Bogut at center of attention

NEW YORK — Sixteen potential NBA draftees met with a horde of mediafolk Monday afternoon at the Westin Hotel near Times Square, but none could answer the questions everyone wanted to know most.

Who will be drafted where and by whom at tonight's NBA Draft (5 p.m.. ESPN) at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden?

Andrew Bogut doesn't know. His father, Michael, doesn't know. And Bogut's agent, David Bauman, doesn't know. They are all hoping that the Utah all-American will be the No. 1 pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, but they haven't been given any assurances that it will happen and don't expect to know before tonight.

Then there are three point guards who might be drafted by the Utah Jazz. Each said he would be honored to be drafted by the Jazz, but said it didn't matter who drafted them and that they had no preferences.

The Jazz hope to draft either Illinois' Deron Williams or Wake Forest's Chris Paul, with North Carolina's Raymond Felton also under consideration. With the No. 6 pick, at least one of the three is expected to be available when the Jazz hit the clock. The Jazz especially covet Williams, although they would likely have to make a trade to have a chance at drafting him.

The Jazz would also love to draft Bogut, who spent the past two years in Salt Lake at the University of Utah, but he'll be long gone by the time they pick.

Bogut is expected to go No. 1 to Milwaukee or No. 2 to Atlanta and has in fact been told by Atlanta that the Hawks wouldn't pass him up. However, the Bucks haven't made such a commitment, either because they haven't quite made up their minds or don't want to show their hand early on picking Bogut or North Carolina's Marvin Williams.

"Definitely I want to go No. 1," said Bogut, changing his tune on what he told the Salt Lake media 10 days ago when he said it didn't matter.

"Milwaukee is a great city that I would fit into pretty easily. It's a little bit bigger than Salt Lake, which I liked. I don't like the big city, the crazy-type city. (Living in Milwaukee) would definitely be a plus for me off the court."

Bogut was surrounded by up to 50 reporters and cameramen during the half-hour session and he handled dozens of questions dealing with his background in Australia to his college experience to how he's going to spend the money he'll get from being a top draft pick.

Before the interview session, Bogut's father was sitting on a couch in the Westin lobby, trying to avoid the media throng, particularly from Australia, which has been pestering the Bogut family for the past few days.

Michael said Milwaukee hasn't given his son any assurances it will draft him and feels it will be like last year's draft when no one knew for sure if Dwight Howard or Emeka Okafor would be picked by Orlando.