AJ Ogilvy: A Career Retrospective

Written for nbl.com.au by Tom Hersz

Success can be measured in many different ways.

It can come from achievements, accolades, from reaching your goals, or just from finding happiness. Everyone measures success in their own way, but at the end of the day how we see ourselves is the only measure that really counts.

AJ Ogilvy announced his retirement from professional basketball on Sunday night. After a 12-year career that saw him play across Turkey, Spain, Germany, Puerto Rico, Iran, Greece and of course Australia, Ogilvy simply said “The time has come for me to hang up the boots.” He went on to thank the Illawarra region for welcoming him and providing a home for the past seven years before signing off with “It’s been real.”

Ogilvy played eight seasons and 218 games in total in the NBL, with career averages of 9.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals per game, but that understates his impact during his peak years. He made the All-NBL First Team three times in his first four NBL seasons and his teams made the playoffs in four of his eight seasons.

He also played successfully across Europe after a successful three-year Collegiate run at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

It would seem he was always destined for a solid pro career, but that wasn’t something he thought about growing up through the Hills Hornets Association in Sydney.

“I don’t know that there was a conscious point where I started thinking in terms of making a living from basketball,” Ogilvy told NBL Media on Monday. 

“I kind of just continued playing basketball and no-one stopped me. My dream was always to play at a Collegiate level in the U.S.

“So, obviously [I] was playing junior national tournaments and went to the AIS from there to College, and just got scouted from there to go pro. But I don’t think there was ever a point where I think I can put my finger on to say this is the turning point where I think I can make dollars from basketball.”

Ogilvy began his freshman season at Vanderbilt in a flurry. He had 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in his first game and his team won 16 straight games to start the season. He started all but one game as a freshman, scored in double-digits in all but two games, scored 20 or more points 11 times and set a new record for Vanderbilt freshmen in scoring with 578 points. 

Ogilvy led all SEC freshmen in scoring, was named to the SEC All-Freshmen Team and earned second-team All-SEC honours.

That wasn’t really the norm for Aussie kids in those days. Sure, Andrew Bogut did it, but most Aussie kids were either playing in lower-level conferences or sitting on the bench as freshmen.

But Ogilvy landed in Nashville expecting to play a big role.

“I knew I’d play well on my team,” he explained. 

“I took a visit to Vanderbilt before I committed and so I was able to see what the team was like and knew that I’d be a focal point of their offence. My whole thing about going over there was I didn’t want to be over in the U.S. and sitting on the bench behind a bunch of upperclassmen that I wouldn’t play in front of, which is how I trimmed the list of schools I wanted to visit down to. 

“Because if you’re going to be that far away from home, you want to be playing. There wasn’t a dominant centre there that they were insistent that I’d play behind, so I knew going into it that I’d have an opportunity to play minutes, but I don’t know that I felt it would be as good as quickly as it was.”

After three years and averages of 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, Ogilvy decided to turn pro and declared for the 2010 NBA Draft. He had some late first-round buzz, but his name was never called on draft night. He played Summer League for the Chicago Bulls and ultimately signed with Besiktas in Turkey where he began his pro career.

The style of play he faced in that first year was very different to what he was used to from his time in the SEC.

“It was chalk and cheese,” Ogilvy said. 

“The college game is so athletic, and everyone is so bouncy and young. My first job overseas in Turkey, there were a lot of older guys in the league and I was able to outrun people to score baskets because I was that bit younger and [had] fresh legs. 

“So, that wasn’t as much of a transition as I thought it would be. Especially the SEC at the time was just full of guys that could jump out of the gym and kind of 6’8, 6’9 big men that were all skin and bone, no muscle, and it was completely different to going over to Europe and playing against big, physical, strong guys.”

Ogilvy spent the next two years in Spain with Valencia and then Germany with Brose Baskets, where he felt a little more at home with the style of play.

“Again, each of those leagues were different,” he continued. 

“In Spain it was kind of back towards that college style of game; a bit faster pace, a bit better players there. And obviously Germany, at the time I was there you were allowed six imports on each team, so there were a lot of Americans in the league, which was getting closer to the College game because there were so many Americans on each team. 

“All very different, unique experiences.”

Ogilvy however, enjoyed those early years of his career. He was named an All-Star in Turkey and went on to win a championship in the German Bundesliga in his third season. 

He was also playing for stable, successful clubs so some of the issues that other Australians had faced in Europe over the years, things like not getting paid, poor living conditions or being stuck in bad situations were not things that Ogilvy had to contend with.

“I was pretty lucky overall,” he acknowledged. 

“I landed in Istanbul first up, which doesn’t happen for everyone. Often you go into smaller cities in Russia or somewhere like that where it’s not an established city. When I was there, Istanbul was very Westernised. They had a lot of malls that had American shops, so it made that transition a bit easier. 

“We did have some struggles with guys not getting paid and sitting out practices and stuff because the club was playing games and not paying people. But I kind of knew that going into it so, [it] wasn’t too stressful. 

“The other years, there was a lot of coaches being fired and new coaches, that sort of stuff in Spain, but the financial side was all great thankfully. In Germany, I had a great experience. We ended up in the top 16 of EuroLeague and progressed on to win the German league, so there wasn’t too much trouble there. 

“All my experiences over there were pretty good, especially compared to some of the other ones guys had in Lithuania and small towns here and there. I was very lucky actually.”

Ultimately, he landed in Wollongong and aside from some brief overseas stints, he’s basically been there ever since. Ogilvy became a feature of those Hawks teams under Rob Beveridge, making the semi-finals in 2016 and then going to the Grand Final in 2017. 

In the process, he was named to the All-NBL First Team in both of those seasons.

That Grand Final appearance was the Hawks' first since the 2009-10 season and they did it the hard way. After starting the season at 1-5, they finished in fourth place at 15-13. They dropped the opening semi-final game, but then took two straight against the top seeded Adelaide 36ers to advance.

Despite how that team came together under Beveridge, and it being his only trip to an NBL Grand Final, Ogilvy doesn’t believe that was the best team he played on in the NBL.

“It was an unbelievable team for that period of the NBL,” he explained. 

“The league has gotten so much better in my time in the league. You look at it when I was in my first year with the Hawks and it was a single import team. We made it to the semi-finals and we only had one import, where if you had that now, most teams would probably finish dead last. 

“So, the quality of imports, the quality of the league has gone through the roof. To that date, it was the best team I’d played on. 

“Rotnei [Clarke], Marvelle [Harris], Nick [Kay] and Norto [Mitch Norton] and then Oscar [Forman], Rhys [Martin] and those guys that had been at the Hawks forever. But if you look at it now, probably not the best team I’ve played on. 

“The last two years we’ve had some pretty incredible players on our team. Talent-wise, this team the last year was probably the most talented that I’ve played on. I don’t know that we always played to our potential. I think if we had have hit our potential and played the way we knew we could, we would have almost been unstoppable. 

“But we ran into Sydney who were just unbelievable; I truly believe Sydney was the only team that could have beaten us this year. So, to run into them in the semis was unfortunate this year. 

“There’s probably a little bit of recency bias, especially as I was captain of the team this last year, but watching the things we were doing at practice compared to my first few years at the Hawks, it’s far and above the most talented I played on.”

Of course, one thing from those early Hawks teams certainly stuck with him in terms of the impact it had on his career. His coach. 

When asked which coach influenced his career the most, Ogilvy wasted little time thinking about it.

“I’d have to say 'Bevo' [Beveridge],” he acknowledged. 

“He coached me in my juniors, coached me to two national championships in Under 20s and then obviously had me in the middle part of my career for four years there. 

“Even in between though, we were good personal friends so I’d talk to him a lot about basketball. He was very close with my family. So, I’d definitely say 'Bevo' in terms of my professional career. 

“But it was definitely nice to finish off with 'Goorj' [Brian Goorjian] as well. Spent a bit of time with 'Goorj' early on in my career with the Boomers back when he was coaching, but it was nice to end up playing for him. 

“Like I said, we’d go in and watch his Sydney Kings team play and when I was a bit older we’d go in and watch them practice too, and I was probably just a few years off actually practicing with him. 

“But, it was great to wind up full circle back with him.”

Both of those coaches featured in Ogilvy’s most memorable moments from his career. 

He couldn’t narrow it down to just one highlight, but the common thread was team success, both in the NBL and abroad.

“Making the Grand Final series with the Hawks was pretty special. I think for me both times we made the semi-finals after going into administration were pretty unique. 

“My first year with the Hawks they’d just gone through administration and thrown a team together and we were able to band together, play our guts out and make a semi-final. 

“And then after the LaMelo [Ball] year, a bit of a different situation with 'Goorj' and new ownership coming in, and same thing we had a couple of guys go down for different reasons and we just had to pull together and put the best effort forth that we could, and we were able to make the semi-final again."

Ask most pro basketball players and one of the things they’ll remember most fondly over their careers are their teammates. Ogilvy is no different.

He’s had some great teammates over the years, including a few who were with him on that Sydney Kings team in 2013-14 and then again with the Hawks. Guys like Cody Ellis, Kevin White and Jarrad Weeks are guys that he’s still friends with today. 

But there were others too that he really had fun playing with over the years.

“Obviously, Kev White and Cody who I spent a bunch of years with, Weeksy I’m still close with, but Oscar Forman, Tim Coenraad who I spent a lot of time with in Wollongong,” Ogilvy said. 

“Tyson Demos who I only spent one year playing with in Wollongong, but I grew up playing with Tys, we’ve known each other since we were eleven, so going full circle and being able to be on a professional roster with him was really exciting. We’re still very good friends. 

“Having those years, especially that first year at the Hawks where it was Cody, Tys, Kev and then Oscar, Timmy and those guys. Coming into a group of guys that knew each other as well as being able to mix with those guys that were part of the framework at the Hawks was great fun. 

“There are guys that have come in and out as well, but definitely the guys that it felt like we almost moved from Sydney together down to the Hawks, was a great experience.”

Despite only announcing his retirement on Sunday, Ogilvy has already laid out his post-basketball pathway. 

So what’s next for AJ Ogilvy?

“I’m about to go on a holiday here, which is pretty exciting,” he chuckled.

“But I’ve lined up a job to work in recruiting in Sydney, starting in September. So, step into the corporate world, do something a little bit different, which is pretty exciting and obviously won’t have all the excitement of professional sport, but will hopefully keep me excited in other ways.”

Ogilvy had a great basketball career. He retires as one of the best local big men the NBL has seen in the past decade and for mine, has always been a little under-appreciated to the average fan. 

But to those fans who cheered him on over the journey, especially those in the Illawarra region – the Hawkheads, he’s someone they will miss. 

That number six jersey that has been such a staple of Hawks basketball since 2015 will no longer be sprinting from baseline to baseline. It will no longer fly over from the weak side to help out a teammate defensively and block a shot. And it will no longer make big buckets down the stretch of games when his team needs it most.

But it will be one those Hawks fans will remember and hopefully one that basketball fans can look back on and celebrate.

Ogilvy only hopes he can be remembered the way he tried to conduct himself every day both on and off the court.

“As a great player and a great leader,” he said. 

“Whether that’s how they remember me, I guess that’s up to them, but that’s how I’d like to be remembered. If only it was up to me, right?”

Thank you AJ. It’s been real.