Playing Strong With Damp out, I'm getting a chance to show everyone how great my knee is doing. Against Minnesota I played 43 minutes and matched my career high with 20 points and a season high 16 rebounds!

Adonal's Analysis of the Warriors' Young Players

As one of the longest-tenured Warrior on the team, along with Erick Dampier, I have seen this team go through so many players. This year, being side-lined on the bench with my knee injury, I got a chance to see the progress of some of my younger teammates.

Mickael Pietrus has come a long way since we arrived to training camp. When he first started, he wasn't shooting the ball very well. But then, boom. He just started shooting and couldn't miss. At first, all he had was a 15-foot jumper, but all of a sudden, he was shooting from the three-point range. It was quite an amazing transformation. He has a lot of energy and stuff he contributes to the team. He gets into players' faces defensively. I like the way he plays. I think he has the right sensibilities to play this game. I think he just needs more experience. And to get that, he needs more minutes.

It's been quite a year for Mike Dunleavy. With Antawn Jamison being traded in the summer, he was asked to step in and be a daily contributor. But this year has been difficult for Mike because he's been injured. He came into the season with a lot of expectations. And what we've been trying to tell him is: “You don't have to worry about the expectations.” He just needs to go out and play his type of basketball and have fun and remember the things that he did before that made him successful. He was having fun, it wasn't a job for him. He needs to remember what it was for him – a sport in which he did the best he could and didn't worry about all the outside pressures. Because those things will take care of themselves after he shows what he can do. He should just really enjoy the game again. But I think he's starting to do that, and it is showing.

One surprise this year (well, not really a surprise) has been the progress of Jiri Welsch, who was with us last year. He was very scarce on the floor last year and now he's a very big part of the Boston Celtics. I always thought Jiri was a very interesting kid. We knew that he was the best shooter on the team last year. He was always a good shooter. But when he was here, he never really got a chance to do anything. The Warriors never really gave him a chance. But he was given that opportunity someplace else. And now, he's playing magnificently (as we all knew he could do because we saw him play every day last year). When he was a rookie, he didn't speak the language very well. But he was very encouraging. He liked the guys around him and I like to say he had a good time when he was here. I thought he was a great kid and I'm sure his teammates have been pleased with the way he's been playing. I'm happy he's doing well in Boston.

- Adonal