Long-lost Warriors guard Monta Ellis? Yes, he was out there, too. But he simply surfaced for a pregame shooting drill to test that franchise-jeopardizing left ankle, and/or to give the early-arriving crowd a reason to buy future tickets.

The real draw, of course, was Kobe Bryant, property of your Los Angeles Lakers. (Sorry, but there were just too many cheers all night for a star player on an arch rival.)

The real question, as the Lakers pulled away for a 114-106 win before a sellout crowd of 19,596, was exactly how and, while we're at it, when will the Warriors have a star anywhere close to Bryant's galaxy?

That's what the Warriors are desperately trying to find out this season. And next season. And so on, and so on.

The Warriors are banking a perfect term, in this case on Ellis to be their star, as well as rookie Anthony Randolph. Wednesday night, both gave the Warriors what they wanted, even if it meant far too little to the game's outcome.

For Ellis, his return or, actually, season debut is drawing imminent. Judging by his dog-and-pony-show shoot-around Wednesday he made 5 of 10 shots on his first trip around the arc his left ankle looks reborn after last summer's Mississippi Moped Massacre.

As for Randolph, yo, Nellie, where's he been all season?

"Let me coach my team. Let me bring my guy along," coach Don Nelson responded after the game. "(Rushing Randolph) is not good for him. He's taking things for granted and has got to work his way into it."

Randolph, the Warriors' first-round draft pick last spring, got freed from the bench only a minute before halftime. All it took was for Brandan Wright to exit with a dislocated left shoulder.

Randolph responded in exciting fashion, racking up eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocks (only one of which actually counted) in the third quarter. The byproduct of that: An 80-77 lead for the Warriors with a quarter to go against the Western Conference's kings (no, not the Sacramento version).

But then Randolph disappeared back to the bench in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors' lead also vanished.

Said Randolph: "I'm not in any kind of game shape at all. I haven't played in a couple games."

But didn't he want to play more than the two minutes he was granted in the fourth?

"Of course," Randolph responded. "I always want to be in the game in the deciding minutes."

Randolph said he "appreciates the faith" of fans and media who are growling to see more of him. Nelson, in turn, said he was "proud" of Randolph for playing the "way we expect him to play."

Asked before the game why Randolph is not NBA ready, Nelson responded: "It's everything."

Nellie then lectured the press corps on why Basketball is so much more complex to learn than football and baseball. He claims it takes two to three years to get youngsters up to speed on the NBA life, that they're not fully ready until they're 21 (or old enough to legally drink).

If this season stays on its troubling course, another hot prospect will come the Warriors' way high in the draft. His fate: "He'll probably have to go through the same process all or most young players have to go through," Nelson said.

Ellis was brought along slowly, and he virtually was a bit player on the enormous playoff stage two years ago. Randolph won't be rushed along, either, although that certainly could change with injuries to Wright and Stephen Jackson (out two to four weeks with a bad hammy).

When a team doesn't have a bona fide star, sometimes that leads every guy on the court to think he's the next Kobe Bryant. It worked Dec. 26 when the Warriors knocked off the Boston Celtics here, relying on Jackson, Marco Belinelli and Ronny Turiaf to counter the Celtics' Big Three.

The Lakers' Big Three won their matchups when it counted, those being Bryant (21 points), Pau Gasol (33 points, 18 rebounds) and Andrew Bynum (18 points, 11 rebounds).

The Warriors didn't have a star who could pull them all the way through this upset bid. No sign of Ellis or Randolph. No disrespect intended to the fourth-quarter efforts of Andris Biedrins and Jamal Crawford.

The Warriors needed something more. They need Ellis' fast-paced style. They need more of Randolph. They need a bountiful offseason that brings in more help via a lucky lottery pick or a shrewd trade.

Or will Ellis and Randolph be the ones traded? Yes, the Warriors certainly could find themselves in a pickle once again, for neither player seems happy about his place in the Warriors' crumbling universe.

And if no stars show up in the Warriors' uniforms in the near future, they might again have to rely on Bryant to bring out courtside celebrities.

Then again, we hear that one star is back in Oakland, that being Jason Giambi.