Friday, March 25, 2005

Mark Bradley's bullish on Andrew Bogut

Mark Bradley, who's pretty much the only AJC columnist whose columns I read regularly, has a good piece this morning on why Andrew Bogut would be a good pick for the Hawks. (You need an AJC subscription to access the link. If you have one, then use the link to the right and the column is on the lower left of the page.) Here are the most encouraging arguments he makes:

1. Bogut has had very good games against Arizona and LSU this year. The Arizona comparison doesn't mean too much because Channing Frye is skilled, but soft. (I can't get past his name. He should be an extra on "The OC" with a name like Channing.) Still, 20/10 (on 8/10 shooting) is nothing to sneeze at. The LSU comparison means more to me because they have two NBA-quality, bullish big men. 24/17 (on 10/15 shooting) is really impressive against Brandon Bass and Glenn Davis. The only negatives I can find from those games is that Frye scored 19 on Bogutn and that Andrew didn't get to the line much.

2. Bogut's got a Croatian background. This shouldn't mean much to me, but Mr. Herrin's explanation of the Yugoslav conflict in 12th grade International Relations sticks with me. Get ready for a bunch of inappropriate jokes if Bogut becomes a Hawk.

On the other hand, Bradley is loony when he mentions Bogut in the same sentence as Kevin Garnett. They aren't on the same continent in terms of athleticism. He was much more accurate when he used the Zydrunas Ilgauskas comparison (and yes, I'm saying that because I drew the same comparison on Monday.) Bill Walton is an interesting idea, although I only started watching the NBA in the mid-80s, so I never saw Walton before his feet exploded.

1 comment:

Michael said...

If Bogut dunked on someone's head and then said "You Americans, all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occasions.", I'm pretty sure that I would become incontinent.

(I know that there are differences between Germans and Croat Aussies, but work with me here.)