Bad News For The Rest Of The NBA, Boogie Is Inching Closer To His Return

Despite having a lonnnnnnnng way to go until we see Boogie actually play in a real NBA game, this is the first update we’ve gotten this season and I’m sure it makes Warriors fans a little giddy with excitement. The rest of us hate it, but you know those loyal Warriors fans deserve some good news. While most of their attention should be focused on the start from Steph Curry (30.5/5.0/7.8 on 52/47/83% and 5.5 3PM) given that he is on pace to break his own three point record this is going to be a storyline that probably intrigues me most when it comes to GS.

Now video progress of Boogie’s recovery has been few and far between. It started back in February when people still liked him

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and then picked back up in late August/early September when he confirmed his Splash Brother transfusion worked

Take it from someone who was on the injury rehab video beat last season, as a fan of this team you look for ANYTHING to give you any sort of excitement that the player will return to their old form. Now with Boogie, this is going to be tricky and that’s what makes this so interesting to me. This isn’t a blown ACL or a broken leg or anything like that. This is an achilles rupture, which basically has been the kiss of death of almost every big man who has had it. There are wing players that have come back and been like 90% of who they were before they got hurt, Wesley Matthews, Rudy Gay and Kobe come to mind, but with big men it’s simply different.

The closest thing I could compare to a 28 year old Boogie has to be Elton Brand. He’ll tell you this injury really derailed his career and he never quite got back to where he was pre-injury. He basicall went from a guaranteed 20/10 guy (like Boogie) to a player that struggled to get to 15/8 post injury, and he was the same 28 years old Boogie is. This isn’t to say that Boogie is going to have the exact same post injury career, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.

The good news is, this Warriors team doesn’t need pre-injury Boogie. Literally any version they get is going to make them even more impossible to stop come the Playoffs, and personally I hope he’s back to 100% and better than ever because he’s such an exciting player. He was having a monster year in NO before he got hurt, and you know he’ll be motivated since he’s hitting the market next summer. If I were to bet on it, I say we don’t see him until at least around the All Star break, that way he can have a few months to get into basketball shape and form at least a little bit of chemistry for the Warriors quest at a third straight title.

However, before we get there Boogie has to practice, and it looks like he’s inching that much closer to crossing that off his list.