Golden year ahead: Bogut
ANDREW Bogut is expecting one of the closest and most unpredictable regular seasons in NBA history.
From whether LeBron James can bring Showtime back to the LA Lakers to how the cast of Aussie stars headlined by Ben Simmons will fare, there is no shortage of intriguing storylines going in the 2018-19 NBA season.
Bogut will be following the NBA as a fan this year after deciding to call time on his 13season career in “The Show” and join the Sydney Kings.
While King James’ move from Cleveland to Tinsletown has significantly raised the expectations of a Lakers title, Bogut says there is a clear favourite for the championship.
“Golden State and then everyone else,” Bogut said of his former franchise, where he won a title in 2015.
“Maybe Houston finish second in the West and I don’t think the Lakers will win a championship with LeBron this year.”
Bogut may have Golden State as overwhelming favourite to replicate the Chicago Bulls from the ’90s and claim a third straight championship, but that is not to say he doesn’t rate its rivals Houston.
The Rockets pushed the Warriors during last year’s Western Conference Finals, taking the series to seven games.
Houston’s star guard Chris Paul didn’t play in the final game due to a hamstring strain, opening the door for the Warriors to claim a nine-point win.
Paul is fit and firing heading into the new season while the Rockets have also signed AllStar forward Carmelo Anthony.
After mixed results in his previous stints at New York and Oklahoma City, many experts believe Anthony will excel in a loaded Houston side. But Bogut isn’t so sure. “I’m kind of sceptical on the Melo (Carmelo Anthony) move,” he said.
“I’m not sure how that will work.”
Over in the Eastern Conference, Bogut believes it is a twohorse race between the Celtics and Sixers, with the boys from Boston the favourites to progress through to the NBA Finals.
“I think Philly will be up there, but the Celtics are ahead of the field at the moment,” he said.
“I love Brad Stevens. I think he is probably the best coach in the league.
“They’ll get a healthy Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving back. They’ve also got Terry Rozier, Aron Baynes and Al Horford — so they’ll be pretty tough to beat.”
Bogut can’t wait to watch the Aussies excel in the NBA again this season.
There will be 11 Australians in the world’s best league in 2018/19, including former Adelaide 36ers star Mitch Creek at Brooklyn.
Bogut has high hopes for his fellow Boomers.
“I think Baynes will continue to do what he has done at Boston,” he said.
“Patty (Mills) has a lot more pressure now with Tony Parker gone and a few more tweaks to their roster, but he’ll be OK.
“I’m interested to see how Dante (Exum) goes at Utah. Because he was hurt so much last season, you could see he was thinking about his deal a little bit. But now he has got that I think it settles him down and that is when he plays his best basketball. “And Joe (Inglis) will be Joe.”
Then there is Ben Simmons — the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year coming off a recordbreaking season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Simmons has worked tirelessly over the off-season to hone his skills and Bogut is expecting the Melbourne-born point guard to star again this year.
“Ben took the league by surprise, so he is going to have a lot more eyes and focus on him in scouting reports,” he said.
“He likes the hype and all the pressure, so he’ll be fine.”