I'm sorry to report that those look to be beyond redemption. They are dead.

Donald, your friend had them dug directly out of the ground and they've been potted up by you or someone else? When did this occur?

Just curious...they look like goners to me, too. Gardengal, any idea what kind of shrub these are?

Haven't a clue, rhizo :-) They are too far gone to be identifiable. They don't even look like the same species in the 'after' photo. Got some hefty telephone pole trunks, tho.

If dug and potted recently, I'd guess they just lost too much of their root mass and were unable to compensate.

for a plant with that size of trunk ... i would have tried to dig a root mass ... at least double what is seen in that pot .. if not 3 times ...

by which point.. i would not have been able to get it out of the old location .. lol ... due to shear weight ... let alone drag it to a new home.. and pot it up ...

though.. looking at the first pic.. due to the pool .... there might not have been enough space to get more of the roots ...

ken