Andrew Bogut hijacks NBL awards night with bizarre stunt before winning MVP
Andrew Bogut has no regrets hijacking the NBL’s awards night with a bizarre stunt with a Sydney Kings teammate, saying he would do it again. WATCH THE VIDEO
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NBL most valuable player Andrew Bogut has no regrets about Sunday night’s Will Ferrell-inspired stunt at the league’s awards night.
The Sydney Kings marquee said he would allow teammate Dane Pineau to accept an
award in his place again and also delivered a trademark drive-by on others that “didn’t set the world on fire” with speeches.
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“Probably. Yeah,” Bogut said, when asked if he would do it again.
“I don’t think anybody got hurt doing it, with respect to the other guys who gave speeches but the other speeches didn’t exactly set the world on fire, one guy gave one sentence, the referee didn’t give a speech, Bryce didn’t give a speech, it was never meant to be disrespectful.
“It’s still Australia where we can have a laugh at each other I think.
“Just enjoy the night ... it lightened the mood a little bit, some people didn’t know what was going on.
“The PR people were very, very happy with it.”
The Herald Sun understands NBL owner Larry Kestelman confronted Bogut following the gag after he was crowned the defensive player of the year.
It led to Bogut doing an interview during the gala in which he reiterated the bizarre acceptance was not designed to be “disrespectful”.
At the NBL finals launch on Monday morning, Bogut said senior NBL staff were “divided” about the merits of the stunt.
“I think once it all calmed down people were like it wasn’t anything to do with being disrespectful ... we just need to take everything in perspective, with everything going on in the world, it’s good to take a step back and laugh at ourselves,” he said.
Melbourne United star Casper Ware, runner-up to Bogut in the MVP race, was among the curious onlookers, uncertain about what was going on.
Ware said he expected Bogut to eventually join Pineau on stage.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” Ware said.
“It was pretty funny but I wouldn’t do it.”
Bogut earlier said he didn’t mean any disrespect but took a swipe at the NBL after hijacking the league’s awards night.
Bogut capped a near-perfect NBL season, winning the league’s most-valuable-player award in a blanket finish from Ware and Perth’s Bryce Cotton.
But all the talk was about Bogut’s earlier antics.
Instead of accepting the widely respected and coveted defensive gong, Pinaeu accepted the award on stage.
Bogut revealed Pineau got the idea from Hollywood actor Will Ferrell at the ESPYs — in 2008 Ferrell accepted the ‘Best Male Athlete’ award for Tiger Woods and gave a speech as Woods.
“It wasn’t anything disrespectful from where we were coming from. It was just trying to lighten up a pretty serious night that went for four and a half hours,” he said.
“Dane Pineau my teammate did kind of a Will Ferrell thing from the ESPYs, I’m not sure if anyone’s seen that but that’s where he got the idea from.
“I didn’t think he was serious when he goes ‘let me do your speech for you’, so I said ‘OK cool’. I thought he was taking the piss.
“When they called my name he jumped up and went up there.
“It got some good traction on social media, it blew up everywhere and I guess the NBL can’t handle it too much.”
The stunt resulted in a mixed response on social media, with some punters labelling Bogut’s actions as disrespectful.
But he hasn’t ruled out doing it again despite declaring the issue has been “put to bed” with the NBL.
“I think they weren’t too happy with it at the time but it wasn’t something that was meant to be disrespectful. Obviously it was just something we thought would be lighthearted and he actually had a crack at me in his speech as well,” Bogut said on SEN.
Terrible look for a league fighting for legitimacy. Wouldn’t happen at the Brownlow, Delly M etc.. @JeremyLoeliger
— CB (@cambruce01) February 17, 2019
Not a good look. Disgraceful actually
— Samuel Angus Hyland (@samuelangus32) February 17, 2019
@NBL should strip Bogut of his award after such disrespect to the league, nominees & players. I’m all for fun but that was unprofessional 😒
— Monty (Lord Chokito) (@maartychokito) February 17, 2019
“It was just meant to be laid back.
“We’ll make a note if we do it again, we’ll try and get a note from mum and dad and make sure it’s all OK.”
In the MVP race, eight votes separated the top three vote-winners, with Sydney Kings’ marquee Bogut crowned victorious at a gala ceremony at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
Bogut dominated the regular season, averaging 11.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.7 blocks in potentially a transformational season for the domestic league.
The 2015 NBA champion’s length and passing not only powered the Kings’ playoff push but made opposition players second-guess whether or not to attack the paint for fear of being swatted away.
Bogut is the first NBL centre to win the league’s highest individual award since Melbourne Tigers immortal Chris Anstey was crowned MVP — for the second time in three seasons — in 2007-08.
Bogut, 34, who led the league in boards and blocks, was held to single-digit rebound counts in just seven of 27 appearances in the purple and gold.
The former NBA No. 1 draft pick played all 28 games, silencing pre-season whispers around durability issues.
Bogut decision to sign a landmark two-year deal at Sydney, which includes an option to buy into the franchise, coupled with his dominance could lead to more Australian NBA exports forgoing lucrative deals in Europe and Asia to finish their careers on home soil.
Ware, just hours after shutting down Cotton and helping Melbourne secure a come-from-behind win over Perth Wildcats, the explosive guard again got the better of his opposite number in the vote-count.
Ware’s ability to impact both offensively and defensively, while also being able to get teammates involved in games, was rewarded by the 18 NBL captains and coaches who voted for the MVP on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Under rules introduced this season, the captains and coaches were unable to vote for players in their team.
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Originally published as Andrew Bogut hijacks NBL awards night with bizarre stunt before winning MVP