Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson says he will do his best to chase away NBL star Andrew Bogut if the Sydney Kings centre tries to eavesdrop on his huddle again.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gleeson copped a $500 fine from the NBL for pushing Bogut in the chest when the NBA champion tried to listen in on an impromptu Wildcats huddle during the Kings' 77-72 win in Sydney last week.
Because it wasn't an official timeout, Bogut was within his rights to stand wherever he wanted on the court.
Bogut grabbed Gleeson's wrist during the incident but he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The teams will lock horns again at Perth Arena on Friday night and Gleeson says he will probably do "the same thing I did last game" if Bogut attempts to infiltrate the Wildcats huddle.
"I'll shoo him away," Gleeson said.
"Hopefully the 'Red Army' (Wildcats fans) will help me and direct him towards the bench he needs to go to and the coach he needs to listen to.
"We'll just tell him we're putting him in the pick and roll. That's fine. We'll have something ready for him."
Gleeson said there were no lingering ill feelings from his run-in with Bogut.
"It was more of the hand was out there to (get him to) stay away," Gleeson said of the incident.
"Then he grabbed it and wouldn't let go, so I said, 'Get out of here'.
"Thirty seconds later we smiled about it and had a bit of fun with it. There was no malice in there at all.
"If I had have known he wanted to listen to me talk that much, we could have offered him a contract.
"I'll ask him this week if he wants to join our huddle at halftime. He can come in and listen."
Bogut has been in hot form in recent weeks, and looms as a key player in Friday's blockbuster.
The Wildcats lead the league with a 11-2 record but the Kings (7-4) have closed the gap.
Gleeson said Bryce Cotton's injured thumb has been improving by the day but the star American will have to continue to manage the complaint.
"Basically if he didn't have a couple of tendons hanging on, he would have had surgery," Gleeson said.
Cotton didn't play in Sydney's win over Perth last week and Kings coach Andrew Gaze said it would be a tough job to limit the influence of the reigning MVP.
"There's a little asterisk next to our win at home because they never had Bryce Cotton," he said.
"That's going to be a challenge for us."
Australian Associated Press
