If every cloud has a silver lining, then this particular weather formation is distinctly Australian. With Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving missing due to injury, compatriot Matthew Dellavedova rose to the occasion on Sunday as the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched an overtime victory in game two of the NBA finals.
Thrust into the spotlight following his teammate’s knee fracture, Dellavedova responded in resounding style by containing Steph Curry, snatching several crucial rebounds and sinking two clutch free throws to defeat the Golden State Warriors – and fellow Australian Andrew Bogut. As LeBron James quipped post-game: “I’m never going anywhere without Delly again.”
With the benefit of hindsight, the difference in initial career trajectory for Bogut and Dellavedova appears even starker. Both graduates of the prestigious Australian Institute of Sport, Bogut was the No 1 lottery pick in 2005 after a brief college stint, while Dellavedova toiled through his senior year only to go undrafted. The former entered the competition on a large contract and was an all-rookief first-teamer; the latter found himself at the 2013 Summer League desperately hoping for a non-guaranteed deal.
Yet as has become clear during this thrilling denouement to the NBA season, Bogut and Dellavedova are actually not so different. Aside from their distinctive Australian twang, both players have triumphed over considerable adversity to become important members of their respective teams.
For Dellavedova, just making it this far is an outstanding achievement. Lacking the physical talent of colleagues Irving and James – Grantland described Dellavedova as ‘too small, too slow, too uncoordinated’ – the point guard has made a habit of proving people wrong. A regular target of ire from home fans earlier this season, Dellavedova recently received a standing ovation and had his name chanted from the rafters at the Quicken Loans Arena.
More than enough has been written about the 24-year-old’s on-court controversies. Often overlooked, though, is that at the time of the Al Horford incident Dellavedova led the scoring for Cleveland. Three games earlier, he had put up a team-high 19 points to guide the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference finals. Not bad for an undrafted second-year player.
To really understand ‘Delly’, it is important to appreciate the guard’s superlative-defying work ethic. Coach David Blatt offered this anecdote in March: “I came in early to the gym today, about a quarter to nine. Practice wasn’t until 10 o’clock and Matty Dellavedova was out shooting. Working though and not just standing. Working, working, working.” The Australian’s hustle on and off the court has been essential in transforming a relatively short and skinny player with average technical abilities into a key part of the Cleveland rotation.
Bogut, on the other hand, certainly looks the part. Standing 7ft tall and weighing 260lbs, the imposing 30-year-old center has had an NBA-ready physique since first arriving in the United States. Yet Bogut has endured an injury-ravaged career, such that some query whether he ever truly lived up to his potential.
Season-ending misfortunes have dotted Bogut’s time in the competition, from a horror elbow, wrist and hand combination to a fractured ankle. While the big-man insists that he is unlucky rather than injury prone, Bogut has not played a full season since his rookie year.
Recovering from injury after injury has taken its toll on the Melburnian – he has even lost some feeling in one hand – but Bogut is not giving up lightly. He declared last year: “I’ll just keep fighting through it. I’m not a quitter.” And battle through the pain he has, appearing 67 times this season to become the Warriors’ “lynch-pin” and earn a spot on the NBA’s all-defensive second team.
Much like Dellavedova (who only collected nine points and one assist in game two), Bogut’s box score numbers often belie his true impact. While season averages of 6.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game are healthy, Bogut is an essential cog in the Golden State engine far above and beyond those statistics – organising their resolute defence and facilitating offensive space for Curry and Klay Thompson. Plus, as the former explained when accepting his Most Valuable Player award: “AB, Andrew Bogut, he’s our eraser, man.”
The ascent of Bogut and Dellavedova to the finals caps a record-breaking year for Australian basketball. Despite a middling Boomers performance at the World Cup in September, the 2014-15 NBA campaign saw a record seven Australians suit up during regular season and five progress to the playoffs (excluding dual national Irving). Patty Mills, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles and Dante Exum made history sharing the floor when the Spurs hosted Utah, while for the second consecutive season an Australian is guaranteed to lift the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
The Antipodean contingent will soon swell further with Ben Simmons and Thon Maker set to enter the league. Both likely first round draft picks in 2016, LSU-recruit Simmons is projected to go as high as number one while the enigmatic Maker will attract plenty of suitors. If last year’s number five selection Exum continues to improve, Australia could pose a formidable threat at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
All of which raises an intriguing question: why are Australians excelling at basketball? While junior participation is certainly growing – basketball was the fourth most popular sport in 2012 – it lags behind Australian Rules, football, cricket and both rugby codes in terms of mainstream interest. Yet despite this relatively niche status, Australian basketballers punch above their weight as foreign representatives in the NBA, with the country boasting the third most players this season behind Canada and France.
One factor is undoubtedly the success of Basketball Australia’s recently-renamed Centre of Excellence, nestled at the Australian Institute of Sport in a leafy northern suburb of the nation’s capital. Designed in the 1980s as a response to the American college system, the program has become a finely-tuned conveyor belt of players ready to shine overseas. According to Paul Gorris, a coach who worked with Dellavedova at the Institute, this unique initiative has been instrumental in raising the standards of Australian basketball.
“We offer scholarships for 15- to 18-year-olds, and they come into a daily training environment with individualised programs for basketball, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology, physio – everything they need to become a professional athlete,” he says. “Nowhere else in the world offers such an environment: it is not about the wins and losses, it’s about them becoming world-class players.”
Now, six years since Dellavedova graduated and over a decade since Bogut left Canberra, the two alumni are meeting on basketball’s grandest stage, a long way from the cavernous main gymnasium of their youth. Controversy aside, Dellavedova has been amply rewarded for his hard work and determination. Bogut, meanwhile, has overcome injury and adversity to become a crucial if understated member of the Warriors’ golden team. Whichever player becomes the fifth Australian (and third Institute of Sport graduate) to earn a championship ring, both will be safe in the knowledge that basketball’s future in their country is bright indeed.
In an interview with the Guardian last August, a quote from Dellavedova’s former college coach was put to the guard: “He’s about as close to any guy I think I’ve ever coached that gets everything out of what he has.”
Dellavedova’s response was humble and heartfelt. “If I did not have that drive and dedication, I would not be playing for the Boomers or in the NBA,” he explained. “Ultimately that’s all you can do: commit everything and try to be as good as possible. If you do that – wherever it gets you, wherever you end up – you have to be happy, because there is nothing else you can do except give your best every day.”
Come what may in the finals, both Dellavedova and Bogut will return to Australia knowing that they gave their best following divergent routes to basketball’s pinnacle.
