Rays of hope in a difficult season - Adonal's Diary

Basketball Digest, May, 2002 by Adonal Foyle, Irwin Soonachan

The Golden State Warriors went into the All-Star break at a dismal low as losers of 15 of 17 games, the last being a terrible drubbing at home against the Seattle SuperSonics. Then came rays of hope: Rookie shooting guard Jason Richardson started the second half on fire after memorable performances at the NBA Slam-Dunk Contest and Rookie All-Star Game. Interim coach Brian Winters, who took over in December for Dave Cowens, also began to put his imprint on the team. Winters went to a smaller quicker lineup, and the team played a little better--there weren't many more wins, but the Warriors played exciting basketball and stayed in most games.

Adonal was a starter during this stretch, and was a force on defense while showing vast improvement on offense. He begins this diary installment on the day before the Warrior's first game after the All-Star break.

February 12

I had an incredible weekend at Colgate over the All-Star break. Not only did I have my number retired, but I had the opportunity to introduce Senator Bill Bradley at a speech he gave. He is amazing in how he has been able to combine basketball professionalism with civic responsibility. To finally meet him after reading so many of his books and hearing about him from so many people was very exciting. The chapel where he spoke was filled, there were people hanging through the windows. We talked about some of the differences between his days in the NBA and today: the players, commercial flights ... and the shorts. It was pretty cool. I was about two when he retired.

If that wasn't enough, Democracy Matters had its first-ever summit. We had about 70 kids come up to Colgate, sleeping on cots and what have you all for the opportunity to meet with other coordinators and to plan strategy. Essentially, Democracy Matters believes that winning campaign finance reform will help win back the soul of this country, and these students are really committed to that We're not as apathetic a generation as everybody thinks.

My college teammates, as well as some of my high school teammates, came up to Colgate for the weekend. It was incredible seeing them and being back in the town where I spent so much of my life.

I hope that my Warriors teammates are coming back recharged for the second half of the season. But if experience is any indication, All-Star weekend doesn't tend to be a time when people do a lot of work on themselves. It tends to be a time to rest your mind. It will be interesting to see how we play tomorrow. That will be a telltale sign of where this team is emotionally.

The last game before the break we were horrible, plain and simple. We went on vacation one day early. For people to pay that much money to see a game and see that is terrible. I don't appreciate that, and I don't think the fans do, either. For fans to see us play in that manner was not cool. I hope we come out of the break with a lot more resolve and belief in ourselves. We have the personnel on this team to be successful, but we have to take it seriously. The teams we're about to play are teams we can compete with.

February 16

This team is in a good place. The win vs. the Boston Celtics [92-75 on February 13] was big because we fought and fought with them. They made a run at us but we stayed in there. We had some mental lapses last night against the San Antonio Spurs [a 108-99 loss]. We should have pushed them a lot harder in the second half, and stayed in our running game. They had played the night before, and they're a terrific half-court team--they play that style better than anybody else in the league because they have the personnel to do it. We settled in to play a half-court game with them in the second half, and they will beat us every time that way. In the first half we ran and got layups. We played well for 90% of the game, though. We still have to learn how to finish, and we have to make key shots. We also have to learn to play at a high level for longer periods of time.

It's not necessary to have one guy be great all of the time, but we need to develop something that becomes our trademark. We haven't quite done that this year. In a sense, this team hasn't quite defined what its soul is. What are we good at together? What is going to be our trademark? How will we define ourselves from other teams? That, unfortunately, takes time in this league. The teams that have done that have been together a long time. We're in the unenviable position of being a young team needing to win, but without time to develop the cohesiveness to do that.

Jason Richardson made a big step this week. Success breeds confidence. Now Jason understands that he is in the upper echelon of this game. He has the potential to go as ,far as he wants to. A lot of guys come into this league with talent, but they don't get placed into the right situation. They don't get the opportunity to be as experimental as they want to be and they don't get an opportunity to turn their game loose. Jason will get that opportunity on this team because he is seen as a savior of the Warriors. He understands that now. He has the green light.