Andrew Bogut on the Warriors’ Critics: ‘There Are a Lot of Dumb People Out There’
The Golden State Warriors weren’t satisfied with a 67-win season and an NBA championship; for an encore, they’re looking to tear up the league’s record book. And so far, so good: Led by reigning MVP Stephen Curry, the Dubs have raced out of the gates at 19-0 – the best start in NBA history – and each day, talk of breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ 72-win mark grows louder.
If you’re wondering how the Warriors managed to avoid the fabled post-championship hangover, it’s probably because they still have plenty to prove, and no shortage of critics to silence. Andrew Bogut, who anchored Golden State’s ferocious defense and inflicted devastating screens to free up space for the world’s best shooter, acknowledged that the perceived slights – that they got lucky last season – have served as motivation.
But that’s not all the Australian-born big man had to say. As the Warriors try to push their record to 20-o tonight, Bogut sounds off on the Dubs’ record-setting start, the grumpy old men on that 72-win Bulls team and why fighting with fans on Twitter is a good thing.
The Warriors are already being compared to the 1995-96 Bulls squad that went 72-10, and I’m sure you’ve heard that Ron Harper, who played on that team, said they’d beat you guys. What do you think?
Oh, I think it’s great. They can make the comments they’re gonna make and we’ll continue to do what we do. We can’t control it – trying to figure out if a team from the Eighties could beat a team from the Nineties, or a team from the Sixties could beat a team from the Seventies. It can’t happen, so it’s pointless to discuss. I just don’t see myself in ten, 15, 20 years belittling teams just because we won a championship or, you know, we had a good record. I hope that I won’t be a grumpy old man who’s belittling all the younger guys. I don’t see myself doing that. It’s not really a focus for us.
Speaking of focus – a lot of teams have a hangover after winning a championship. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case with you guys. Why is that?
I’m not sure. We just brought back pretty much the same team and the same coaches, so there weren’t a lot of changes – I think we just flowed right into the season. We had some motivation with everyone’s comments during the offseason that we were lucky and whatnot; we have a lot of guys who are pretty proud of what we achieved and pretty pissed off at what people have said about how we achieved it. It’s just more fuel to try to get that back-to-back.
I heard you were going to get your championship ring fitted for your middle finger, but I didn’t think you’d actually do it –
Oh, I didn’t really. I just put it there [during the ceremony] as a joke. I didn’t really get it fitted for that finger. It’s not like I’m gonna wear it anyway, I’m not one of those guys who’s gonna wear it around, so it doesn’t really matter what finger it’s fitted for, to be honest. It’s just too friggin’ chunky, you know? I’m not a huge bling guy, so it’ll just be sitting in the case.
I want to ask you a question that on one in the NBA seems to have an answer for: How do you guard Stephen Curry?
How would I guard him? He’s unguardable. Look, if he gets doubled, he can make plays for other people. There’s no one way to guard Steph. I think you need to mix it up. He’s figured it out now. A lot of teams would put bigger, longer guys on him. He’s figured that out. A lot of teams would put smaller guys on him. Some guys hold and grab him and try to be physical. If you look at Steph after the game, he’s got two arms full of scratches and welts and bruises because he’s just getting absolutely mauled. We run him off a lot of screens so he’s getting bashed. He’s coming off a lot of double screens fast. Guys chasing him are always holding his shirt, or holding his arm, or grabbing him. We’re hoping he can get more calls as the MVP.