Andrew Bogut: Why I became a Sydney Kings assistant coach

It wasn’t a matter of if I was going to get into coaching, but when.

When I first retired from playing, I didn't want to jump straight into coaching. I think it's honestly good to get a bit of a refresh and get away from the game. The managerial side of things has been fun but one thing I've realised with that, it doesn't give me the thrill and that same in the moment feeling I miss.

Being the man in the arena or the men in the arena, I think is a much different feeling to sitting on the sideline. With all that said, the last probably six or seven months, I've been thinking about when I push the button and then the circumstances presented themselves and there was an opening. Then to have it with the team that I'm part of, I think, is the easiest segue to get involved.

Towards the end of my career, I really started to enjoy the strategy within the game and once I got out of the game, that's what I missed more than playing, was just trying to figure out the puzzles of what teams are doing and counter that. How do we stop this guy? How do we stop their offence?

I think as retirement's gone on, I think it was something I've gravitated towards more and more, just the enjoyment of that chess battle. You can't do it with your body anymore, the older you get, so the next best thing is doing it with your brain.

It’s funny how it’s all come full circle to be involved in life and basketball as well. I’ve had a long, long relationship with Goorj (Brian Goorjian) and it hasn’t always been great. We butted heads with the Boomers at the 2004 Athens Olympics when I was a pimple-faced 19-year-old.

I disagreed with the way a couple of guys on the team were playing, I thought they were playing selfishly. We lost a game to Puerto Rico that we shouldn't have lost and I felt like there were some individuals who weren’t playing for the group at the time. I could have been right, I could have been wrong, but looking back at the tape, it seemed to show what I was so pissed off about.

I felt like Goorj sided with that side of things and to an extent he had to because they were veterans. I'm just a young, brash kid but I was pissed at him because of that. Then we had a run-in where I walked by him, didn't say anything, ignored him a little bit and that created all kinds of issues. We had to hash that out and we did, it all ended OK.

He knew how passionate and fiery I was. My passion and fire was coming from the right place.

As a 19-year-old, I had absolutely no tutelage or tools of how to handle that properly and I didn’t handle it right in the moment, there’s no doubt about that. Since then, we've had no issues, he’s even brought it up and we’ve laughed about it at numerous speaking gigs we’ve both been at. Now 25 years later, I’m his assistant coach.

Every assistant coach gets involved in coaching to one day be a head coach and I’ve had several opportunities to be one in the past year and a half but I didn't think I was ready. I think I could do it but there’d be mistakes along the way, I want to do things the right way.

I have the opportunity to work under Goorj, who's obviously a legend in his own right. He’s seen everything - the good, bad and ugly as well being in China, the US, the NBL, the national team and he’s dealt with teams going bankrupt and all that kind of stuff.

I think working for someone like that will help me prepare for when I one day become a head coach. I want to earn my stripes.

What type of coach is Andrew Bogut going to be? I'm not scared to give my opinion on things, I'm not scared to call things as I see them. At times, Goorj might take that advice or take that recommendation and at times, he won't. That's a part of being an adult, especially being an assistant coach, I've got to support the head coach. You have spirited debates about coverages, scouts and everything but that's how the best teams function with open discussions.

But I think just trying to help our younger guys, especially the bigs. Trying to help them on a daily basis with their development will be important. There is nothing better then seeing a low minute player, develop into a starter or big minute player with the same team over time. This is a coach's greatest reward (other than winning).

I assume I will be doing some scouts, I assume I will be doing some film, I assume I will be doing some individual workouts with guys on top of the team stuff. I've got no issue with it, I'm not afraid of the hard work. I think it's important to do all aspects of things because when I one day become a head coach, I can then understand what my assistants are going through.

But as for my aspirations as a future head coach, the NBA is probably out of the question for me, although you never say never. Coaching the Boomers would be a phenomenal honour and the end goal for sure, but coaching in the NBL is something I'd be more than content with. Especially when you consider my family situation.

I've had a very unique career where I feel like I've experienced all facets as a player and I think that will be a significant advantage in being a coach. I had a really good college career where I was the man, then was the No.1 pick in the draft and had a slow start but then became the first option on my team for a couple of seasons in Milwaukee. Then I had the injuries and had the downturn of trying to get back on the floor before being a fourth or fifth option with Golden State and being a role player.

Those experiences as a player, experiencing the good end, the shit end, the medium end, all different roles, all different kind of expectations, I think that builds character and helps you understand different players when you're coaching them. The players who really struggle to be coaches are the ones who were superstars their whole career.  The journey that I've had, the ups and downs and the good, the bad and the ugly, will really help me understand or try to understand what the last man on the roster is going through just as much as the superstar.

For us as a club, to get back to being championship contenders, I think there’s a few areas we need to focus on. Getting our imports right is really important. Every good NBL club, as we see in the finals right now, Ian Clarke's been Melbourne United's MVP in the playoffs then Harvey completely turned the game yesterday.

But also having a priority on our youth development, where we’ve recruited some great young talent recently but we've just got to continue to develop them. Players like Spurgin, Tyler, and Keli. They have to feel like they're getting better on a daily basis. That's super important because they're going to get thrown into the mix at some point next season.

Lastly, I did have to laugh at some of the reaction to the news of me becoming an assistant coach over the last day also. It's quite funny seeing people online say it’s a conflict of interest. I'm not sure how that works if I happen to be a minority owner too? What am I conflicting? Will I want the performance to not go well anymore? Comical stuff.

I will no longer sit in on the NBL owner's meetings. Once the coaching tenure starts, everything else that I'm doing off the floor, such as commentary (which was over in February anyway) or writing columns, that's all done.

As far as the Kings go, we are going to handle it in a way where I obviously wouldn’t be on a board call that has to do with performance reviews or basketball related matters. I would, however, still be involved in the business side when it comes to the numbers and how our club is tracking.

Andrew Bogut is a basketball.com.au columnist and contributor.

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