Andrew Bogut emerges from a decade of doubt and discomfort

The first seven years of Andrew Bogut’s NBA career were just inconsistent enough to make the league forget he was once its most sought-after. Three years removed from Milwaukee, he’s a cornerstone to a franchise in the hunt for its first championship in 40 years.

By Andrew Pridgen

Andrew Bogut’s professional nadir happened on March 13, 2012 when 2005’s number-one overall pick became the center to be named later.

The rebuilding Golden State Warriors traded budding superstar guard Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for resident hothead Stephen Jackson. The teams also swapped a pair of underperforming centers: the argument-against-high-school-to-the-pros Kwame Brown for Melbourne-native Bogut, who was in imminent danger of playing his way back to the prison island.

For the playoff-hungry Warriors, Bogut was a consolation prize, a miniature troll doll pencil topper rather than a giant stuffed koala. The team, under new ownership and looking for a big…