Vjesnik Exclusive: Andrew Bogut chats to David Davutović about being selecting No.1 in the 2005 NBA Draft
DAVID DAVUTOVIĆ (DD): What are your memories of the draft and the lead-up to it after all this time?
ANDREW BOGUT (AB): It was a whirlwind really. It all happened so fast for me – from Melbourne to the AIS for 18 months to Utah for two years and then being drafted.
But leading into the AIS I was a relative unknown in junior basketball ranks and didn’t make state teams, then all of a sudden, in under three to four years really I went from obscurity to the No.1 pick.
Reflecting back it just happened so quickly and obviously it was a very special moment, an historic moment – the first Australian to ever go No.1 and that’s what I’m most proud of that journey, just being able to do something that no one had ever done from Australia.
DD: It would have been a lot to take in, especially being so young. How did you handle it?
AB: You handle some things well, you handle some things poorly. You learn along the way.
No matter how much someone prepares you for what you’re going into, you’re not going to be prepared, it’s just impossible because there’s just so much stuff going on every day at 1,000,000 miles an hour once you’re in that league.
It was a lot of learning curves, ups and downs. There was good and bad. But it was never too bad because it’s such a busy league. You can’t really dwell on yesterday too much because you’re on a plane the next day somewhere else to play again – you’ve got 82 games in a season, you’re always moving and shaking.
You don’t have time to just slow down really, so that’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a really bad thing when you’ve got family, so thankfully I didn’t have kids during that journey. That was strategic just because it’s very hard to be a present parent when you’re in that league. I saw that with numerous teammates that I played with.
DD: On the specifics of the Draft. Were there any promises from teams to trade up to get you or any other things going on?
AB: Not really. I went to school at the University of Utah and Utah had the third pick, so they wanted me to fall to No.1. That was one thing. But I only worked out for the teams with the top two picks, Milwaukee and Atlanta – that was strategic by my agent.
He basically dared someone that, if I did fall to three or four, to draft me without seeing me. Without sounding arrogant, the strategy was ‘we see Andrew as a top two pick, so we’re not going to go for anything below that’. It worked out well because went No.1.
I guess just you know the whole preparation for it, my situation working out for teams different than other people. Most other people work out with three or four other guys, usually guys in your position – you can show how (you go in) one-on-one, two-on-two. Mine was just one-on-zero, because I had no incentive to work out against other people. Because If I work out with the second round pick, and he towels me up that day, there’s downside risk for me.
So my agent really handled that well. We did one-on-zero workouts. But they’re really tough, because you don’t get a rest, all the eyeballs and attention on your non-stop. So they were tough, gruelling workouts, but I got through them and ended up getting drafted.
DD: Playing with Toni Kukoć, who you idolised, what was it like to play with him?
AB: Yeah that was a pretty full circle moment for me. Obviously I grew up loving Toni like most people in the Croatian community and I had his jersey and the Milwaukee jersey as well.
There was actually a photo of me wearing that jersey at Dražen Petrović’s grave. So his last year was my first year, my rookie year, he stayed around and tried to be a bit of a mentor. It was nice to have someone in the locker room that was not just Croatian, but international just because international guys generally bond together a little bit better culturally and then he could obviously speak the language.
We spoke Croatian a lot in the locker room, which was good and bad. Some of the teammates got pissed off with it sometimes, thinking we were talking about them. But now looking back it was good to have him.
He was on the downside of his career, and you knew his body was really messed up at that point so he was really struggling at times to stay on the floor, but just being able to be around a guy with that high of a basketball IQ, to ask questions and learn from was really good.
DD: You had an epic career. To play 682 games and win a championship whilst battling career-threatening injuries. How do you reflect back on it all?
AB: Yeah good, bad and ugly. I think I experienced everything. I experienced being a star on teams, I experienced being a role-playing star like a role-playing starter, I experienced being a benchwarmer, I experienced being a guy that was just there as an insurance policy on the bench.
Then just fighting through adversity is the biggest thing – you got accolades and awards, but it’s more persevering through.
I essentially had two car crash injuries where the conversations with doctors after both of those weren’t great about my future. I didn’t get great news, but I pushed through that and persevered and still was able to etch out a 13-year NBA career, two years in the NBL, plus (Australian) national team games.
I was at a point where I was going to retire nine years in, my ankle was so bad, it just couldn’t get better, and I was super frustrated. So to persevere through that is what I’m most proud of.
DD: Congratulations on joining the FIBA Hall of Fame recently as well. What did that mean to you?
AB: It’s not something I expected to be honest. When you grow up playing, as I said in my speech, you never expect to be a Hall of Famer one day. But when I got the call, it was a pretty cool thing.
I was always passionate for the most part about playing for the national team when I was healthy of course, I missed a few campaigns through injury, but I really enjoyed that time when I won a gold medal in the Under 19s, which is still the only gold medal at that level and in Australian basketball history.
It’s really cool, and I got to take my wife and kids to Bahrain (in May) and go to the ceremony and the kids got to witness it. It was a really cool moment for my family.
