Bogut already rich with endorsements

NEW YORK — Last summer, Andrew Bogut was driving an old, beat-up car and having to work at a restaurant to survive as a college athlete.

That will all change after tonight's NBA Draft, when Bogut will likely be the No. 1 pick.

Bogut will be a rich man when he signs his NBA contract worth several million dollars. He already signed a five-year contract with Nike and has deals in the works with Gatorade, Qantas Airlines and some financial services groups, according to Bogut's agent, David Bauman.

Although he has a lot of money coming his way, Bogut claims it doesn't mean that much to him.

"I don't really care about the money," he said. "I'm playing for the love of the game. All I need is a nice house and a nice car and to help my family with their needs."

NO DIET HELP: Illinois point guard Deron Williams is a player the Utah Jazz would love to draft tonight. Williams spent a week last month working out with former Utah coach Rick Majerus in his effort to get in better shape for the NBA Draft. The connection was that Majerus was a friend of Williams' high school coach.

When someone asked Williams if Majerus encouraged him to stay on his diet, in which he lost between 15 and 20 pounds since the end of Illinois' season, Williams cracked, "No, he was trying to get me to break it."

MAJERUS COMMENT: Perhaps Milwaukee isn't big enough for the two big men, because Majerus seems to be doing his darnedest not to have his former player play in his hometown.

In Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times, Majerus reiterated his belief that North Carolina's Marvin Williams will be a better NBA player.

"I know that's going against the grain of thought on the streets of Milwaukee these days, but that's what I honestly feel," Majerus said.

"And don't forget, I'm a long-term kind of basketball mind. I know all of the pluses with Bogut, and all of the minuses. Yes, he is a legitimate big man, and he will probably have more immediate impact than Williams, and maybe that's what the Bucks need. But I have long said — and I think I first said on ESPN last November — that I think Williams is special."

HELD BACK: Bogut didn't field any questions about Majerus, who recruited him to Utah and coached him his freshman year. But he did refer to him indirectly in talking about his college career at Utah.