What is the single most important key to the Golden State Warriors making the playoffs is a healthy Andrew Bogut. They need him in the middle. And not just him, but the him of three years ago before his elbow injury and surgery, the Bogut that was one of the better young centers in the game.
So, that means this from CSNBayArea.com is not ideal:
“That’s my goal,” Bogut said when asked if he thought he’d be fully back by the Phoenix game. “I definitely want to be ready for training camp, and I think it will be close. But I think I’ll definitely be ready for the first game. So the immediate goal with all of this is to be ready for the first game, whether that means only playing in only half the preseason games or whatever or just being smart.
“It’s about being smart with my ankle. There’s no point in trying to get ready for October 1st, when another week might significantly help. I’m trying to get ready for camp, but my main goal is to be 110 percent for the first game of the season.”
That is all very sensible. And Bogut talks about the progress he’s made. The only concern is that the ankle surgery caused him to miss the end of last season and then the Olympics this summer, so this has not been a quick process. Again, it would be smart not to push Bogut and his ankle too hard in the preseason, but they need him out there some in training camp because this is a very different Warriors roster this year and they don’t have a big margin for error.
Bottom line for me — if the Warriors don’t get 70 games out of Bogut and Stephen Curry the Warriors dreams of the playoffs are dead. And even if they get those games it will be tight.