Bogut to get down and dirty
DALLAS Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and star Dirk Nowitzki are salivating at the prospect of “dirty” play from Australian veteran recruit Andrew Bogut.
The Mavericks have lacked a physical presence, but they believe Bogut’s aggressive play and 213cm frame will help solve that.
“Yesterday Dirk and I were just sitting talking,” Cuban told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan this week. “He’s fired up about everybody we got, but he said, ‘ Bogut, man, he’s gonna set those screens, he can pass, he can defend, and he’s dirty. He’s physical’.
“For Dirk, that’s something we haven’t had since Tyson (Chandler), and even Andrew is a lot more physical than Tyson. So Dirk’s excited, we’re excited.”
Bogut will have plenty of motivation to prove the Golden State Warriors were wrong for moving him to make way for Kevin Durant.
He was a key passing cog in the Warriors’ championshipwinning and record-breaking system and the Mavericks plan to use him in a similar way.
“You’re going to see the ball move a lot more through Andrew, and you’ll see a lot more motion offensively,” Cuban said. “And defensively we’re going to be a whole lot better.”
The Mavericks play their first pre-season game on Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans, with their regular season opener against the Indiana Pacers on October 26.