Aussies in NBA: Bogut on Australia Day, being a 'dirty player'
Aussie NBA fans had a great serving of basketball action on Australia Day. All of Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles, and Aron Baynes saw action, with a couple of them even facing off against each other.
In his latest bit for NBA Australia, Andrew Bogut talked about the success of NBA Australia Day, and had some sharp words about him and Delly being listed as dirty players.
NBA Australia Day 2016
Australian NBA fans have largely gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to official NBA activities. The league has sent its players to places like South Africa for exhibition games, and even regular season games have been played in Europe, but Australia has nary gotten a whiff of that outreach.
[6 reasons why Australia deserves an NBA game]
Setting up Australia Day 2016 to feature almost all of the Aussies currently plying their trade in the league is a small step in the right direction, and Bogey was pleased with it.
"It was nice to play in such a big game against the Spurs on Australia Day, and see Patty Mills as the opponent. We caught up in warm ups, and also after the game. He's enjoying a nice season, so it was good to see him again." said Bogut.
"I'm not sure if it was done on purpose or not, but it was nice to see so many Australians playing on our national day. It was definitely a good thing for the Australian basketball fan."
As for the game itself, he's not going to get over-excited about the win.
"We knew going into the game that we weren't going to hang ourselves if we lost, and we weren't going to pop champagne if we won. All the hype around the game was for everyone else - the fans and the media, etc."
'Dirty Player'?
Bogues isn't one to mince words, and his straight-talking surfaced when it came to addressing the recent poll listing him and fellow Boomer Matthew Dellavedova as two of the top five dirtiest players in the league.
"When you look at who was surveyed, and the fact that no names were put in there, it paints a pretty obvious picture. I could put together a survey to get whatever answer I want if I ask the right people." Bogut said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FirzS-AORa4
"All they had to do was ask the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks about Delly because every one of those guys will say that he is one of the dirtiest players in the world after last year's playoffs. There are your 24 guys right there."
Bogey plays hard and sometimes sets some unnecessarily hard screens, but he's got a point; polling just 24 people (a very small sample size) and keeping the respondents anonymous doesn't exactly make for the most compelling argument. There might even be a hint of xenophobia involved.
"It's quite interesting that all the players featured are international players, too. You can look at that however you want to."
Bogut wrapped up the discussion with a damning indictment on the writer.
"The writer of the L.A. Times report should be ashamed of himself. Anybody can get a survey done to benefit their particular agenda by simply asking the right people. It's gutter journalism that a child in primary school could put together, and that's being harsh on the child!"
Never stop being you, Bogey.