Bogut in Australia’s Olympic squad, has time to test fitness
Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut grabs his leg during the second half of Game 5 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., Monday, June 13, 2016. AP
MELBOURNE, Australia — Andrew Bogut has been included in Australia’s Olympic squad despite concerns over his fitness.
Australia coach Andrej Lemanis announced his 12-man roster on Monday, saying he’d give Bogut until the eve of the games in Rio de Janeiro next month to recover from the bone bruising around his left knee sustained during Golden State’s seven-game loss to Cleveland in the NBA Finals.
The 31-year-old Bogut, who has been traded to Dallas, has been working with the Boomers squad in Melbourne and has until Aug. 5 to show he is fit enough to play in his third Olympic basketball tournament.
Matthew Dellavedova, who helped Cleveland to an historic comeback win for the NBA championship last month and has since moved to the Milwaukee Bucks, and 2014 NBA champion Patty Mills are also in the Australian squad.
“We are going to Rio to win a medal,” Mills said. “We all understand it is going to be a very hard task but the belief in each other that we can get it done is very exciting. This is certainly one of the strongest teams I’ve been a part of.”
Dellavedova said he had been nervous about Olympic selections, despite his big year in the NBA.
“Nothing’s assumed. Every spot in the Australian team is earned, nothing is given,” Lemanis said. “But the meeting with (Dellavedova) is pretty easy: ‘Delly, you’ve made the team. Congratulations.’ And then we speak about what he can contribute from here.”
The Australians will play warmup matches against the Pac-12 College All-Stars in Melbourne on Tuesday and Thursday and will have further warmup matches in America before arriving in Brazil. The Australians play France on Aug. 6 and Serbia on Aug. 8 before facing the U.S. on Aug. 10 and China on Aug. 12.
Australia squad: David Andersen, Cameron Bairstow, Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut, Ryan Broekhoff, Matthew Dellavedova, Chris Goulding, Joe Ingles, Kevin Lisch, Damian Martin, Patrick Mills, Brock Motum.
