Australia’s Andrew Bogut knocks down perceptions as he aims to create an Olympic legacy

ANDREW Bogut has paid a high price for being one of the great Australian smart-arses, but these Olympics have shown the big-man’s true colours — in the best way possible.

ANDREW Bogut has paid a high price for being one of the great Australian smart-arses of our time.

Not financially, strictly speaking, with his current contract bringing his total NBA earnings to the princely sum of $151 million.

But for more than a decade we have marvelled and celebrated at his NBA career without always climbing aboard for the emotional journey.

We have lauded him but have we felt an affinity with him?

Has he stolen our hearts and minds as he endured 11 NBA seasons despite all those setbacks and injuries and trades that led to an NBA championship with Golden State?

Before Bogut finally spoke the day before this Olympic campaign — a disarming, hilarious 12-minute performance — one journalist’s proposed story was about the Most Miserable Man in Australia?

As the Boomers prepare for the group stage of these Olympics, Bogut might have had his finest moment in front of an Australian audience.

The King of Sarcasm, so forward in calling out bulldust on social media, has shown he has cared about Australia all along.

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“It’s unbelievable what he has done to get here, the commitment of rehab and time and energy he has spent on that, how much it means to play for his country,’’ says Australian coach Andrej Lemanis.

“It’s one of those things where I get angry when people have questioned him in the past. He has always been injured and they have been horrific injuries.

“The commitment he has shown to put those naysayers to bed and the confidence that he brings to this group, what he has done for this group is remarkable. I can’t speak more highly of him.”

By now the details of Bogut’s dramatic recovery have been detailed extensively.

A horrific fall in the NBA finals that saw him diagnosed with severe knee bone bruising that would need a minimum of 6-8 weeks rest.

Encouraging progress in the Boomers’ Melbourne camp and then a significant setback that saw three or more doctors tell him to pull the pin.

Australia's Andrew Bogut holds off USA's Kyrie Irving during their group clash.

Then a stunning return in a practice match against China just days before Australia’s Olympic opener, with Bogut a revelation with 18 points on nine-of-ten shooting and six-alley oop passes.

In three games setting up Australia’s second placing in the pool he has eschewed his role playing performances in the NBA and just outright dominated contests.

Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze says despite perceptions Bogut has always gone above and beyond for Australia.

“He is prepared to sacrifice because he wants to be a part of history. He is a very proud Australian and they are commendable attributes we should be lauding,’’ he says.

“In this day and age when all countries are having problem with players who have more lucrative opportunities, I have got unbelievable respect for what Bogey is doing.

“These guys understand what it means to represent their country and the incredible experience it is to be an Olympian.

“People don’t understand the horrific injuries he has had to deal with.”

Exhibit A is Bogut’s willingness to play through back seizures that had him bedridden on the morning of Australia’s Oceania qualifiers to get to Rio against New Zealand last year.

At the time we wondered why Bogut was so limited in a narrow series win.

Andrew Bogut sat out of Australia’s win over China.

But as Boomers doctor Graham Lee would reveal after Bogut’s 10-point, 10-rebound game: “Just 48 hours ago he couldn’t move. He was in bed and in a lot of pain.”

The catalogue of those injuries goes on forever.

A foot sprain in the 2005-06 NBA season, lower back stress fractures (2008-09), a strained left leg ligament (2008-09), a broken hand and dislocated elbow (2010) and the January 2012 fractured ankle that ruined his Olympic campaign.

Bogut, who never shirked at playing in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic campaigns, is clearly considering his basketball mortality at 32.

With just a single year on his contract before he becomes a free agent, so many NBA players would have preserved their body to cash in on their final big deal.

Bogut ticked off his availability with Dallas owner Mark Cuban but you get the sense it was a courtesy call rather than a plea to be released to play.

“Look, I’m 32 years old,’’ says Bogut.

Australia's Andrew Bogut stands on the sidelines during warmups.

“I’ve made a plethora of money and got the NBA championships and being part of this group is a special thing for me.

“I was part of the Oceania qualifiers and I played with a back spasm and I thought about that and didn’t want it taken away from me.”

Gradually as the world realises Twitter is stripped of context and a vehicle for hot takes and faux offence, Bogut’s sense of humour on social media is emerging.

He might think Australia is a nanny state, and call a spade a bloody shovel and enrage the moral arbiters, but so often his comments hit the bullseye.

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“I’m a sarcastic guy who likes to joke around. I express my feelings on things, people make comments, but that’s the way it goes in this industry.

“I look at myself as an honest guys, I’m happy to tell it like it is and I might not be right, but it might not be wrong.”

Does he care what people think of him after all these years of thumbing his nose at convention?

Maybe he does after all, as he goes about defining an Olympic legacy that could speak for generations.

Originally published as Australia’s Andrew Bogut knocks down perceptions as he aims to create an Olympic legacy