Basketball: Bogut tipped to be next big thing

By DAVID LEGGAT

He stands 2.07m, goes by the nickname 'Bogues' and, if the Australian grapevine is right, is tipped to be their Next Big Thing on the basketball court.

Victorian Andrew Bogut will be worth more than a passing look when the Boomers tackle the Tall Blacks in the opening game of their three-match series at Hamilton's Mystery Creek tonight.

"In the 20-odd years I've been in Australia, I haven't seen a kid, at that age, where this kid is at," respected Australian coach Brian Goorjian said. "I ain't seen anything like it. I think he's special and I don't think we've had, or are going to have, anyone like him."

Boomers captain Shane Heal, who has seen the best of Australian basketball over many years, agreed.

"Before we went to camp I had heard that he's a big kid who was cocky, that he has got a bit of an attitude, that he's pretty aggressive, and I'm like, 'How good is that'?" Heal said.

"A cocky seven-footer who plays hard, that just needs to be given some good advice ... "

The 19-year-old power forward first grabbed national attention as the star turn of the Australian junior team who won the world championship in Greece. Step forward agents with fat wallets, but rather than take a European route, Bogut opted for the University of Utah.

But the NBA can wait, as Bogut has made it clear the Olympics are his priority.

"It's been a pretty big year or so," he said. "The whole Olympic thing became a reality for me after the first [Boomers] camp. All of sudden I knew I could bang with anyone. I wasn't scared because they were bigger or stronger."

What was seen as an awkward attitude when he was a junior is viewed differently now he's up with the big boys. For bad attitude, read mean streak. "I'm not going to get rid of that quality for anybody. I'm not going to change who I am because that's how I'm a good basketballer."