David Lee, Louis Amundson Return Timelines Uncertain for Warriors

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Lest you couldn't hear their groaning over the sounds of the Joe Lacob and Peter Guber parade in the Bay Area these last few days, not everyone associated with the Golden State Warriors is feeling cheery, even with the recent change in ownership and the team's 7-4 record.

It has been a tough week for two of the team's best rebounders.

The team announced Monday that forward David Lee had to undergo a second procedure on Sunday night to clean the infected left elbow that has already forced him to miss a week. Lee was expected to miss two weeks after being on the wrong end of a Wilson Chandler bite during his first reunion game against New York on Nov. 10, and he reportedly could be out for longer than the initial estimation (and certainly for Friday's game in Oakland that will be the second and final meeting between the two teams). Lee remains at Stanford Hospital, where IVs and antibiotics are being administered to ensure the problem isn't prolonged further.

Free agent addition/forward Lou Amundson would love nothing more than to pick up the slack on the glass in Lee's absence, but he is instead agonizing over his recovery after missing a month with a dislocated right index finger and a fracture at its base that required surgery. Amundson, who said he was initially told he would miss six to eight weeks from his Oct. 18 injury date, said on Monday that he expected to have the latest round of x-rays on Tuesday. And while it's not known whether those were, in fact, taken, he said he's struggling to keep his spirits up during this honeymoon-gone-wrong period with his new team.

"It's tough, man. It's just been tough," said Amundson, who was scorned by his former Phoenix Suns team in free agency but was pursued by New Orleans, Indiana, Charlotte and Toronto. "This is the longest I've been hurt. I want to get out there, because I haven't really played much with the guys. It's hard to stay positive."

Amundson was a locker room favorite with a Suns team that had no shortage of chemistry, yet he now finds himself without those pleasures of the past nor the present.

"That's part of it," he said. "We had something really special in Phoenix, and you can't duplicate that, but part of it is that ever since training camp I've been sitting on the sidelines, so it's part of interacting with your teammates and feeling like you're part of something. When you don't establish that, and when you don't do that, it's kind of hard to manufacture that without being out there with the fellas, just playing, being in those timeouts, so it's been hard."

The outcome of the x-rays, Amundson explained, will determine what comes next in assessing his return.

"They'll see how the bones look, and it just kind of depends on how I feel," he said. "They can tell if the bones are fused and what not, so if it's all stable in there then I can start playing again but I'm going to have to have it taped for a while."

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