This is some pertinent dialogue from Don Nelson's pregame news conference for tonight's Warriors season opener. Ordinarily, these are casual news conferences - the coach say how well he expects his team to do. But Al Harrington has demanded a trade and everything is a mess.

Q: Will the Warriors trade Al?

A: Talk to Mully (Chris Mullin) about trades. Al and I had a conversation this summer where he asked if he could be traded. And I told him if we could get a good player for him we would look into it, that Mully and I would talk about it. That was the last I heard about it till today. Al and I met (Tuesday). The subject was never brought up between the two of us.

Q: Do you want him on the team?

A: Yeah, I like him.

Q: Why did he say he wanted to be traded?

A: He thought he was played inconsistently last year and he wanted to be on the floor more. I said, 'I don't think it'll be a problem this year. I think you'll be begging to come out.' That's what I told him again yesterday. I said, 'You've got the green light offensively. You can basically do what you want, what makes you feel good as long as you can play effectively.' I want him to rebound more and play better defense. He'll be on the floor a lot. I'm not very deep at that position at this particular time.

            Q: Do you have a problem with him?

A: Other than him wanting to play more a year ago. That was the only issue. We were a little deeper then. I played him in situations I thought he'd be successful and I played other guys in other situations. I thought he had a pretty good year.

A: "I asked if I could sub him. He said he couldn't go in because of his knee.

Q: It was not a matter of his not wanting to go back in?

A: As far as I know. He said he banged his knee. I said OK no problem.

Q: If you could get the right deal would you do the deal?

A: Sure if there's a player that makes sense. You could say that about anybody on our team. That's part of our business - trades. We'd need a good player. Al's a good player.

Q: Who's your best ball handler?

A: Baron Davis.

Q: How do you feel about this opener?

A: I don't like opening against anyone right now. It's just a scary moment because we're not sure who we are yet.