Warriors coach Mark Jackson said after Tuesday’s practice that center Andrew Bogut will not join the team on the three-game road tip this weekend.
MARK JACKSON: “We’re going to stay true to the rehab and try to get him as strong as possible. When he’s ready, he’ll play. But he won’t be on the trip.”
That means Bogut will be out longer than initially announced. On Thursday, Jackson revealed that Bogut was being shut down for 7 to 10 days so he could focus on rehab and strengthening his surgically repaired left ankle. But since Jackson ruled him out for the road trip, Bogut will miss at least 12 days and six games.
The plan was to re-evaluate Bogut at the end of that 7 to 10 days and make a plan from that point. Wednesday is the seventh day, so Bogut was never expected to play. But the initial timetable, which had suggested there was a chance Bogut could play on the coming road trip, perhaps Sunday at Oklahoma City or Monday at Dallas.
But even after the Warriors get back from the trip, don’t expect Bogut to hope right back in.
Team sources said all parties involved are resolved to hold Bogut out of action until he’s 100 percent. The last thing they want is for him to return to action then have to sit out again.
It seems unlikely he’ll be back before December and it is fathomable he could be out through the remainder of 2012 since the goal is for him to get to 100 percent.
The standard for Bogut now, having gotten to test his ankle in games, is no longer for it to be healthy enough for him to be on the floor. The goal is to get him healthy enough for this ankle to not be an issue again. No one is ruling out Bogut returning next week even, but Golden State management is prepared for an elongated stint without Bogut, even until 2013 if that’s what it takes.
To many, however, such a short period on the shelf never seemed realistic — especially since Bogut said he wanted to come back when he could move around like he wanted and play more than 20 minutes. In his first four appearances as a Warrior, Bogut averaged 6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18.3 minutes. He said he grew frustrated with being limited as he wasn’t able to push off his left ankle.
Jackson, on Tuesday, seemed to want to do away with speculating on Bogut’s return.
JACKSON: “We are going to continue to rehab and when he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. I don’t even think it makes sense to put a number on it. We’re not going to force a timetable. We’re just going to use wisdom.”
No, he won’t make the trip. No. We’re going to stay truye to the rehab and try to get him as strong as possible. When he’s ready he’ll play, but he won’t be on the trip.