Bogut praises Delly's boom impact

Australian basketball legend Andrew Bogut says very few players can have an immediate impact on games like Matthew Dellavedova.

Warming the bench for much of the night against the USA on Tuesday morning, Dellavedova stepped onto the court in the final quarter for just four minutes. But he quickly made his presence felt.  

“This is my point coming into the tournament as to why Delly’s in the lineup … he played four minutes and he had two rebounds, two assists and a steal,” Bogut said on The Gold Standard podcast.

“Delly just flies off the bench like a bat out of hell. He’s up and in within the first seconds he’s on the court. That’s why he’s on this team in this 11th or 12th man role, because you can count on him to come in and create some problems.”

Dellavedova went +8 during his short stint, the best of any Australian player in the game.

If there were any doubts over his Olympic selection after missing last year’s World Cup, the 33-year-old put those to rest in a matter of seconds.

Bogut said the Melbourne United star was the perfect role player for coach Brian Goorjian, but the team faced some challenges on how to rotate fellow veteran Joe Ingles. 

“Joe (Ingles) played the same amount, three minutes, and zeros across the line … Delly’s a guy you can put in for a couple of minutes at a time, and I think Joe’s a little bit harder to put in for spot minutes,” he added. 

“He’s (Ingles) an older guy, plays at a slower pace, probably takes him time to get in the flow and get warm.”

The Boomers ran the USA to within six points, with an impressive second half display setting the tone for Wednesday morning’s fixture against Serbia.