"I'm not talking about the draft," Nelson harrumphed Monday after he was coaxed down to talk to the media members who showed up for Riley's cordial 45-minute pre-draft session.

Who else but Riley would want to work for Robert Rowell and Chris Cohan after the excommunication of Chris Mullin?

Who else would willingly take every question about the team's twisting relationship with Monta Ellis and about Riley and Nelson's recent trip to visit Ellis in Memphis?

Who else but Riley would have the patience to try to explain:

Why they went to Memphis in the first place (to get on the same page, Riley said, which implies that there were issues previously).

Whether Ellis is going to be the point guard and if Ellis is yearning to be the point guard (answer to both questions: probably yes, but things could change).

And what that means for the Warriors' No. 7 overall pick in Thursday's NBA draft (unclear).

So, even though this is his dream job, this is why I'm starting to feel deep sympathy over Riley's plight.

Among other headaches, Riley has to deal with Ellis, who is too small to be a dominant shooting guard, but probably too single-minded to be a point guard, and possibly too stubborn to find a happy medium on his own.

Will Ellis erupt if the Warriors end up taking a point guard?

"I'm comfortable that he knows if the best player there happens to be a point guard and the organization needs to go that way, I'm comfortable that he's OK with that," Riley said carefully.

Riley said the Warriors could take a point guard such as Davidson's Stephen Curry, but he also said the team, for now, is assuming Ellis will be the starting point guard.

"Now, is he going to be John Stockton? No, we know that," Riley said of Ellis. "But is he going to be an adequate point guard? We want to go look at him in that vein and for those kinds of things."

But if Nelson and Riley feel that Ellis can play the point, why would they draft a point guard?

"Just might not," Riley said. "You know, we just might not."

Tough job, Larry. You've got a tough job tending to Nelson's moods and power issues, Rowell's public-relations madness, Ellis, Stephen Jackson, the media "... Tough job.

Plus, there's the fun little fact, confirmed by Riley, that top point-guard prospects Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Curry and Ricky Rubio skipped the chance to conduct private workouts with the Warriors .

This is happening while most of the four are scooting around the nation to work out for several teams drafting above and below the seventh slot.

There's more: Riley said the Warriors also are targeting a power forward Arizona's rugged Jordan Hill would be the main focus.

But there's the minefield of finding playing time for a new big man at the same position as Anthony Randolph and Brandan Wright (and maybe Andris Biedrins, since Nelson dislikes playing two big men at a time).

Oh, and there's Nelson's fond tradition of hazing rookie big men. Well, young players in general.

"The big carrot in all that is if you can pick a young guy who is going to be a star, you do that," Riley said. "But if you pick a young guy who's going to take too much time to train, then it's probably not in our best interests."

You go through enough of these scenarios and match them to the Warriors' undeniable points of wackiness, and you realize that anybody they could possibly draft will stir up some amount of controversy and friction and Don Nelson harrumphing.

And Riley will have to deal with it. Tough job. I hope he's a tough man.

Read Tim Kawakami's Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami . Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.

NBA draft

Thursday: 4:30 p.m. ESPNTop 10 picks: 1. L.A. Clippers; 2. Memphis; 3. Oklahoma City; 4. Sacramento; 5. Washington; 6. Minnesota; 7. Warriors ; 8. New York; 9. Toronto; 10. Milwaukee

More ON THE WarriorsLarry Riley says the team is likely to draft a point guard or a power forward. PAGE 2