Kelley L. Cox – USA Today Sports Images
Last season, the Golden State Warriors made a bold move by trading away Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks. The main piece of the package they got in return was Andrew Bogut, who was injured at the time and was injured until late January of the 2012-2013 NBA season.
In acquiring Bogut, the Warriors were hoping that they would eventually be able to run out a center that was effective on both ends of the floor. When he first returned to action, though, he was hardly effective in any sense, but no one really held that against him because he was still recovering from the injury and getting back into game shape.
After playing on and off for two months now and playing 13 straight games this month, Bogut should finally be returning to full health and to his peak form. The problem is that hasn’t exactly been the case. Bogut still isn’t the force that Golden State would like him to be. For instance, over the last five games he has averaged just 7.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.
Bogut’s offensive game just hasn’t seemed sound, even if he has shot 51.4 percent over that five-game span. Part of that is due to the fact that the Warriors have so many offensive options, particularly at the guard position, but it’s also that Bogut still isn’t playing like he used to. That issue is even evident defensively. His blocks per game average is solid, but he still remains relatively slow on rotations and is caught out of position here and there.
In his best season with Milwaukee, Bogut averaged 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game on 52 percent shooting. If he were able to produce at a level closer to that, that would make this Warriors team scary dynamic. They would have options all over the floor that could cause opponents trouble. Perhaps he’s still getting used to the flow of the game after his long absence, but he still hasn’t shown that he’s the player that Golden State thought they were trading for.
Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
