BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut will spend his time during the NBA lockout as assistant coach of the Australian national team that will face New Zealand in an Olympic qualifying series.
Bogut hoped to play for Australia in the best-of-three series, the winner of which will qualify for the 2012 London games. But Basketball Australia was unable to insure his multimillion dollar contract, and instead the former No. 1 NBA draft pick will assist coach Brett Brown on the bench.
Brown joked Thursday “he’ll be my richest assistant coach. He’s fantastic about wanting to play, but with injury and insurance issues with the NBA lockout, he’ll play his role from the bench next to me.”
