Rookie center Mickell Gladness will be sticking around after his 10-day contract expires. He is expected to sign with Golden State for the remainder of the season on Sunday, in time for him to play against the host Los Angeles Lakers.

“We’re going to move forward with him,” coach Mark Jackson said after Saturday’s practice at the team’s downtown Oakland facility. “We’re excited about what he’s been able to do in a short period of time.”

Gladness has played six games with the Warriors. He’s totaled 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocks in 44 minutes.

“Not to sound cocky or anything,” Gladness said after Friday’s loss to New Jersey, “but not too many big men can do what I do. Block shots. Rebound. Run the floor.“

Don Nelson, the NBA’s all-time winningest coach, and one of the most noted names in Warriors history, told ESPN Dallas  that he got good news this time from the Hall of Fame committee.

NELSON: “It’s a great honor to cap my career. I’ve had a great time and a great life coaching basketball. I don’t actually need to be rewarded for anything, but I am very proud and my family is very proud of this award.”

Nelson was a three-time Coach of the Year and s widely considered an innovator for his creation of small ball. Nelson had been passed up for the last few years. But last year, legendary Utah coach Jerry Sloan got the Hall of Fame nod. That eliminated the one knock against Nelson – his lack of a championship. Sloan has never won an NBA title either.

Nelson was at Oracle Arena on March 19 as the Warriors retired the jersey of Chris Mullin, who was part of last year’s Hall of Fame class.

Nelson was one of 12 finalists for the class of 2012. Also on the ballot are Reggie Miller, five-time NCAA Final Four coach Rick Pitino, former NBA coach Bill Fitch, Maurice Cheeks, Bernard King, Dick Motta, Hank Nichols, Ralph Sampson, Jamaal Wilkes, two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrina McClain, and the female version of the Harlem Globetrotters – the All-American Red Heads,. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will officially announce the 2012 class on Monday at the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans.

Warriors PG Stephen Curry could return in as soon as two weeks.

According to a source with knowledge of his rehabilitation, Curry will undergo two more weeks of rehabilitation and be re-evaluated. At that point, if he cleared, he would return to action. So Curry, who has missed the last 10 games, is out for the next nine games. That timetable would put Curry back on the court for April 12 against Dallas. or April 14 at the Los Angeles Clippers.

Golden State sent Curry to renowned ankle specialist Richard Ferkle in the Los Angeles area on Thursday for a second opinion. The results from Ferkle’s examination came in Tuesday and his recommendation did not include shutting Curry down for the season. Armed with Ferkle’s analysis and the input of orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Tim McAdams and the Warriors medical staff, the resulting plan was for Curry to do a bit more rehab and test the ankle in two weeks.

Curry has said he wants to play this season. But one team source said while Golden State doesn’t mind him returning if he’s healthy, Warriors management would not mind either if Curry sat out the remainder of the season. The key, the source said, is if Curry is 100 percent healthy. If that is the case, not even the Warriors would stop Curry from returning.

Of course, the only question will be how do you define 100 percent.

Curry has missed 21 games this season. By the time he’s re-evaluated, he likely will have missed 30 games.

Warriors forward Dominic McGuire, an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, had zero hesitation when asked if he wanted to come back to Golden State next season.

McGUIRE: “Hell yeah. Without a doubt. No question about it. I would like to be back here. Hopefully I found a home. We’ll see what happens.”

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Last summer, Warriors PG Stephen Curry flew toBaltimoreto meet with Dr. Mark Myerson, a renowned ankle specialist. The purpose was to get an opinion on rehab exercises and some advice on what he could do to strengthen his ankle. After being examined, Dr. Myerson came back with bad news.

CURRY: “He dropped the bomb that my ligaments were done and surgery was necessary. And he told me that right on the spot.”

So the good news, in Curry’s mind, out of his trip toLos Angelesankle specialist Dr. Richard Ferkle on Thursday was that he did not get a bomb dropped on him.

Curry’s fate for the remainder of the season will be officially decided today or Tuesday. Once Ferkle makes his recommendation, the Warriors and Curry will decide on how to proceed.

Curry said he wants to play this season. He hasn’t given up hope. But it definitely seems the constant ankle troubles has worn him down some.

CURRY: “I’m just trying to make the right decision. At this point, I’ve run my ankle into the ground trying to play on it injured. I think its about that time to just really keep the grand scheme of my career on the forefront and worry about that so I’m not coming back next year and we have a healthy lineup and I’m the only one that’s banged up. I don’t want that to be the case. At his time. We’re just waiting to see what the next step is. Still don’t know.”

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Warriors point guard Stephen Curry visited a specialist in Los Angeles during Golden State’s two-game road trip. The results from the examination of his injured right ankle are expected Tuesday.

Once armed with the specialists’ input, Curry and Warriors management will meet and discuss a plan regarding what to do about Curry’s ankle the rest of the season.

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There was some talk in the organization that center Andrew Bogut – still recovering from a fractured left ankle – would make his Warriors debut closer to the end of the season. But Bogut, acquired from Milwaukee on March 15, all but ruled out that option.

Perhaps just as big a blow, Bogut sounds pessimistic about his chances of representing Australia in the 2012 Summer Games in London.

BOGUT: “I’m 99 percent sure I’m done for the season. Olympics are hinging on my health.”

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A day after their attempt to sign big man J.J. Hickson was squashed, the Warriors signed free agent center Mickell Gladness to a 10-day contract.

A 6-foot-11, 220 pounder out of Alabama A&M, Gladness will be in uniform for tonight’s game against the host Houston Rockets.

Gladness appeared in eight games this season for the Miami Heat, totaling two points, 11 rebounds and a block in 28 minutes. He signed his second 10-day contract withMiamion Feb. 28. The Heat opted not to sign him for the remainder of the season.

A player is allowed to sign a maximum of two 10-day contracts with one team. After that, the team must sign him for the remainder of the season or waive him.

Prior to joining the Heat for their 2011-12 training camp, Gladness appeared in four games for the Dakota Wizards, the Warriors’ NBA Development League team. He averaged 7.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 20.8 minutes per contest.

Overall, Gladness – who went undrafted in 2009 – has appeared in 81 D-League games over three seasons, averaging 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

It will be interesting to see how much time Gladness gets. Golden State needs some help on the front line (since right now David Lee is the back-up center). With that said, it stands to reason rookie big Jeremy Tyler should be getting most of the minutes at center. He certainly should get more than Gladness.

But in his first career start, Tyler totaled just 15 minutes. Warriors coach Mark Jackson hasn’t hid the fact that winning is his priority. He can stamp that is Gladness gets 25 minutes tonight and Tyler gets 15. Of course, he should be prepared for the backlash. Because Warriors fans know more than anyone else that this is the time of year to see what the youngsters can do.

Warriors missed out on J.J. Hickson, who was awarded toPortlandon Wednesday.

Hickson – a 6-foot-9, 242-pound power forward in his fourth season — was waived last week by Sacramento. Golden State wanted to sign him, but didn’t have the $2.35 million under the cap needed to claim him off waivers. Even before the Stephen Jackson trade, in which they took back Richard Jefferson and T.J. Ford from the Spurs, Golden State didn’t have enough cap space.

The Warriors only hope was that Hickson cleared waivers and the Warriors signed him as a free agent. Rules allow teams to sign players to the minimum despite being over the cap. According to a multiple sources, Hickson was interested in joining the Warriors.

But Portland, which put in the claim, was awarded Hickson. If the Warriors were able to bid for Hickson off waivers, they probably would have gotten him since the bidder with the worst record gets the player.

Golden State, after trading big man Ekpe Udoh toMilwaukee, is in need of front line help. But Hickson was more than just a body. Before flaming out inSacramento, Hickson built a reputation as a promising young big man inCleveland. In 80 games with the Cavaliers last season, he averaged 13.8 points and 8.7 rebounds in 28.2 minutes.

This season, with the Kings, he averaged 4.7 points on 37 percent shooting with 5.1 rebounds in 18.4 minutes before getting waived. But the Warriors wanted to chance to see if Hickson’s decline was situational. If they could get him to return to form, he would have been an ideal piece for the Warriors now-depleted bench.

Now’s about the time you’d expect a sore knee to crop up for Warriors forward David Lee.

The seventh-year veteran came to the Warriors hoping his days of meaningless end-of-season basketball were over. Having spent five years playing out the string in New York, and having his postseason hopes dashed last year, Lee finds himself once again with nothing tangible to play for.

What’s more, two of the starters he’d grown used to playing with are now in Milwaukee, another is on the shelf with ankle problems, and the big man he’s longed to play alongside is out until next year. Who could blame Lee for wanting to shut it down, too?

Well, he doesn’t.

“At this point,” Lee said after Tuesday’s shootaround, “it’s about continuing to demand respect by playing hard night in and night out.”

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