MILWAUKEE (AP) -The Milwaukee Bucks went from having two Olympians to none.
Bucks center Andrew Bogut said Thursday he will miss most – or all – of the season after tests finally revealed a stress fracture this week in his bothersome lower back.
“I went from muscle spasms to a stress fracture, which is a bit disappointing, but one positive of it is we found what it is exactly,” Bogut said. “It’s a long healing process and I’ll get re-evaluated in eight weeks.”
Bucks guard Michael Redd, who won a gold with Team USA, is already out for the season due to torn ligaments in his left knee.
Bogut won’t be on the court at all in the coming weeks. He has no plans beyond rest through the NBA All-Star break while the Bucks, who are tied for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, must push on without their top two players after Redd was injured on Jan. 24.
na and all that,” said Bogut, who sprained his right ankle in the Olympics.
Bucks coach Scott Skiles said he’s not sure of the mentality of his injury-plagued team, which doesn’t play again until Saturday against Detroit.
“We need a little bit more out of everyone,” Skiles said. “We’re talking about what we want the mentality to be and then we’ll see if we can do that. The script is the same, it’s just the actors have changed.”
But the show could go from Broadway to back alley.
Milwaukee’s backups are centers Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric and forward Malik Allen. The trio is averaging 9.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game with 22 combined starts.
“It’s a tough loss. He’s our best defensive big man on the team, our No. 1 rebounder. The whole team has to step up,” said Elson, who has made three starts and is averaging 2.9 points per game. “We’re staying focused.”
The Bucks also traded point guard Tyronn Lue to Orlando for shooting guard Keith Bogans on Thursday to add depth to a thin rotation. It was the first of what could be many moves by new general manager John Hammond before the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
Bogut first hurt his back on Dec. 17 against Philadelphia and isn’t sure if the muscle spasms led to the stress fracture or was the trigger of them. But he said he’s glad he no longer has to worry after several MRI tests failed to show major problems.
is it was always there,” Bogut said. “It’s hard to say whether it happened when I first had the back problems or halfway through after the Houston game. Who knows? I’m guessing it was there pretty early and it just got gradually worse over time.”
Bogut took a hard charge against Houston on Dec. 31, but didn’t miss a game until Jan. 3. Since then, he’s played in just five of 18 games, trying in vain to come back each time.
“It just frustrated me that I rehabbed it three separate times and I came back three different times and hurt it the same way again,” said Bogut, averaging 11.7 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds. “The pain just got so great in the Atlanta game that I couldn’t really perform or do the things I really wanted to do out there.”
Bogut, who called the pain a stabbing sensation that’s a “10 out of 10” in intensity, played 16 minutes in that game, but missed Milwaukee’s loss at New Jersey on Tuesday night.
“It’s kind of like someone is sticking a knife in your back,” Bogut said. “If you expected it, the pain wouldn’t be as gradual, but when you don’t expect it, it’s the toughest thing to deal with.”
He said that there’s not many examples of his type of injury to draw from, saying doctors told him the majority of people who get stress fractures like his are teenagers who are in the process of growing quickly.
er, he said.
Bogut said he realized his body might have been more worn down than normal because of the Olympic experience, but said he would keep playing for Australia when he gets the opportunity.
“A lot of guys that played in the Olympics and played in the offseason are hurt at the moment or got hurt,” Bogut said. “It definitely does take a beating on your body, but a lot of athletes do it around the world.”
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