The Bucks are being cautious with center Andrew Bogut, who missed half of last season because of a lower back injury.

Milwaukee will open training camp next Tuesday and it remains to be seen how much the center will be able to participate. The team's goal is to have him ready for their Oct. 30 regular-season opener in Philadelphia.

"I still have a ways (to go)," Bogut told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "But in saying I have a ways to go ... it's going to be an everyday thing for me for the rest of my life to keep my back strong. It's not going to be like, OK, now that I've rehabbed my core and have gotten it strong, I can just get back to playing basketball.

"That's probably the most tricky part for people who have these injuries ... rehab the hell out of it and get back and then a week or two weeks or three or four, you feel 100% and you feel you can (conquer) the world and can kind of forget about the things you were rehabbing. ... Probably the biggest focus that I have is just making sure that I stay on top of things. There's still discomfort. It's something that's probably going to bug me this whole season and probably the rest of my life."

Bucks coach Scott Skiles is hopeful that he'll have his starting center on the floor when the 2009-10 season begins.

"He's on his way to 100%, trying to get there," said Skiles. "We're trying to be smart about it. We don't want to do anything at this time of year where we're putting too many stresses on him, where he has some kind of setback. There will be times where, Michael (Redd) and he both, where all the way up to opening night, I may as a precaution hold them out of a certain practice or an exhibition game. But not because there's anything wrong with them. Just to make sure we're not putting too much stress on him because the goal is to be ready for the start of the season."