Draymond Green Hails Mentor Andrew Bogut

Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green has revealed the impact that Australian center Andrew Bogut had on his career.

Andrew Bogut, who now plays for the Sydney Kings in the Australian National Basketball League, is fondly remembered in Oakland.

He is credited with transforming an underperforming Golden State culture when he joined from the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012.

Draymond Green was drafted a few months after Bogut Joined and the rookie benefited from the Australian’s experience.

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Draymond Green, the 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, said Bogut taught him everything about guarding the post.

He told Utah Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell about it in an interview for ABC:

“I’ll never forget it,” Green said. “My first day out at Golden State he was teaching me different things you could do that you couldn’t do in college and throughout the course of that year just teaching me positioning.

“I wouldn’t be half the defender I am without Andrew Bogut. He taught me so much about defence that I owe all my success to him, defensively.”

Andrew Bogut played for the Golden State Warriors for four seasons. His crowning achievement with the team was winning the NBA championship in 2015.

Afterwards, he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks to free up salary cap space to sign Kevin Durant.

Warriors fans were sceptical about Kevin Durant’s suitability to play with star guard Stephen Curry.

Now, the pair have one hand on a second consecutive NBA title while playing together. For the second straight year, their combination is dominating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

“Two seasons together, I think we’ve figured out a good balance,” Durant said Tuesday. “I think being able to play off of each other definitely helps. But not just us two. Everybody else on the court kind of plays off each other well.”