There's a sense that Andrew Bogut set the table for the last decade of trends within Australian basketball.
From the national team, to college, the NBA, and finally the NBL, Bogut was the trendsetter; he wasn't always the first, but he made himself the standard-bearer for what basketball excellence from an Australian could look like.
"He showed a lot of Australian basketballers how much was possible," Jock Landale, Bogut's 25-year-old Boomers teammate, told ESPN.
It began in 2003, when the big man was named the Most Valuable Player in an unprecedented gold medal run from the Australian Emus at the FIBA under-19 World Cup. Australia isn't supposed to win junior world championships -- they're for the USA to dominate, historically -- but the Bogut-led team changed that.
"I first saw that glimpse of his potential greatness when he was playing with that Australian junior team at that World Champs," Andrew Gaze, an Australian basketball legend who coached Bogut at the Sydney Kings, told ESPN.
Gaze pointed out that the career Bogut would then forge at the University of Utah gets "overlooked" too often, and it's easy to see why he thinks that's the case. It's generally not the first, or second, or third thing people would bring up when discussing Bogut's career, but winning both Naismith College Player of the Year honours and the John R. Wooden Award is something that's reserved for only the most illustrious athletes. They're largely the ones you only need one name to identify - Bird, Jordan, Durant and, yes, Bogut.
Bogut didn't go on to be the first Australian to play in the NBA, but being the No. 1 overall pick was something that hadn't been done by anyone from his home country, and it's the thing the now-retired 36-year-old says he's perhaps most proud of.
"I think it set the pathway for the rest of these kids that we see, that it is achievable," Bogut told ESPN after he announced his retirement. "It wasn't something that we thought could happen. You'd be laughed out of a room if you suggested an Australian would even go top five. I'm very proud of that."
It was at that point when Bogut became the face of Australian basketball. It was clear, and warranted, and difficult to avoid.
"I would see him on the cover of the Aussie basketball magazines, and I think he was on the cover of Slam as well," Matthew Dellavedova told ESPN. "To me, the NBA was so far off in the distance. That was the dream. I didn't have that as a goal yet. I think it was more when I got to the Institute that that became a bit more realistic. Just him having the same success over there made it easier for the other guys coming through, and hopefully we just continue to get more and more Aussies over."
During his time in the NBA, it's easy to talk about Bogut's accomplishments. He won an NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 as starter on arguably the best team in league history, was named to the All-Defensive Second Team that same year, the All-NBA Third Team in 2010, and even led all players in blocked shots in 2011.
"At that time, the NBA was dominated a lot by Americans and Europeans, but Bogues started carving out that pathway for Australians to go through that league," Landale said.
"After him, it was when that whole flurry of players started; Patty (Mills), Delly, Ben (Simmons), and now you've got those young guys and Joey. I think Bogues paved that way for us. Obviously, we had Longers (Luc Longley) back in the day, but that was a while before Bogues. Bogues being the No. 1 pick set Australians up for greatness in the NBA, and it definitely shows, because a lot of guys end up making that transition now."
Off the court, he embraced his role as Australia's trailblazer and paternal figure in the NBA.
"I didn't know Bogues when I got to the league," Dellavedova said.
"My rookie year, we caught up for a dinner or two during the year, and told me that if I needed help with anything, to let him know. I got to know him a lot better with the national team from 2015 on."
Bogut demonstrated that same sentiment during his time with the Australian Boomers. Landale, a national team rookie, remembers a time sitting with Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Chris Goulding, and Bogut, and it was the latter who helped him assimilate to the veteran group.
"I was sitting there as this newcomer asking f---in' baby questions and stuff like that," Landale said. "I had to get over that whole fanboy side as quickly as possible, and Bogues actually really helped me with that. Having met him before, and my family had gone out to a game and he introduced himself to them in the locker rooms."
Then, there's the way he played the game.
It's not controversial to say that Bogut will go down as one of the best passing big-men in the history of basketball, and he was an elite rim-protector on top of that. Speak with those who played with him during the backend of his career, and you'll hear stories of a player who knew every play the opposition was running, calling out screens before they were even set.
Bogut was imposing on both ends of the floor, physically and vocally, and that was consistent throughout his entire career, even as his body began to give up on him.
"I could be picking up full court, and he could be down in the key on the other end, but I know and have complete trust that he's gonna call out any screen that is gonna be set, even if there's 20,000 people in the stadium," Dellavedova said.
On Bogut's inspired passing game, Dellavedova was even more complimentary: "He gets a lot of love and appreciation for that, but I still think it's underrated," he said. "Just the windows he sees. He doesn't just hit the open windows, he almost creates it with his eyes, and giving you a little head not to cut into space, and leading you to the open part of the court."
Landale remembers a practice game against Germany, ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, where a Bogut injury completely shifted the game on its head.
"The team kind of spiraled at that point," Landale said. "We didn't finish off the game how we started it, because we didn't have Bogut out there; being as loud and boisterous as he is, he's also a level-headed guy, kind of controls the pace of the team.
"He really instils a serious degree of confidence, and rightfully so. People might see that as arrogance, but you're amongst the sport and you see what he's done, the positions he's been in with NBA Finals and whatnot, it's not arrogance; it's just a cool, level-headed degree of confidence that demands the respect that it should.
"I feel as though having Bogues out there, we would walk into that game with a winning mentality straight away. I'm still not sold on the fact that he won't be at the 2021 Olympics, but I think that winning mentality and ego will definitely help us."
Bogut's short foray in the NBL may not be as widely publicized among the wider basketball community compared to his NBA career, but the impact of his mere presence can't be understated.
In 2018, Bogut signed a deal with the Sydney Kings, with an expectation of future ownership, and while he won the league's Most Valuable Player award in his first season, his effect could be more accurately measured by the sentiment he created.
"What he's done, is he's created a pathway," Kings owner, Paul Smith, told ESPN. "Not every current Australian playing in the NBA will be able to walk that path, but he demonstrated that it's achievable."
In one sense, there's the fact that the Kings were forced to match a certain standard that Bogut demanded. On the court, he wasn't afraid to be vocal and ask for more of his teammates; off it, he pushed the franchise to act like a more professional, NBA-type organization.
He wasn't afraid to call out the NBL and players association, too, demanding a certain quality that met his standards, because he knew that was best for his colleagues and overall growth of the league.
"He's just such a refreshingly interesting person, and very unique," Smith said.
"He's misunderstood, but he doesn't give a f---. He doesn't give a f--- about that. He's not here to please people. He knows he's polarizing - not intentionally - but he's not a person that craves approval.
"He's brought a level of rigour to the players association. He's impacted the player side of the equation. The question now is, how can he impact the ownership side of the equation? That's part of it. There's also the focus on Basketball Australia. I don't think we've seen the full impact of Andrew as an advocate, as a representative of the game of basketball in this country yet. Once he loses that shackle, he can move on to other things that interest him; he won't waste time on politics. He can make a difference, but he won't waste his time on politics."
Bogut and the Kings have yet to codify what his potential future ownership stake in the team will look like, but that's neither here nor there, when it comes to how the Victorian has made his mark for the present and future of the NBL.
In the same way Bogut is widely regarded as the person who paved the way for Australians to see the NBA as an achievable goal, he'll more than likely play the same role when it comes to his elite compatriots following his footsteps by returning to finish their respective careers in the NBL. Bogut has made it palatable for others to emulate his move to the NBL, and do so without judgment, all while lifting the profile of the league in a monumental way.
"For somebody who's obviously achieved a ton of success in the NBA, to come back to the NBL and just be a great ambassador for the league, not just in Australia, but around the world, is incredible," Dellavedova said of Bogut's return to the NBL.
"Over here in the NBA, a lot of people were asking questions and interested in learning more because he went back to play. Obviously, he had a huge impact, not just on the Kings but on the whole league in Australia. It's underrated, and I think the effect of him going there is going to continue to help the league for years to come; internationally, and in the US, and obviously the NBL's done a great job getting the Next Stars in there, and I think even with that, to have somebody like Bogut in the league, makes it easier for those guys to go there. It makes it easier for scouts to have more respect for the league.
"We all know how good the NBL is, but a lot of other people are aware of that now, and I think he has a big part in that."
That's been the through-line of Bogut's playing career: paving the way for others. Whether it's by his mere presence as an example of excellence in a path less traveled, or with his eyes with the ball in his hands at the top of the key before a needle-threading assist. The results that stem from his example might not be felt for years, but you can be sure that they'll come to the fore eventually; and the Australian basketball community isn't blind to that.