Andrew's Story
One of the nation’s greatest ever basketball talents, Andrew Bogut has lined up in the green and gold at three Olympics for Australia. He played a key roles in Australia finishing ninth and seventh at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games before missing the team’s London 2012 campaign through injury. He returned to Olympic competition determined to help Australia claim their first Olympic medal in men’s basketball at Rio 2016 but the side would fall agonisingly short.
After facing a race against time to make the competition following a knee injury suffered in the 2016 NBA finals, Bogut was crucial in Australia’s opening two victories against France and Serbia. After a close loss to the USA, Bogut was rested in Australia’s win over China before playing limited minutes in Australia’s win over Venezuela. He scored 6 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 6 assists in Australia’s dominance of Lithuania in the quarter-finals before Bogut and the Aussies went down 87-61 in their semi-final. The result set up a bronze medal match against Spain which was back and forth throughout. The Spanish would go on to hit two free throws in the dying seconds to claim the final spot on the podium after a 89-88 win.
After moving to Canberra to attend the AIS he made his first mark on the international scene when he was the tournament MVP as Australia won the U19 World Championships in 2003. He played three years at Utah College before being selected as the number draft pick in the 2005 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. After seven seasons with the side, which included leading the league in blocks in 2011, he was traded to the Golden State Warriors.
He helped the Oakland based side to their first NBA Championship in 40 years in 2015 when the Warriors defeated Bogut’s Australian teammate Matt Dellavedova’s Cleveland Cavaliers to be crowned NBA champions. He would return home to ensure Australia qualified for Rio by helping the side take out the 2015 Oceania Championships.
The Melburnian’s success continued in the 2015-16 season with the Warriors breaking the NBA regular seasons win record after finishing with 73 wins and just 9 losses. Bogut’s side again made the Finals but this time fell to Dellavedova’s Cavaliers in seven games. Shortly after the season he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
