Festus Ezeli Return: Looking To Get His Rhythm Back At Vegas Summer League (Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account)
Throughout 2013-14 season, Golden State Warriors fans wondered when Ifeanyi Festus Ezeli-Ndule would come back to the roster and play. After taking one whole season off, Andrew Bogut‘s backup at center, Festus Ezeli, is now ready to face the 2014-15 NBA season along with his teammates and new head coach, Steve Kerr.
Ezeli will start off by playing at the NBA Summer League with second-year Warriors guard Nemanja Nedovic and center Ognjen Kuzmic, among the many undrafted free agents that will be on the roster in Las Vegas.
As a rookie in 2012-13, Ezeli played a handful of games including starting at center whenever Bogut was injured. The 30th pick out of Vanderbilt University posted a career-high 13 points against the-then New Orleans Hornets on January 19th, 2013.
However, Ezeli missed the entire 2013-14 season due to his knee injury sustained on April 17th during a game against the Portland Trail Blazers and having a knee surgery that July.
Ezeli appeared on KNBR’s Fitz and Brooks Show last month on June 10th, 2014 and talked about last season, traveling with the team on occasion and rehabbing.
“Not being able to play with my teammates on the court was very, very frustrating,” Ezeli told KNBR, “I thought I could always help, but as the season went on, talking to the veterans such as Bogut and Jermaine (O’Neal) a lot, the team has been supporting me a lot, and it has been a learning year for me and it’s a learning process.”
After being barely able to walk after the surgery, how close was Ezeli to coming back for the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers the following April, roughly ten months later?
“I could’ve come back there at the end, but the problem with that is it’s tough for players to come back at the end and just in the playoffs,” Ezeli disclosed, “The Warriors staff, trainers and stuff, we had to make the decision that it’s not time for me to come back and it would have been a waste of time to come back after all this time and rehab and be injured again. It was a tough call to make.”
As for Las Vegas, “They think it’s a good idea, so I probably will. Just go to Vegas, get some touches and get my rhythm back. Just get back to playing. Get back to being comfortable on the court.”
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