Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut voluntarily decided to come off the bench with his team running a rough start. He knows the he and Dirk Nowitzki should not play together when one of them has to guard a fast 4 like Trevor Ariza in their game against the Houston Rockets. The experiment did start out pretty good with the Mavericks beating the Washington Wizards, 113-105.
According to Dallas News, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle did not like Andrew Bogut as a sixth man because he is a proud guy who wants to win. The only downside was Bogut limped to the bench after collecting six rebounds and one block in 20 minutes of action.
The Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN, got outscored by 62 points in the 53 minutes that both Bogut and Nowitzki played together. Bogut expressed his concern that Harrison Barnes would be more effective than Nowitzki playing power forward because Dirk is 38 which would present a mismatch in speed.
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki still believes that the lineup with him at the 4 and Bogut at the 5 would be effective if he is completely healthy. He has been limited to nine games this season due to soreness in his right achilles tendon.
The Dallas Mavericks are still in the bottom of the Western Conference, but they hope this change along with a friendly schedule this month will get them back in the playoff hunt.
Bogut says the experiment of him coming off the bench for the Dallas Mavericks will go on for three or four more games and they will see what they will do from there. He thinks both of them can't be on the floor at the same time unless they play a team that plays two traditional big men together.
Check out this video that contains highlights of the Dallas Mavericks/Washington Wizards game:
