new qualifying system.
We will wait and see with Bogut, although I suspect his appearances in the World Cup qualifiers are more likely to be on Australian soil, particularly if there is a game in his home town of Melbourne or adopted climes of Sydney.
With a 4-0 record the Aussies have already assured themselves passage to the second round of qualifiers, meaning there will be a further three home games across the September, November and February windows where he may appear.
Let’s hope, for a variety of reasons, that Bogut can overcome his bogey man – the injuries that have struck him down so often – and provide a real boost to both the purple and gold of Sydney and the green of gold of the Australian Boomers.
Paulo Kennedy
FIBA
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