From the Sidelines: Number one NBA draft pick has top quality mouth
Sports reporter
Andrew Bogut has been set up to fail.
As has every other number one draft pick in the history of sports.
At least he's having fun with it.
The 2005 number one overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in last month's NBA draft is taking advantage of the microphones that sit just inches from his face daily.
"I just think it's important to be yourself," he said. "If I don't look good by the things I say, that's something I'm going to live with. I'm still going to say things people aren't going to like, just like everybody."
Well, not like everybody considering athletes and coaches hand out clichés like they are on Webster's endangered phrase list.
Instead of just saying, "Well, I'm new here and I'm gonna do my best and let my teammates teach me how to be a complete player," he is more honest about his game.
Like this quip to the AP about three-time NBA champion, and fellow Australian, Luc Longly who wasn't noted for being the most athletic player on the court.
"I've had a better collegiate career than anyone else from Australia that came over here. I'm not as slow as Luc Longley. I'm more athletic. I can shoot better. I'm more competitive. So I think it's not even fair to bring that name up."
According to an article by Rick Alonzo of the Pioneer Press Bogut did clarify his no-comparison statement by saying Luc was a "pure" center while Bogut plays both the forward and center positions.
But by the end of his clarification he called the Australian press, "some of the worst media in the world."
So while Bogut has nowhere to go but down after his stellar college career at Utah and his instant-stardom in the Land of Cheese, he doesn't seem, at least to the public, the least bit nervous.
He even took a stab at the popular HBO show "Entourage" and the "posse" mentality shown by many professional athletes.
"I'll probably have some people come in that I haven't seen for 20 years, and I'm going to tell them straight out, 'I don't want nothing to do with you'," he said.
"I'm not a posse guy. I'm not going to have a bunch of guys rolling around with me, playing PlayStation and paying them money. I don't see the point in that."
Take that as you may, but Bogut obviously doesn't care about what anyone thinks.
He may if he gets an "inadvertent" elbow to the jaw during a game down the road for a comment he made. But for now Bogut says what really is on his mind, and that's refreshing.
Well, at lest it makes for good print the next day.
Personally, I don't think he's as good as he's cracked up to be. Former Jayhawk Wayne Simien, who fell all the way to 29th when the Miami Heat snatched him up, will be a better player if he stays healthy.
Rarely do number one overall picks turn out to be the number one overall player down the road. So that isn't an overly bold statement.
However there is no denying Bogut is a straight shooter when it comes to television cameras and tape recorders.
Ultimately however, all the talk won't mean a thing. Bucks fans will only settle for straight shooting on the court.
