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OAKLAND — The Warriors are poised to add another league MVP to play alongside Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry this season.
Though, I should clarify, it’s the MVP of the National Basketball League.
The Warriors are engaged in negotiations to sign former Dub Andrew Bogut to a contract that will last the remainder of the season. The 7-foot Australian — who won a title with the Warriors in 2015 — will need to obtain a work visa and receive FIBA clearance to come back stateside after an MVP campaign in Australia’s professional league, per ESPN, but there are no issues expected on that front.
So why are the Warriors bringing back Bogut?
It’s simple: he’s DeMarcus Cousins insurance.
Until Bogut signs, the Warriors will have one center, Cousins, on the roster, and given the glut of imposing big men in the Western Conference — Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams, Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Denver’s Nik Jokic, and Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic stand out — that was not a solid situation heading into the postseason.
Yes, Golden State has played Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Bell at the five this season, but the way the coaching staff sees it, all three of those players are forwards.
And with Cousins’ up-and-down play, Green’s injury history, Bell’s inconsistency and size, and Looney’s pelvis inflammation, the Warriors needed to add a defensively-minded big man to the roster.
Bogut is unquestionably that.
The big man looks spry compared to the last time we saw him in the NBA, though that might be attributed to him being a big fish in a small pond in Australia.
So how much playing time will Bogut get with the Warriors? That depends on Cousins, who has not fixed all that’s ailed the Warriors since hitting the floor in January.
Don’t get me wrong, Boogie has been a welcome addition to the Warriors and is showing clear improvement daily, but his defense has been lackluster (that’s the nice way to put it) — even with his 20-point performances of late, he’s giving up as much he’s getting and there’s been little evidence that the paradigm will shift in the Warriors’ final 19 regular-season games.
The Warriors couldn’t enter the playoffs with wishful thinking as a Plan B at C. Hopes and dreams don’t win titles.
Excellent defense to go with strong offense, on the other hand, does, and Bogut is a step in the right direction for the Warriors, who rank 16th in the NBA in defensive rating this season and were unlikely to improve much with Cousins playing 25-plus minutes a night without a true backup. It’s been 18 years since a team with a defensive rating that low won a title.
While Bogut is also susceptible in pick-and-roll defense, should Cousins find himself in foul trouble — something that’s likely to happen considering his defensive footwork and teams’ increasing propensity to target him — the Warriors can now feel that they won’t get pushed around on the block, lose rim protection, or put Green in a precarious spot for extended time.
And offensively, Bogut is an exceptional screener and passer through whom the Warriors can run some offense through the high post — he doesn’t have a jump shot like Cousins, but he knows how to make sure that the Warriors have pace and flow in the offense.
Ultimately, there will likely be nights that Bogut doesn’t play at all, and so long as that’s not an issue for him, that won’t be an indictment on this acquisition for the Warriors. The team’s goal was to have a viable backup center off the bench — the playoffs are dictated by matchups and there, options are power.
It should also be noted that this year’s buyout market didn’t give the Warriors much to choose from at their two biggest needs — backup center and 3-point shooting wing.
Wesley Matthews, who was bought out by New York after he was part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade between the Knicks and Mavericks, would have been an excellent wing fit for the Warriors, but he signed with the Pacers, where he’s playing more than 30 minutes per game.
And outside of the undesirable Marcin Gortat, there weren’t NBA-quality centers available to sign on the buyout market.
That’s why signing Bogut out of Australia looks like such a clever move for the Warriors. Because Bogut hasn’t played in the NBA this season, he’s not subject to those buyout market rules — despite being signed after March 1, he can play in the postseason.
And adding a player the veteran players are familiar with should spark an air of positivity around a team that’s frankly going through the regular-season motions now that Boogie’s new-player smell has faded.
That said, it was a bit surprising that the Warriors and Bogut were able to come to an agreement. Bogut had an up-and-down 2016 year which frayed the relationship between him and the team, leading to his trade to Dallas after the season as part of the Warriors’ salary-cap maneuvering to sign Kevin Durant.
Now, the Warriors will have both him and Durant — at least for the next few months.
Adding Bogut will fill out the Warriors’ roster at 15 players, though there remains the possibility that Golden State can add a 3-point shooting wing ahead of the start of the postseason.
Two-way player Damion Lee has performed well in spot minutes this season and his strong game against Philadelphia on Saturday opened eyes — he could be added to the roster in the coming weeks, though that would require the Warriors to cut a player. The top candidates to be jettisoned come from a pool of players whose contracts expire the end of the season or do not have guaranteed money for next year — Alfonzo McKinnie, Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko, and Bell — though there’s no indication that the Warriors plan on making such a move at the moment.
For now, Bogut will absolutely do.
