OAKLAND -- The Warriors and their fans shouldn’t have to cross their fingers and wish for Andre Iguodala’s good health this season. He believes he’s ready for the worry train to slow down, if not stop.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt since I got here,” he told NBC Sports Bay Area after practice Monday.
Iguodala, acquired by the Warriors via trade in July 2013, missed 18 games last season, and another six in the playoffs with a knee injury. Even early in the season, there were times when he appeared to be laboring, which led to whispers about whether it was physical or chronological.
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He is, after all, 34, and a 14-year veteran of almost 900 games.
But Iguodala showed plenty of youthful zest and bounce in the preseason opener last Saturday. He ran the court like a thoroughbred and took flight for a one-handed jam of lob pass by Quinn Cook, providing visual proof to such skeptics as general manager Bob Myers.
“I’ve been telling [Myers] for a while now that I’m finally healthy,” Igoudala said. “I told him to just watch. I finally had a summer where I had a chance to recover. I wasn’t running around too much. I had a chance to really rehab, so it was good.”
Iguodala undergoes platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy on his knees every offseason, and this time he practically limped in at the earliest opportunity. The Finals ended on June 8, the parade was on June 12 and he was in Los Angeles a couple days later.
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“They were able to be a little more invasive, go deeper, so it’s been more effective,” he said. “It’s been a few years since I’ve felt this good.
“I still have a few aches and pains, but they don’t linger. And when I do have them I can come in here [to the team facility] and get rid of it in like 10 minutes. Before, I just had to play through it. Or play around it.”
While the Rockets believe Chris Paul’s absence due to a hamstring strain kept them from eliminating the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors believe losing Iguodala for four games robbed them of a chance to win in five or six.
Though that debate will linger at least until the teams meet again in the postseason, Iguodala and the Warriors hope that bit of history is not repeated.