Foot injury leaves Bucks' Bogut questionable for London Olympics

NBA BOSTON—Another year, another tough injury for Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, who has been out since Jan. 25 with a broken right ankle. Bogut has played just 12 games this season, the fourth straight year he has missed at least 13 games—and, at this point, that litany of injuries is enough to put into doubt Bogut’s ability to play for Australia in this summer’s Olympics in London.

Coach Scott Skiles was asked Wednesday about Bogut’s status for this year’s Games. Australia has already qualified for the Olympics and, with Bogut and point guard Patty Mills, was hoping for a strong showing. Skiles did not sound sure about whether Bogut should play, especially coming off a foot injury, which can be particularly tough for big men.

“I think it is very difficult,” Skiles said before the Bucks' game against the Celtics here at TD Garden. “There’s a lot of issues when it comes to that. It’s very difficult to ask someone not to play for their country. I understand that. The other issue is, players take a lot of money to play for their teams, so, it’s a gray area. Andrew is obviously a huge part of our team, he is also a huge part of that team. Those are difficult questions, I don’t have an easy answer for that.”

Skiles did say that Bogut’s rehab is on track, and there is a chance he could play again this season. He stopped short of saying Bogut is ahead of schedule, though. “I would not go that far,” Skiles said. “He had a scan done recently and it showed he was where they thought he should be. So there was no setback. He is going to have another one in three or four weeks. Hopefully that one will show that he is healing up nicely. He won’t be cleared at that point, I don’t think. So you know, we’re at March 1 and we have one more month, we’ll have to see where we are and where he is and how long it’ll take him to get back.”

Skiles has been Bogut’s coach for four years, and has seen him suffer some difficult injuries. At the end of the 2010 season, Bogut got tangled with Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire and hit the floor out of position, dislocating his elbow, an injury that kept him out of the playoffs and hindered him for the following season. Then came this year’s foot injury, when he came down awkwardly while going for a rebound.

“You feel for him,” Skiles said. “He got a breakaway layup, went up to dunk the ball and Amare inadvertently got under him and he had a terrible injury that affected almost all of last year. He was playing very well in the Houston game, and he just kind of made a second effort on the ball and broke his foot. It would be frustrating if it is was something where a guy is in poor condition and blows a hamstring. Things like that. But that’s not who he is, it’s just out of everybody’s control.”