SAN JOSE, Calif. — The laugh was immediate, high-pitched, rueful and quite logical under the circumstances. The laugh communicated everything that Don Nelson couldn't and wouldn't say.

No words necessary. Just a laugh to describe the complication of this uncertain, unscripted, unwieldy and unusual Warriors off-season.

Hey, Don, you've lost Baron Davis, missed out on Elton Brand, added Corey Maggette, are in the running for Ronny Turiaf and might have two or three moves left. How good do you think your Warriors will be in 2008-09?

CACKLE! A pause. A breath. Well...how good, Don?

"You can figure that out," Nelson said yesterday from Las Vegas, where the Warriors' summer league team is practicing before the start of play Friday.

More thick chuckling. Got it. Understood. In the post-Baron, pre-whatever-comes-next era, it's hard to miss.

"Well, we lost our franchise player," Nelson said, referring to Davis' departure for the Los Angeles Clippers after the Warriors wisely held the line on negotiations. "Our go-to guy."

Can you get or develop another one?

"That's why Brand was such a good fit, because he was also a go-to guy," Nelson said. "Kind of a franchise player.

"We'll have to figure out another way. I won't be able to do what I did at the end of games; I won't do it the same. Have to do it different. We'll figure it out."

This reminded Nelson of another transitory period, of another time his franchise point guard departed without compensation. In summer 2004, Steve Nash left the Dallas Mavericks for a free-agent deal with the Phoenix Suns.

The next March, Nelson quit or was pushed out (take your choice) as Dallas' coach.

"We lost Nash in Dallas," Nelson said. "That was a tough year after that. That's the only other time I've lost a major player like that."

It also should be pointed out that the Mavericks, under Avery Johnson, finished 58-24 that season, then went to the NBA finals in the season after that. So not all was lost when Nash departed and Nelson followed soon after.

But it's an interesting memory and comparison.

Let's just put it down on paper: The Warriors will not be as good in the short term with Maggette and possibly Turiaf (the Lakers can keep him by matching the Warriors' offer) as they were the past two seasons with Davis.

Will not. Maybe better in the long term. Not the short term. I supported the Warriors' no-mega-money stance on Davis, though that's what drove him to the Clippers.

Basically, the only team dumb enough to give Davis huge long-term money is the same team that just fumbled away Brand to the 76ers.

But the Warriors needed Davis, and I think their young players will miss him deeply this season. Who will set up Brandan Wright, shepherd Monta Ellis or show Anthony Randolph what can be done in an NBA game? Who will take over at the end of games?

Without Davis, Ellis has to move to point guard, which might cut down on his high-percentage scoring opportunities and might not open up lanes for everybody else.

"I've never given up on him making plays, being better than (the past)," Nelson said of Ellis. "I figured it'd be a matter of time.

"He's still got work to do. But he was better at the end of the year. He turned it over a little bit, but at least he has better vision now. He was pretty single-minded when I got there."

Maggette and Stephen Jackson will play the wing spots, backed up by Marco Belinelli and Kelenna Azubuike, if he is re-signed. Mickael Pietrus is gone.

That means Jackson will have to guard every tough perimeter scorer, and if the opponent has two, the Warriors will be in trouble.

Oh, and that also means that the Warriors badly overpaid Maggette. Five years, $50 million is what you give to a guy who produces points and either defense or passing, and Maggette does not do the last two things.

"You've got to like that guy," Nelson said of Maggette. "Gets to the foul line and he rebounds."

But that's all. Fifty million? That's checkbook desperation.

Moving to the post positions, Wright, Andris Biedrins, Al Harrington (if he isn't traded) and draft picks Randolph and Richard Hendrix, and possibly Turiaf, will fill the big-man slots.

That means...well who knows what that means? You don't know what it means, the players don't know what it means, Nelson doesn't know what it means and Chris Mullin doesn't know what it means, or if he does, he's sure not saying.

Baron had to go. Brand was the best alternative. Now neither player is a Warrior. Nelson sounded his most wistful when I asked him if he had talked with Davis lately.

"He came over to the office to say goodbye," Nelson said. "We had a cigar together, sat in my truck for about two hours and talked."

I'll bet there was some laughing during those smoky two hours. Rueful, loud and very, very understandable. The Warriors are moving on. But to what?