BEST BETS I NBA ■ San Antonio at Minnesota I TNT(27), 5p.m. Emerald From Great Expectations to a Bleak House Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Tom Gugliotta, Chris Webber and Chris Gatling all have something in common. Yes, they’re all very tall. But, more impor tantly, they were all present at the 1997 NBA All-Star Game. And they were all once members of what has become the epitome of a pitiful NBA or ganization and my favorite team: the Gold en State Warriors. The demise of this once-proud organiza tion, winner of the 1975 NBA championshi d and Rob Moseley 50-plus games twice in the last six years, has been methodical and systemat ic: build a base of good, young talent, win a few games, then break up the team. In 1991 the Warriors were a respectable 44-38 and riding the promotion ai wave ot Kun I ML, the combination of Hardaway, Richmond and Chris Mullin that was popular enough in the Bay Area to have a McDonalds burger named after it. But on Nov. 1, just days before the 1991 92 season was to start, the decision was made to trade Richmond and Les Jepsen to the Sacramento Kings for the rights to the recently drafted Billy Owens and a future pick. In a cruel twist of fate, He’s now Rich mond’s teammate after a stop in Miami. That was a banner season, however, as the Warriors finished 55-27, second only to their 59-23 finish in 1976, and led the league in scoring for the second time in three years at almost 119 points per game. This season they’re lucky to get that in two games. After faltering in 1992-93, Golden State had the misfortune of trading Anfernee Hardaway and three future first-round picks to Orlando for the rights to Chris Web ber, the No. 1 pick in the 1993 draft. Webber was the 1993-94 rookie of the year in the NBA and led the team to a 50-32 record. He then exercised his option to be come a restricted free agent before the fol lowing season in a contract dispute with former coach Don Nelson, an opposing gen eral manager’s best friend. Nelson eventual ly traded Webber to Washington for Gugliotta and three more first-round picks, but before Googs could get comfortable in Oakland, he was shipped to Minnesota in one of the worst trades in recent memory. The Warriors received quite possibly the most overrated player in the history of pre draft hype, Donyell Marshall. Turn to MOSELEY, Page 12 Oregon Football MARK McTYRE for the Emerald Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti (right) and the Ducks must move on from Saturday’s upset to focus on Arizona State. Oregon’s focus turns to Sun Devils If the Ducks want a bowl game they must repeat last week’s performance in Seattle against Arizona State and the Beavers By Chris Hansen Assistant Sports Editor While the path to a bowl game just got a lot wider for Oregon, there is still a roadblock ahead. A huge one, in fact. Not to be lost in all the postgame celebrating fol lowing Saturday’s upset of Washington is the fact that Oregon is only five days away from having to re peat its miraculous feat against No. 15 Arizona State. “Will we celebrate the Washington win? Yes. Will I let it go very long? No,” declared Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti. “We have just as big a challenge to go to Arizona State and beat another team that’s on a roll.” A challenge Bellotti said his team will be prepared for. “I don’t think we will overlook anybody," he said. “We’d like to control our own destiny in terms of a bowl game. We got to 6-5 last year and realized that it wasn’t enough.” In other words, to secure a bowl opportunity this season, Oregon must beat the Sun Devils and then take care of Oregon State in the Civil War matchup at Autzen Stadium on Nov. 22. To run the table, Oregon will need duplicate per formances out of players like quarterback Akili Smith, wide receiver Pat Johnson, linebacker Peter Sirmon and the rest of the team that outplayed the sixth-ranked Huskies. On Monday, Smith and Sirmon were honored for their individual performances against Washington by being named offensive and defensive Pacific-10 Con ference player’s of the week by the league office. "Akili played a very, very good football game,” Bellotti said. “His comeback situation, throwing three touchdowns and no interceptions, it was really Turn to UO, Page 12 Will we celebrate the Washington win? Yes. Will I let it go very long. No. » Mike Bellotti UO head coach NBA and partners NBC, Turner Sports agree on new contract The new contract, expected to be announced today, is reported to be worth at least $2.4 billion By Josh Dubow The Associated Press NEW YORK — The NBA and its television partners have agreed on a contract worth at least $2.4 billion over four years, more than double the current deal. The contract breaks down to at least $1.6 billion for NBC and $800 million for Turner Sports, two industry sources told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. The deal is expected to be an nounced today after being approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors. Neither NBC nor Turner would comment on the deal. Under the current four-year con tract, which expires at the end of this season, NBC paid $750 million and Turner paid $350 million. That deal also included a revenue-sharing pro vision that will net the NBA addi tional revenue. The NBA is now firmly estab lished as the No. 2 television sport, trailing only the NFL, which earns $4.4 billion over four years in a deal that expires after this season. Base ball gets $1.7 billion over five years from NBC, Fox and ESPN, an agree ment that expires after the 1999 sea son. This new contract underlines the NBA’s turnaround from the early 1980s, when the league struggled to find a network to show its games and its championship was broadcast on taped delay. "There is a much broader public acceptance of the NBA now than there was 15 or 20 years ago,” said Neal Pilson, who ran CBS Sports when the network had the rights to the NBA. “The NBA has established sponsors who support the league on television. It has achieved the pres tige and respect it did not have a decade ago." The NBA was looking for a sizable rights increase to keep up with the ex ponential growth in player salaries. That fueled speculation the league might add a third partner on either the cable or broadcast side. With NBC’s and Turner’s exclusive negotiating period set to expire on Sunday, neither network wanted to risk competing with another bidder. “A substantial part of the increase is attributable to the desire by distrib utors to retain exclusivity in regards to broadcast and cable rights," Pilson said. “That is what is driving the ex panding sports rights ship — the de sire to keep your competitors out.” NBC is entering its eighth season broadcasting the NBA and Turner, which shows games on TBS and TNT, is in its 14th season. The league has grown dramatically under NBC’s stewardship, and that played an im Turn to NBA, Page 12 Contract ■ WHAT: A $2.4 billion, four-year NBA TV contract with two net works that dou bled the previ ous contract ■ WHO: At least $1.6 billion will come from NBC and the remain ing $800 million from Turner Sports