Many NBA insiders believed Mickael Pietrus was poised for a breakout season, but because of injury and then the overall poor season by the Warriors, that didn't materialize for the French guard.

"I want to stay with Golden State, but to be frank, I don't know what the team will do this summer,? he said.

?I would like to be a Warrior all my life. I want to remain optimistic and believe that I will stay here in the long term."

Baron Davis is as disappointed about the 2005-2006 Warriors' season as anybody and he is admitting that his off-season preparation wasn't as good as it could have been.

"I didn't come (in) as prepared as I should from the get-go," Davis said. "I should have come out the gate smoking, and I wasn't. I just wanted to try to ease my way into the offense and into conditioning, kind of get my rhythm by December, but it was just the wrong approach."

Jason Richardson continued to apologize for the Warriors 2005-2006 season and offered a confident hope for next season.

"Guys really want to get the team to the playoffs. It eats at me every day. It makes me want to work harder because our fans deserve it. We have the best fans in the NBA. They come out every game. They're just waiting for us to turn things around. I guarantee that we're going to be in the playoffs next year.

"I'm putting my neck out there on the line. That's letting you know how dedicated I am to getting to the playoffs. Like I said before, it eats at me every day, because the fans are so loyal to us. I know once we make the playoffs, this whole city is going to explode."

Expect the Warriors and Pacers to talk in the summer about a potential deal involving star Jermaine O'Neal, according to Marc Stein from ESPN.

The Warriors believe a lot of their problems stem from the lack of a low-post scorer with real size. O'Neal, as a result, is said to be high on Golden State's list.

It remains to be seen whether the Pacers are indeed prepared to part with O'Neal to start over completely, but it doesn't hurt that Chris Mullin has several young trade assets -- such as Ike Diogu (deemed off-limits in the Artest talks), Mickael Pietrus and the fast-rising Monta Ellis -- in spite of the club's postseason drought.

Jason Richardson paid for half the cost of a series of full-page advertisements in Monday's Bay Area papers, thanking Warriors fans for their support and apologizing for not bringing the club's streak of playoff-less seasons to an end.

"Regrettably, we just didn't get it done for you," read the ad copy. "We are committed to doing whatever it takes this summer to make the 2006-07 season one that you can be proud of."

The Associated Press is saying that Chris Mullin has confirmed that Mike Montgomery will return to coach the Golden State Warriors next season.

Montgomery entered the game against Portland with a 67-95 record in two seasons with the Warriors, who hired him from Stanford after 18 seasons as a top college coach.

"I think Mike is learning a lot still," Mullin said. "That's to be expected. To me, the last 3-4 weeks, how the team has played in a tough stretch, they've shown a lot of professionalism in this last stretch here."

Golden State rookies Ike Diogu and Monta Ellis enjoy playing with each other so much, that Diogu already has a vision of what they can be like in the future.

"A Stockton and Malone tandem," he said. To which Ellis replied: "We could be, but I really wouldn't do that. I'd just say Ike and Monta."

"It's great to be like Stockton and Malone, Kobe and Shaq, Scottie and Michael," Ellis said. "But it's Monta and Ike ... Just young guys like us trying to make a name for ourselves."

High flyer Jason Richardson is back in a Warriors uniform after missing one game with a sore knee, but according to the Mercury News Richardson is not feeling any better.

So why is he back, especially since the Warriors have been eliminated from Playoff contention?

``I'm just being Jason,'' Richardson said.

The Golden State Warriors have signed guard Will Bynum for the remainder of the season, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin announced today.  Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Bynum, who signed his first 10-day contract with the Warriors on March 17 and a second 10-day on March 27, has appeared in eight games with Golden State, averaging 0.9 points and 1.1 assists in 6.5 minutes. Bynum began the season with the Roanoke Dazzle of the NBA Development League, where he averaged 24.0 points, 6.7 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.66 steals in 29 contests.

Kevin Garnett had positive things to say about the Golden State Warriors after pulling out a 106-104 overtime win.

"That one-two punch (Davis and Richardson) is a nice punch, and the fact that they actually have the confidence -- not only in each other, but in themselves -- to take them, it takes a lot of pressure off the coach, a lot of pressure off the other guys.

"If (the Warriors) are ever going to get better, it's going to be because they have done that."