Very rarely do you hear of a starter in the NBA asking to come off the bench for the betterment of the team, but in the case of center Andrew Bogut, he's come to the conclusion that the Dallas Mavericks would be better off as a result.
Dallas has been outscored by 62 points in the 53 minutes Bogut and veteran All-Star Dirk Nowitzki have competed side by side in the starting frontcourt, leading the 7-foot Aussie to believe that changes need to occur.
"There's no point of starting with Dirk and then getting pulled 30 seconds into a game," Bogut told ESPN's Tim MacMahon following Tuesday's shootaround. "So I went to coach and said, 'If you're going to continue to do that, just bring me off the bench. I won't be offended. We'll get on with life.'"
Head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters that Bogut - whose missed time with a bone bruise in his knee - reached out to him and requested that he join the second unit. Aware of his limited mobility, as well as Nowitzki's, Bogut acknowledges that in a league where teams are running with smaller lineups and using nontraditional options at the four, it would be best if Carlisle combated that with someone who could keep up defensively.
"Look, maybe one or two games here and there, but it puts Dirty in a bind because he's got to be guarding a 3 or a 4 man," Bogut added. You look at the Houston game and he's guarding Trevor Ariza or (Patrick) Beverley and I'm guarding a big. You do the math and that just won't work. In short bursts, every now and then, maybe (it will work) if we play a team that has two bigs in there. But for the most part, the way the league's going, you have the Ariza-type guys at the 4. I don't see it."
The former No. 1 overall pick has only come off the pine on 14 occasions out of 662 career games. There will obviously be an adjustment period, and perhaps even a hit to his ego, but if it ultimately helps the Mavs thrive and claw their way back up the standings, he'll know he made the correct call.
"It can be a little disparaging, but we're 10-24," he said. "We're trying to change things up. If that's the way things are going to go to try to get us wins, I'm all for it. If it doesn't get us wins, then we have a conversation in five or six games. But it's one of those things where we're trying to shake things up.
"It's no secret that that lineup just doesn't work. Harrison (Barnes) at the 4 with Dirk at the 5 or myself at the 5 is way more effective. You don't have to look at analytics to see that. You can see that with the way the floor spacing is and all of that. We'll give it a shot and see how it goes."
