ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — An Andrew Bogut sighting took place Friday at the Milwaukee Bucks' training facility.
And it was a sight that had to please Bucks coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond.
The 7-foot center and former University of Utah star was running the court and taking part in a five-on-five scrimmage, and he was knocked to the floor several times during the workout but bounced quickly to his feet.
More than two weeks before the official opening of training camp, Bogut appeared to be making great progress in his comeback from multiple injuries to his right hand and arm.
"I still feel it's going to be a long process for me, but I've already been scrimmaging here the last couple days," Bogut said after the informal workout session. "Obviously, if I take a huge hit, I might be in some trouble for now.
"For a general tradesman, or if a general person does this, it's a six- to 12-month thing. It's never an easy thing if you break three things on one spot on your body. I did my rehab every day during the summer in Australia and Croatia and stayed disciplined with it five days a week."
Bogut's gruesome injury came on April 3 after he crashed to the Bradley Center floor following a fast-break dunk against Phoenix, when his hands slipped off the rim.
He suffered broken bones in his right wrist, a broken right index finger and a dislocated right elbow, and he had bone chips in the elbow. The injury required two separate surgeries, one on his hand and one on his elbow.
While Bogut's season ended with a painful thud, his teammates moved on to the Eastern Conference playoffs without him. The Bucks were not expected to put up much of a fight against the third-seeded Atlanta Hawks but grabbed a 3-2 series lead, before falling in seven games.
Bogut was playing well at the time of his injury, and he finished with team-leading averages of 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks over 69 games.
The sixth-year pro returned from Australia and received an encouraging prognosis from Bucks team physician Michael Gordon, who examined Bogut on Tuesday.
"I'm definitely ahead of where the doctors expected but still have a little bit to go," Bogut said.
Bogut wore a protective sleeve on his right arm and showed no problems shooting with his left hand as he muscled inside to score several times at the end of the workout session. But he said he's not confident shooting with his right hand yet.
"It's more my elbow, getting my full extension," Bogut said. "I still don't have my full range of extension like I have in my left hand, by about 5 degrees.
"I'm shooting the basketball (right-handed), but the ball is kind of going left, right, up, down. I'm shooting air balls. It will take some time, but I'm confident once it's good to go and I spend two or three extra weeks getting some shots up, it will be fine."
Bogut said his goal is to be ready for the Bucks' regular-season opener on Oct. 27 in New Orleans.
"If I can get through camp and get through exhibitions, I will," Bogut said. "But if I can't, I might have to miss some (preseason) games. The good thing about this injury is I can lift weights, and I can do conditioning. I have no excuse not to be in shape once they throw the ball up."
The cold winter weather in Melbourne did not prove conducive to Bogut's rehabilitation, but he started to make progress when he went to Croatia for a month-long stay.
"I was swimming every day and trying to do as much I could in the water, at the beach," Bogut said of his time in the resort town of Novalja. "It sounds like it's a holiday, but it was great rehab for my arm, just swimming.
"Salt water, nothing better than that. I started shooting over there, and that's when I had the setback. It puffed up a little bit and I stopped shooting. I just concentrated on conditioning and weights. Then I got back to Australia and was doing the same thing."
Other players working out Friday included point guard Brandon Jennings and veteran power forward Drew Gooden, who signed a five-year deal with the team in July.
"Am I shocked? Yeah, a little bit," Jennings said of Bogut's presence on the practice court. "There were all these rumors about him not being ready until training camp or after training camp.
"Just to see him out here playing, that's a very big sign right now for us."
Gooden also was impressed.
"If you ask me that question today, I'd say it looks like we'll have him," Gooden said. "He's been playing good; he's effective and he's getting his conditioning up. I think he's ready to make another step in his career.
"It's kind of tough having the kind of year he had last year and making it to the playoffs finally and he couldn't play. He's been hindered with some injuries throughout his career, and you know he wants it."