The verdict is still out on Boomers star Andrew Bogut

THE riddle that is Boomers star Andrew Bogut may never be solved, but these hidden moments reveal the real bloke behind the cheeky grin.

Will the real Andrew Bogut stand up?

LAST year after Andrew Bogut won the NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors I was offered the first interview with him after he landed back in Australia.

A car dealership had provided him with wheels for his stay in Melbourne and wanted some free publicity. It’s standard practice in media, mention the company, and you get access to the athlete. I was happy to oblige.

More than a week had passed since the Warriors wrapped up the series in Game Six against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Bogut had spoken publicly several times about his involvement.

But little had been said about how the players had celebrated their first rings, so I wanted to hear about champagne-soaked locker rooms, wild street parade crowds and the trip to Vegas which reserve forward David Lee had taken the team on.

After my allotted 10 minutes with the Aussie star I published this story on news.com.au

A little while later I received an email from Bogut’s manager with a number of changes she wanted made to the piece. It focused too heavily on the post-script to the championship, why hadn’t I written about what happened on the court?

I was comfortable with the article and felt it provided what my readers most wanted to hear so declined to make any alterations. I stood firm despite a follow-up phone call — during which the manager promised I’d never again be able to speak to Bogut or fellow Australian NBA player Matthew Dellavedova, who she said she also managed.

Not long after that I was alerted to the following tweet:

First interview back home would have been good to talk Basketball but the drinking and partying obviously more important @jaibednall

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) June 25, 2015

It was a bit of a surprise given I’d initially thought the concern from Bogut’s manager came from her own overly-officious nature. Nope. It was the man himself who felt my piece may unfairly lead people to categorise him as a party animal.

The following morning Bogut did the rounds on breakfast radio so I tuned in to listen. Surprise surprise, several hosts asked him about Vegas and wanted further information about what went on behind the scenes. I wasn’t the only who thought it was interesting.

Banter.

I remembered this exchange today while attending Bogut’s press conference in Rio. He’s been his usual surly self since arriving in the athlete’s village, gaining worldwide coverage for noting problems with the shower and toilet in his apartment and engaging in a Twitter beef with women’s basketballer Liz Cambage.

He also labelled Brian Waldron a “squid” after another user asked if he’d like to respond to the former Melbourne Storm CEO, who labelled the Aussie athletes complaining about conditions at the Olympics “precious”.

None of that type of behaviour is particularly unusual for Bogut on Twitter, who calls things as he sees them and has never been afraid to step on a toe or two.

One of America’s leading sports agents Kelli Masters sees the downside of his approach, telling news.com.au “Andrew could re-evaluate his current use of social media to make it more engaging, relatable and fan-friendly”. But his preparedness to go against the grain in an age where many athletes aren’t prepared to wear any backlash is refreshing.

Which raises the question where should Australians stand on Andrew Bogut? Is he a jerk — or simply misunderstood?

He’s playing in Rio despite being told it would be better for the long-term health of his knee not to — and has always been spoken highly of by teammates.

Smile, dude.

His 13-minute exchange with journalists yesterday offered another insight into his character.

He was funny, cracking jokes about the “present” left for him by a teammate in a toilet that didn’t flush and the challenge of being in a village filled with beautiful women while having a partner.

He was genuine, talking about his enjoyment in spending time with athletes from other sports, including Cambage who he shared a hug with while putting their difference aside.

And he was combative, telling Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller he was surprised she wasn’t staying in the Ritz – instead of with the rest of the team — when she interrupted the press conference to point out the curtain in her room still wasn’t fixed.

It was a perfect Bogut moment. He meant it as a joke, but others may have taken it another way.

Asked if people understood his humour, Bogut delivered an emphatic “no”.

“But that’s totally fine. I’m a sarcastic guy that likes to joke around. Some people took it the wrong way. It is what it is. I’m still going to express my feelings,” he said.

“People can make comment on it, that’s the way it goes, especially in this industry. I know putting a tweet out like that, there’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad, and that’s something I’m happy to deal with. I look at myself as an honest guy, I tell it like it is, in my opinion. And an opinion is exactly that, it might not be right, it might not be wrong.”

Perhaps that’s what we need to remember with Bogut. We might not get his jokes – or find them funny when we do – but in his opinion they’re never mean-spirited, despite how they may sound.

He says he’s not bothered by how he’s viewed publicly but someone like Masters might suggest a little more of the following social media output, just to balance everything out.

"The Edge" Australian HQ outside the Village is niceeeee. Tick the success box for that one AOC! The coffee ... https://t.co/INlgPoO4Wo

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) August 5, 2016