The players who have most stood out in the Warriors camp this season have been Mickael Pietrus and Dajuan Wagner, both of whom have been taking advantage of the injury-related absences of Monta Ellis and Jason Richardson.

Although it would be hard for most fans to imagine Richardson not getting his customary 35 minutes a game, and with nearly everyone expecting a breakout season from Ellis, Nelson reiterated his stance that playing time is not guaranteed.

"Not as far as I'm concerned," Nelson said. "I'm going to play the best guy the most."

So far, that guy has been Pietrus, who's successfully reined in his need to fire up 3-pointers or picking up charging fouls by recklessly driving the paint against two or three defenders. He's adjusting to life as a role player, serving as the closest thing the Warriors have to a shut-down defender and making smarter forays to the basket.

"He's accepted his role better than I thought," Nelson said. "I'm looking to play him a lot, I think. I need a (natural small forward), and he's a perfect (small forward) for me. We're excited about his progress."

Wagner, meanwhile, has "buried every shot," in Nelson's estimation, hardly a surprise from a guy who once famously dropped 100 points in high school. But he hasn't been merely a one-dimensional player.

"There isn't anything I haven't liked," Nelson said. "He's guarded, he's passed, he's shot, he's done every drill."

Nelson is so confident in Wagner's ability that he's even going to give him a shot at playing some point guard, something the 23-year-old has done only sporadically in his career.

"I see the instincts in practice, because he has made really good passes," Nelson said. "They're not complicated passes, he never gets in trouble, he delivers all of them and that he can run a play or two, that's a good thing. ... He's a small (shooting guard), just like Ellis is a small (shooting guard), and both those guys eventually need to become capable of playing the point if they want to be great players. Otherwise, they'll just be good backups at the best."