Post by Rog on Apr 6, 2017 2:26:54 GMT
The 72nd nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame, Andrew Bogut, was a defensive stalwart for a number of contending teams. He wasn't flashy, he didn't put up huge numbers, but he was damn solid for whoever he played for for a long, long time. Was he a Hall of Famer though? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
35 MPG, 12.5 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.6 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.9 TOPG on 41.4% from the field and 68.4% from the line
Best Season
Trailblazers(2010) - 13.1 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 3.1 APG, 2.7 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 2 TOPG on 43.7% from the field and 66.7% from the line
Career Highs
Points: 40
Rebounds: 24
Assists: 11
Steals: 6
Blocks: 10
Achievements
Championships: 2
Player of the Game: 73
Player of the Week: 0
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 617
Triple Doubles: 10
Accolades
2005 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2005 - All-Rookie Second Team
2006 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2006 - All-Star Game Participant
2006 - All-League Third Team
2015 - All-Star Game Participant
2016 - All-Star Game Participant
2018 - All-League Third Team
2019 - All-Defensive Second Team
Arguments For Induction
- Bogut played in three All-Star Games while also being named to two All-League Third teams and an All-Defensive second team. He also won 2 titles in his career.
- Bogut should be remembered as an All-Time great defensive player despite the lack of high end blocks or awards. He carried an A or A+ rating defensively his entire career, even retiring with an A+. He averaged nearly 4 stocks a game because he was so good at playing the passing lanes and getting steals. He was named to one All-Defensive Second team proving the league at least knew he was a good defender. He did finish 9th in blocks though, mostly due to his longevity.
- Also, Bogut was a good, but not quite great rebounder. He averaged 11.4 a game for his career, which was actually a pretty damn consistent number for him to get, give or take half a rebound. Due to his long career, Bogut did finish in the top 10 in rebounds, finishing 9th All-Time to be exact. Good rebounder for his entire career, though never great.
- Rounding out Bogut's game, he was also a really good passer for a center, one of the better post passers in the league for a long time. He averaged 3.3 assists per game for his career, averaging over 4 a game a few times in his career. Elite numbers for a center.
- Overall Bogut was the glue in two title teams and several other contending teams throughout his 16 seasons in the league. He has two top 10 statistics to his name, important ones too in rebounding and block shots. His overall game was fantastic and he was the type of starting center realistically every team sets out to find. Bogut is a Hall of Famer, despite not having elite stats. I don't see a huge argument against that.
Argument Against Induction
- To start, not enough awards. That should shut any induction down from the start.
- Never a top 2 or 3 player on a title team, he was always a big part, but never the reason a team was a contender or won a title. Great players are more than passengers on great teams. Bogut wasn't a great player.
- His offense was pretty atrocious and he took a bunch of shots that weren't efficient at all. He shot 41% from the field for his career, and was a career 68.4% free throw shooter. While the free throw shooting number isn't awful(the field goal percentage is though, yuck), it also isn't great for a guy who went to the line between 4 and 5 times a game. He also took over 10 shots a game for his career, making only about 4 of those a game. Several of those shots could have been devoted to the better offensive players on the court.
- Hard to use his defense as a huge reason to induct him when he was only one one All-Defensive team and was never on the leaderboards for blocks. He was a good shot blocker, never great. He also never appeared on a "Best Defender" list making you wonder if he was even really all that great in his under the hood ratings.
- Its a tough case to make for a defensive player who is hard to find all that great defensively, even if he was good in a number of ways. He wasn't great, you didn't fear him come playoff time, and he bounced around a bit in his career. He is the poster child of "Hall of Very Good" but isn't right for the Hall of Fame.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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