The Warriors have been residents of hoops hell the past few seasons, and last season might have been the worst. They were one of the most injury- riddled teams in the NBA, usually throwing out lineups that no opponent could look at with a straight face.

You want seriously ugly numbers? Try last in the league in field-goal percentage and 3-point accuracy and 27th in hitting free throws. Golden State also was the only team to give up more than 100 points per game. Then there was the matter of an infinitesimal victory total.

OAKLAND -- Warriors coach Dave Cowens said he hadn't formally nailed down his second backcourt starter but intimated it would be Larry Hughes.

Cowens said Sunday that Bob Sura would be one of the starting guards for the regular-season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland on Wednesday, but that he was still deciding whether Hughes or rookie Jason Richardson would start alongside Sura.

Monday, Cowens said he was still figuring it out. However, when it was suggested that it might make sense to bring Richardson off the bench and pair him in the backcourt with veteran Mookie Blaylock, a backcourt sub, Cowens smiled and said, "You should write that."

Are you ready for some football . . . whoops, basketball?

Yes, we know, we know. This is still baseball season (barely) and football season. In this crowded market, where every sport known to man seems to collide at this time of the year, it is, indeed, time for some basketball.

The Warriors, full of hope in late October, will open play with four games in the next seven days. They'll be on the road Wednesday and Saturday. The Warriors' home opener against the Suns is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the arena to-be-named-later in Oakland, and they'll be back at the same location at 6 p. m. Sunday to test the Trail Blazers.

OAKLAND -- Bob Sura is in, Mookie Blaylock is out and Larry Hughes and Jason Richardson remain on the fence.

Warriors coach Dave Cowens said Sura will be in the starting lineup when the Warriors open the regular season on Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland. What position Sura plays is still a mystery.

Cowens is deciding whether Hughes, who missed four exhibition games because of injury, or Richardson, a rookie, will play alongside Sura in the backcourt. If Cowens opts for Hughes, it means Sura will start at shooting guard; if Cowens goes with Richardson, Sura will start at the point.

"I just want to be on the floor, play some minutes and help us win," said

Los Angeles -- From this point on, the games are going to be for real. And even though the Warriors dropped their final four exhibition games, they're confident this isn't a preview of the regular season.

"A lot of people don't realize we haven't been together as a team a long time," said center Adonal Foyle, after Golden State ended the exhibition schedule with a 97-90 loss to Milwaukee at Staples Center. "We've got guys who were hurt (last year) coming back and new guys coming in. We still have to learn to play together. We're making good strides (though) there are a few things we need to be cognizant of.

"We just have to get it together -- talk a lot on defense, know where each other likes the ball. We're making strides."

The Charlotte Hornets waived forward Chris Porter on Friday, one day after acquiring him in the three-team, eight-player trade that sent Derrick Coleman to Philadelphia.

Porter missed his flight Friday morning from Oakland, Calif., which the Hornets said was enough reason to waive him.

With pending drug charges against him from an August arrest in Alabama in which police stopped him and found cocaine, marijuana and a handgun in his car, the Hornets refused to give Porter any leeway.

Some people around the NBA may think the Golden State Warriors management were asleep at the wheel when they gave up three players to get one.  The San Francisco Chronicle gives the Warriors viewpoint that it was roster management more than talent that determined this deal. "You make different deals for different reasons," said Warriors coach Dave Cowens. "This was a player management situation. We had so many people with contracts, and moves had to be made. The best trades are ones where everybody has a chance to succeed."

The Warriors gave up journeyman Corie Blount, young point guard Vonteego Cummings and the athletic Chris Porter for Cedric Henderson and a conditional draft pick in 2005.  Henderson is not noted for his shooting prowess but he does possess some good defensive skills.  Still, you have to wonder if all this was worth it.

LOS ANGELES -- With all due respect to forward Cedric Henderson, Thursday's trade that brought him to the Warriors really wasn't about him. If Henderson can give the Warriors anything on the court this season, great. If not, oh well.

The real reason Henderson finds himself on the Warriors is because his acquisition allows them to nail down their opening-night roster, rid themselves of a couple players who had fallen out of favor and obtain a first-round draft pick in 2005 that, who knows, could end up being worth something.

"It's business; I knew that coming into the league, I know it now,'' said Lynch, who signed with the Sixers as a free agent in January 1999. "I had asked if the Sixers could do something to restructure my contract. I played hurt, I made sacrifices for the betterment of the team.''

He asked for either a restructuring or a chance to go somewhere where that might be possible.

"That's what I meant when I said, 'They don't pay me enough to play small forward, much less power forward,' '' Lynch said. "Coach Brown and I agreed to play this year, then talk during the summer. Now, I've been traded. Cool.

"Derrick has talked to me for two years about coming back here,'' Brown said. "It's no secret how much I like him, what a terrific player I [think] he is. . .He was really excited; our players are excited. The consensus from all the core players was, they wanted him back. With the injuries we've had, with the young kids being so young, especially the big ones [rookies Samuel Dalembert and Alvin Jones], with Matt Geiger's uncertainty, we thought with Blount and Derrick it was a no-brainer.''

Let the past remain there, King said. "People keep referring to the past. . .you can't look and say, 'This is going to happen, people are going to do this and it's going to affect [us],' '' King said. "Our team is different; it's a whole different team. [When Coleman was here before], that was a team winning 20-some ballgames. This team got to the Finals. . .We've got to look at it going forward.''