ST. FRANCIS, Wis. – After a much-needed rest during the All-Star break, the Milwaukee Bucks got back to work Monday afternoon at the Cousins Center.
The time off allowed players a chance to let some nagging injuries heal and tired legs get a few days to recover.
Rookie Tobias Harris returned to practice after suffering a sprained right shoulder last week. Jon Leuer was out with illness and Stephen Jackson was held out due to a lingering hamstring injury.
Drew Gooden, though, expects to be back in the lineup Tuesday when the Bucks open the second half against Washington at the Bradley Center. The center missed Milwaukee's last four games with a torn ligament in his right wrist.
He took part in the full practice Monday and head coach Scott Skiles is planning on Gooden being ready to go Tuesday.
"He shot a lot of balls today so we'll have to see how his wrist reacts," Skiles said. "We did a lot of shooting today, coupled with a lot of live work."
Gooden said that though the injury isn't fully healed, he feels comfortable on the floor and that he's ready to play through the pain.
"I'm right-handed, so I'm going to get a lot of plays with my right hand," Gooden said. "That's the chance I'm taking by going out there and playing. It feels stable. That was the main concern, if it was stable enough to keep playing. I believe it is."
Second season: After posting a 13-20 record in the first half, the Bucks will try to turn things around and claw their way back into playoff contention. Gooden said the Bucks' record doesn't reflect the way they played in the first half but moving forward, they need to clean up plenty of mistakes if they plan to return to the postseason.
"A lot of those games were nail-biters and a lot of those games could have gone either way," Gooden said. "But the other thing is we can't look at that record right now. We want to have a better second half. I feel like we're 0-0 right now. Basically we have to reverse our record so we could be one of those .500 teams and able to compete in the playoffs."
Bogut returns: Injured center Andrew Bogut was at the facility Monday, wearing a walking boot on his fractured left ankle but moving around without the use of crutches.
Bogut will undergo another CT scan in about four weeks. The most recent exam revealed the ankle was healing normally and doctors have cleared Bogut to start lifting weights and participate in upper-body conditioning.
"It's healing correctly and there wasn't much movement," Bogut said. "I don't think this is one of those injuries that will have any repercussions, like my elbow. Once it heals, it heals."
He suffered the injury in a Jan. 25 game at Houston. Should the injury heal within the original time frame of 8-12 weeks, Bogut plans to return to action regardless of where the Bucks' sit in the playoff race.
"I'm paid to play," Bogut said. "If I'm 100 percent and there's only five games left, I'm going to play."
