Fueled by the one of the league’s best backcourts the Warriors prepare to pick up where they left off last season.

Yes, playoffs.

“I don’t know how you wouldn’t say that,” Golden State vice president Chris Mullin said.

Fueled by the one of the league’s best backcourts in Baron Davis and Jason Richardson, the Warriors are poised to make up the 11-game difference between them and Memphis, the eighth playoff team in the Western Conference last season. First-round pick Ike Diogu joins Troy Murphy, Adonal Foyle and Andris Biedrins to solidify Golden State’s front line and small forwards Mike Dunleavy and Mickael Pietrus both seem ready for a breakout years.

“We should be pretty explosive offensively,” head coach Mike Montgomery said. “We can score the ball...We’re a pretty good percentage shooting team. If we can learn how to space and play off one another, then we can cause people problems with match-ups.”

The Warriors will again look to push the ball up the court. Starting guards Davis and Richardson both thrive in an up-tempo environment. Add in players like Dunleavy, Derek Fisher, Pietrus, Zarko Cabarkapa and rookie guard Monta Ellis who can each score on the fast break or from behind the three-point line and you should have an awesome offensive display each night at the Arena in Oakland.

“We have to score points,” Montgomery said. “We’re not going to be a bang-it-out team.”

The roster is pretty much set, with Davis, Richardson, Fisher, Pietrus, Dunleavy, Calbert Cheaney and Ellis manning the backcourt and Murphy, Foyle, Diogu, Biedrins, Cabarkapa and rookie Chris Taft handling the heavy work on the frontline.

“Having more roles defined does clear things up,” Mullin said.

Warriors fans can feel the excitement -- as evidenced by one the biggest ticket sales jump in the NBA -- and so can the players. The Warriors closed out last season 14-4 and four of those wins came against playoff teams Phoenix and Sacramento. Not content to rest on their laurels, they came into the facility the last four months during the summer and lifted weights and ran basketball drills, so they could take it to the next level in 2005-06.

With everyone healthy, Davis believes the Warriors will only get better.

"We were on the same page when we came to the end of last season, but it all came from just playing," Davis said. "This year's training camp is going to give us an opportunity to really learn each other, motivate each other and figure out what we need to do to be successful."

Many of the Warriors players have been working out at the Warriors Practice Facility over the summer.

Every player showed up at some point at the facility to work on their games and further build up team chemistry.

“The players, from what they’ve done this summer, feel this is real,” Mullin said. “I think the excitement is about the talent that fits together that can win. It’s not a marketing ploy.”

You don’t need a marketing ploy when you have Davis. Already one of the best players in the league and only 26 years old, Davis was a lightning rod when he came to Golden State at the trade deadline last season. He averaged 22.5 points and 9.4 assists in his 19 starts with the Warriors and brought a bag of goodies with him.

“(Davis brought) excitement,” Mullin said, “He also bought trust, confidence, leadership and most importantly, a whole lot of talent. He’s got a unique combination of talent, skill, personality and he also does things with a certain flair.”

Davis makes other players better, and the Warriors have one of the youngest and most impressionable rosters in the NBA. Seven of his teammates are 24 or younger, including the 19-year-old Biedrins and Ellis.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys who are hungry,” Mullin said. “They’re welcoming the expectations and want to go out and prove that together we’re winners.”

Monday, 9/26	Montgomery Settles Into Second Season
Tuesday, 9/27	Three In Good Company
Thursday, 9/29	Backcourt Duo of Davis and Richardson Ready for Full Season Together
Friday, 9/30	Warriors.com Training Camp Home Launch
Monday, 10/3	Behind-the-scenes Media Day 2005
Tuesday, 10/4	2005-06 Warriors Ready To Pick Up Where They Left Off
Wednesday, 10/5	Daily Training Camp Recaps, Exclusive Photo Galleries, Audio Interviews and much more