Australian basketball great Andrew Bogut has poked fun at his past allegations of FIBA corruption upon his induction into international basketball’s hall of fame.
Bogut became the ninth Australian inducted after a stellar career that spanned 14 NBA seasons and three Olympic Games campaigns with the Boomers.
The 40-year-old also featured at two FIBA World Cups, and famously slammed the sport’s global governing body after Australia’s loss to Spain in a 2019 semifinal.
At the time, Bogut was reported as saying: “We all know where FIBA’s headquarters is. It’s a f***ing disgrace. Cheating ass motherf***ers… Google where headquarters of f***ing FIBA is… f***ing disgrace.”
The finger thing means money. (Supplied: Fox Sports)
Bogut was later issued with an “official warning” and a $12,000 fine for the outburst.
Formally accepting his hall of fame induction in Bahrain, Bogut could not help but make light of what was then a tense situation.
“I now realise that FIBA HQ is actually in Switzerland and not Spain,” Bogut said.
“Give me some credit though — they both start with an ‘S’.”
Bogut was the first Australian selected with the number one NBA draft pick (2005) and played 682 games in the league, winning a championship with Golden State in 2015.
The 207-centimetre centre was also a key figure for the Boomers over a 15-year period that saw the team emerge as a genuine threat on the international stage.
“When I first got involved with the national team, for us to just make it to the second round of a tournament was like a championship back then,” Bogut said.
“The bar wasn’t set high and mediocrity was sort of accepted. It was just that the talent pool wasn’t at the level that we have now.
“Being a part of that changing mindset and being a part of lifting the national team to be consistently in the top four or a chance to medal at every tournament, it’s something that I really hold dear to my heart.”
Bogut declared Australia beating the USA in Melbourne during the build-up to the 2019 World Cup was his career highlight.
“It was a big deal for us, even though it was a friendly game,” Bogut said.
“From never beating the US to doing it on home soil in my home city, in front of a record crowd … it was sensational.”
Bogut joins fellow Australians Penny Taylor, Robyn Maher, Tom Maher, Michele Timms, Jan Stirling, Andrew Gaze, Lindsay Gaze and Al Ramsay in FIBA’s Hall of Fame.
The Sydney Kings part-owner will serve as an assistant coach to former Boomers mentor Brian Goorjian at the NBL club next season.
AAP
