Ready for camp, Bogut on only way to avoid impact injuries: 'be a puss'

Never let it be said that Andrew Bogut isn't a fantastic quote.

Now in Oakland ahead of the Golden State Warriors official opening of training camp, Bogut has been getting in scrimmage work and is said to be surprising teammates by hitting the deck drawing charges in the pick-up action.

After all, Bogut is just returning from a fractured rib suffered late last season, the latest in a string of injuries that have limited him to 507 games in his nine-year career, an average of just 56.3 per season, which is a mere 70.2 percent of possible games. The causes have been myriad: the rib, a bruised pelvis, fractures to both ankles, and so on.

The way Bogut sees it, though, there's not much he can do about contact injuries. The only solution, well, that's not in Bogut's nature. As he told the San Francisco Gate:

My body feels great. All of my injuries have been of the high-impact variety. The only thing I can do to change that is to be a puss and avoid contact at all costs. Then, it’s the other side of the ball when people say I’m a puss. I’ll take the good with the bad. I’ll still take charges and go for blocked shots. Every now and then, I’ll get a knock.

Bogut being back at full health is paramount for the Warriors entering the season, but they'd probably agree that anything less than "Full Bogut" isn't the Bogut they know and value so highly.

Last season, the Warriors' defense allowed 3.1 points per 100 possessions fewer when Bogut was on the floor, and opponents shot an anemic 45.6 percent at the rim with the Aussie defending. It's unclear, though, how those numbers would change if Bogut decided "to be a puss."