Before you came to this organisation, what was your perception of Andrew Bogut as a player and as a defender?
Well, I had seen him in university and liked him a lot. I coached against him when he was in Milwaukee. He did a really good job in Milwaukee with a lot of things. Prior to getting hurt—I think he had the bad injury there, with his elbow and so on—just really a versatile player. There’s not much he can’t do. He was actually a terrific perimeter shooter then, too, which I think he can get back to doing (if that would be his mindset). But really a versatile, talented guy.
When the trade was made and the team shipped out Monta [Ellis], some of the fans were really unhappy. Joe Lacob had the moment at Chris Mullin’s jersey retirement ceremony where he was heavily booed, the fan base was frustrated by the lack of success and the timing of the deal. Bogut then had ankle injuries and later missed a playoff series… Do you think it’s a testament to his character that he survived all of that and played such a prominent role in this title season?
Well, I think he’s tougher than that. They booed the owner, too, they booed everybody. That’s part of the game. That’s a minor thing. You get over all sorts of things. You have people who like you, people who dislike you. Unless you have a paper-thin veneer, those are small hurdles. That’s meaningless. I think he’s proved his value to the franchise. I personally think he can do more. I think we believe in him every bit if not more than he believes in himself sometimes. I just think he’s a talented guy who can play with any centre in our league. I want to see him keep broadening his horizon as it relates to his skillset, and how it can be utilised. The thing about being booed and, you know, recovering from that… [It’s] trivial.
As a coaching staff, do you feel like you want him to be more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball? Do you feel as if he was a bit hesitant at times this season? He focused on facilitating so often, is there a need for him to expand his game and look for his own shot?
He focused on facilitating, and he’s very good at doing that. But at times, we need him to focus on scoring, and he’s capable of that. I think, you know, at times he struggles from the free-throw line. I personally think that his free throw was good this year. It can be better; it’s just a matter of technique. Maybe sometimes it’s mental. But I think he’s diligent in that regard (with practicing it). I just want to see him be a more assertive offensive player—which he’s capable of being—because it takes a lot of pressure off of our perimeter game. The games that he was that, we became much more of a complete team. Again, I have a huge belief in that for him, but he in turn has to exercise that, too, and feel good about doing that.
Do you plan on keeping an eye on his progress with the national team this summer?
Oh yeah. I follow international basketball a lot anyway, so it’ll be fun to follow his progress. I think it’ll be good for him, fun for him. Playing with his fellow countrymen he’ll have a good time. It’ll help him stay in shape, too.
The Defensive Player of the Year balloting. He finished sixth overall and did not receive any first-place votes. Do you think he was overlooked? Is he lacking the same degree of respect (amongst media/voters) relative to other big guys?
Well, I think he has a lot of respect. He made the All-Defensive Second Team, which is the significant award. He’s playing 20 minutes a game, or whatever—I don’t have the stat before me. To get that kind of acknowledgement in 20 minutes a game… You could look at it in two ways. It’s pretty significant.
The decision to go to small-ball in the Finals… It must have been an adjustment for him. I know he came out and said he referred to how David Lee responded to a role change. How do you think he handled that situation? Do you think it marginalised his contribution in any way, or that people disregarded his presence in earlier playoff series?
If people are short-sighted they could minimise what he did. But the reason we won this year is that we’re a real team, and everyone supports—as he did during that stretch run and when we made the change—and that’s the significant thing. Yes, everyone wants to play, people do not want to be taken out of their role and all that sort of thing. He handled it well, he understood it, and the bottom line is that we got things done at a time when we had bogged down some. I guess I look at it this way for every player on our team: Every night there’s an opportunity to show what you can do. These guys are playing for a coach who believes in playing a lot of people—very supportive in that regard. It’s always a two-way street; if you’re performing, you’re going to be out there. If anyone bogs down, there might be another person out there.
Probably the only difference is that [Bogut’s situation] was a major stage, towards the end of a championship round. I thought he handled it well. Did he like it? I don’t expect anyone to like it. Is he team-oriented? Without question. Did he feel that it worked out well for the team? I’m sure he did, and I’m sure he rejoiced in it, like most of our other guys. These are big boys; they’re being paid a lot of money. And—again—I go back to one thing that a lot of teams have gotten away from with big contracts and everything else: It’s still about performing. If you go out and perform and give you’re all, and execute what you’ve worked on, and play with passion, you’re gonna be on the floor. This is not directed towards him, just anyone. That’s one of the good things about playing 100-and-something games in a year. You have a lot of opportunities to do that.