Goin’ Back To M’Waukee: Andrew Bogut Squad 6 Was As Rowdy As Warriors’ #Roaracle

(Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle)

Andrew Bogut will return to Milwaukee today for the first time as an opponent since being traded to the Golden State Warriors on March 13, 2012.

Bogut was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in 2005.

Although his scoring has decreased since his Milwaukee tenure, he’s still showing how valuable he is to the Warriors as their defensive anchor.

Bob Myers truly appreciates Bogut’s commitment to improving the Warriors’ defense as a whole. Myers told Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that he loves how Bogut sacrifices his body, plays with an edge, and still directs his teammates on defense no matter what the score is.

“Nobody does that kind of stuff,” Myers said. “I think he’s grabbed onto that identity. It’s huge that he embraces it, because we need it. Every team needs it. I can tell you that any team in the NBA would love to have him, because all he does is help you win.”

Bogut has had such a strong impact on the Warriors’ defense and overall play this season, mostly because he’s finally healthy. He’s dealt with many injuries over his career, including last season when he was still recovering from the fractured left ankle that he had when the Warriors traded for him:

The good news for the Warriors is that Bogut has played in 35 out of 36 games this season, and the only game he missed was due to a one-game suspension. Bogut is finally healthy this season, and it’s apparent that he’s really enjoying being out on the court with his teammates.

He told Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group that he hopes the Warriors can continue this streak today against the Bucks, even if it does mean beating his former team.

“I definitely do want to get the win — just like any other win,” Bogut said. “I think within all this it’s more important to get the win just to keep the streak going than it is to beat Milwaukee.”

Even though Bogut is focused on helping the Warriors get a win today, he still couldn’t deny to Durkin that he’s excited to go back to Milwaukee and play the team that drafted him.

“I still have a special place in my heart for Milwaukee,” Bogut said. “I went through adolescence to late teenage years to growing into a man in Milwaukee so it’ll always have a special place in my heart. I believe I still have a lot of fans there. I have a lot of respect for the city. There will be a little bit of boo birds, a little bit of both. That’s just the way it goes. I’m excited to go there and see people that I spent my first eight years of my career with.”

When he was in Milwaukee, Bogut bought season tickets for a fan group called “Squad Six” (Bogut wore the number 6 during his tenure with the Bucks). Chris Sheridan once spent a day with them:

7:42 p.m.: The Bucks score their first basket of the night, and Squad 6 tosses up thousands of pieces of ripped up newspaper, the confetti drifting forward onto the laps and into the beverages of the folks sitting in nearby seats. Squad 6’s seats go unused all night, as members are required to stand throughout the game.
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7:50 p.m.: I feel like an old man at spring break as I explain to one member the correct way to do the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant, using a single “Aussie” and a single “Oi” in Verses 3 and 4 before returning to a full “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie; Oi, Oi, Oi” chant for Verse 5. One of the Squad 6 members notes that an Australian tourist made the same point to him at a concession stand earlier this season. (Side note: I once witnessed a group of 50 Americans spontaneously break into this chant at the baggage carousel inside Kennedy Airport in 2000 upon the completion of a 23-hour flight home from Sydney.)
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10:30 p.m.: After the game ends, Squad 6 retires to its pre-arranged postgame pub, Fitzgibbons, where more revelry and storytelling ensues. One member complains that the league is keeping too close of a watch on the group, even banning them from holding up foam hands on which four fingers are held up and a fifth, the ring finger, is bent down. The Eddy Curry versus Dan Gadzuric debate continues between myself and squad members Patrick O’Brien and Jacob Anderson, the Bucks’ Blue Edwards era is dissected, and one member recalls the pre-Squad 6 days when he heckled Jalen Rose just after Rose had a pair of $100,000 earrings stolen from his locker. “Hey Jalen, for Fan Appreciation Night they’re having a raffle, and first prize is your earrings.” That one, I am told, got a big smile out of Jalen.

At the arena, Squad6 was a rowdy bunch that made Bogut proud:

Thus far, the Cavs have been the only team to voice an official complaint with the league office, questioning whether the crazies decked out in Bucks regalia, from Alcindor jerseys to red sombreros, had violated operations guidelines by blowing air horns when the Cavs were shooting free throws.
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Squad 6 was found not guilty after it was determined that the offending noisemaking devices were actually devices that look like elongated bugles and are called “stadium horns.”

And here’s why Milwaukee will always have a special place in Bogut’s heart:

But Squad 6 has brought a new, energetic dynamic to the arena, and Bogut hopes he has planted a seed that will continue to grow for years.
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“We haven’t had great years, and the fans have been down on the Milwaukee Bucks the last couple years, and rightfully so,” Bogut said. “On a Tuesday night in winter and it’s 10 degrees outside and the kids have school the next day, we’re not fortunate like L.A. or New York who have tourists who will come. We don’t have that, so I thought let’s get some people in that building that’ll keep it rocking whether there’s 10,000 people there or 18,000 people. They’re going to be there every game and provide a great atmosphere.”

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