Andrew Bogut played in 67 games last season for the Golden State Warriors. That’s not a lot, but it’s a significant improvement over the 32 games he played the year before, or the 12 he played in 2011-12.
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The Warriors are a much better team with Bogut in the lineup. When healthy, few are a better interior defender. The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Rusty Simmons reports from training camp that Bogut is feeling better than ever and he has no intentions of changing up his game to avoid injury.
"In a meaningless open gym scrimmage this week at the Warriors’ downtown Oakland practice facility, center Andrew Bogut risked his body and took a charge from Marreese Speights.As Speights was cursing Bogut for breaking pick-up game protocol by taking a charge, Bogut was going through a checklist of his own.Ribs: check. Back: check. Elbow: check. Ankle: check.“My body feels great,” said Bogut, who returned to working out in mid-June after his fractured rib healed. “All of my injuries have been of the high-impact variety. The only thing I can do to change that is to be a puss and avoid contact at all costs. Then, it’s the other side of the ball when people say I’m a puss. I’ll take the good with the bad. I’ll still take charges and go for blocked shots. Every now and then, I’ll get a knock.”"
New Warriors coach Steve Kerr has no plans on changing Bogut’s physical play, despite his injury concerns, and has met with the center over some new offensive opportunities.
A healthy Bogut can take the Warriors to the next level. But injuries have always been a real issue for him.
In fact, he’s only played 82 games in a season once–his rookie year in 2005-06. It seems like the best case scenario for the Warriors will Bogut playing around 60 games and being healthy for the playoffs.
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