OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Rookie forward Ike Diogu learned Friday he'll miss the rest of the Golden State Warriors' exhibition schedule with a broken left hand. Diogu will be out at least three weeks, according to the team doctors' diagnosis when the Warriors returned to practice at their training complex in Oakland after opening camp in Hawaii. The ninth overall pick was injured during practice early in camp -- and though the broken metacarpal bone doesn't even require a hard cast, it will hinder Diogu's efforts to crack Golden State's playing rotation. ADVERTISEMENT ``It's disappointing, but I guess it could have been worse,'' Diogu said while holding a slim energy drink can with his broken hand. ``I've just got to prove myself all over again in practice. Practice is where it gets done.'' Diogu hopes his hand will heal in time for the Warriors' regular-season opener Nov. 2 against Atlanta. But given all the practice time and exhibition games he'll miss, it's unlikely he would get to play much anyway. The Warriors anticipate a big season with point guard Baron Davis leading a veteran roster of returnees, though Diogu should fit into the mix when healthy. At least 10 players are expected to return from last season's club, which missed the playoffs for the 11th straight year but won 14 of its final 18 games. ``Ike was going to have to work his way into the rotation with the guys we've got back,'' coach Mike Montgomery said. ``Any rookie needs experience. It's not something you step in and dominate. The best place for that would have been exhibitions, but that's not available to us, so we have to go to Plan B.'' That plan involves plenty of work on treadmills and exercise bikes in addition to sprints and classroom study. He'll be joined by rookie forward Chris Taft, who strained his groin early in training camp and didn't play in the Warriors' two Hawaii exhibition games against the Los Angeles Lakers. Golden State resumes its exhibition schedule Sunday night at Sacramento.
Thanks for the article, AnimeFanatic. This is very helpful to keep the forum current with the latest news. I hope Diogu recovers quickly and fully.
damn...i was really looking forward to seeing what this guy can do on Nov 2nd. i'm glad that it's only 3-4 weeks, he'll be back soon enough...but this isn't a great start to our hopefully injury-free season. i dont want any repeats of the injury-prone warriors of old...i wish the man a speedy recovery. i'm assuming he'll still be doing some practicing (ie weightroom, conditioning, etc.)????
Don't expect too much this year because I think there will be an adjustment period, plus Monty/Musselman or any coach we had doesn't like to play rookies. But after that is over he should be Zach Randolph-like inside scoring wise in Elton Brand's body with Brian Cardinal's hustle and outside shooting touch.
Ike Diogu Hurt, What a surprise Should this injury of Ike Diogu even surprise the veteran Golden State Warrior fan, it seems like something always happens, that is just the warrior way, now i bet he will get better and than get hurt, get better and then get hurt, another letdown Warrior fan right here.
The Warriors just seem destined to never get to see another rookie get big minutes his first year. They struck gold with Arenas, Richardson, and Murphy, then three (and probably four) years of not getting to open our Christmas presents until next year. Dunleavy: polished player that doesn't play Montgomery's style of ball Pietrus: unpolished rookie Biedrins: unpolished rookie Diogu: polished rookie in a position of need who gets his hand broken in a freak injury. I hate when I think of the words "Warriors" and "snake-bitten" in the same train of thought.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bballer768484:</div><div class="quote_post">Should this injury of Ike Diogu even surprise the veteran Golden State Warrior fan, it seems like something always happens, that is just the warrior way, now i bet he will get better and than get hurt, get better and then get hurt, another letdown Warrior fan right here.</div>Don't you think its a little premature? Its not a major injury.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">The Warriors just seem destined to never get to see another rookie get big minutes his first year. They struck gold with Arenas, Richardson, and Murphy, then three (and probably four) years of not getting to open our Christmas presents until next year. Dunleavy: polished player that doesn't play Montgomery's style of ball Pietrus: unpolished rookie Biedrins: unpolished rookie Diogu: polished rookie in a position of need who gets his hand broken in a freak injury. I hate when I think of the words "Warriors" and "snake-bitten" in the same train of thought.</div> Ha, Wtwalker I was thinking that we were "snake bitten" awhile ago. There's definitely something ominous in Warriorland, so I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch when it comes to predicting which seed we'll be in the playoffs. If anyone is superstitious as I am, start knocking on any piece of wood you can find when mentioning the word, "injuries" and "warriors" in the same sentence, especially when Baron Davis is mentioned. BTW what is Dunleavy's style of ball? I haven't really been to many WNBA games in the past so I wouldn't know. Okay, so the style at Duke, which is Dunleavy's old school, is relatively halfcourt and they try to move the ball side to side, so they can free somebody up for a shot and they feed off the many star players they have inside and outside. I can guess that Montgomery's old Stanford style of ball is a little more rigidly structured sort of like Princeton offense with the center controlling some of the play sets to hit guys moving off the ball. Unless players buy into it, it's probably going to be confusing and uncomfortable as hell. It's probably why we kind of sucked a bit last year because it takes a while to learn it, but then again it's one of many reasons. I'd give anything to run some half court ball where we can fake out defenses without having to move with the ball and maybe Dunleavy will play a whole lot better when he's got some inside presence to feed players off the dribble or the high post. I can understand from a player's point of view there's really nowhere to go with the ball often times with nobody inside to feed and he's not that great of a finisher in traffic in the painted area. So he won't attack... Because of that he's going to be jacking long balls and midrangers and just a limited shooter's type of game. Hopefully, he can bust out the post game to take out smaller, quicker players, dribble more against slower, bigger forwards, pass it to big men inside by drawing defenders out, and use some of that size like Peja, Rashard Lewis and Keith Van Horn are learning to do or have learned to do. I really like the fact Dunleavy can use either hand to score so he could theoretically play on either sides of the post. If Dun's a team guy, his style of play will be in the context of what the team does. Maybe it's the fact we've got no Boozer inside just yet? And it's true once he has the ball, there's really nowhere to go with it unless they have Baron's one-on-one skill or Jrich/Pietrus type of daring moves and athleticism. Also, it would have helped if Dunleavy didn't go through puberty so late (Rookie year compared to this year).
'Knock on the wood' As long as Davis or Richardson don't get injured, it should be considered as a injury free season. So far, we struggled on rebounding and half court set, where we can really use some post up presence. I don't think Diogu will help our defense, but I would love to see what he can do in post up and rebounding aspect...
