Free At Last! Monta Ellis Is Free At Last!
By Chris Walder
After what seemed like years and years of constantly being involved in trade rumors for the Golden State Warriors, star guard Monta Ellis is now officially out the door.
Ellis has been dealt along with Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks for injured center Andrew Bogut and disgruntled forward Stephen Jackson.
Someone call the cops because the Bucks just robbed the Warriors.
Why pull this deal off? I can see why this trade makes sense from a Bucks perspective. Monta Ellis is one of the most underrated guards in basketball today. He can easily get you 20-30 points on any given night. He has also learned to pass the ball more effectively as evident by his career high in assists this season (6.0). Monta has never been given the proper respect he deserves because he has spent his entire career playing for the under-achieving Warriors.
Now that he joins a team currently in the playoff hunt with Milwaukee, he may finally get noticed around the league as the stud scoring guard that he is.
On top of acquiring Ellis, the Bucks also get a young promising center in Ekpe Udoh who can defend, grab boards and block shots at a high rate. He still has yet to live up to his draft pick (1st round, 6th pick, 2010 draft), but he does have the tools and potential to be an above-average athletic center down the road for the Bucks.
And then……there’s Kwame Brown.
Yep.
A back-court of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis is rather intriguing though. The arrival of Ellis will take some of the offensive pressure off the shoulders of Mr. Jennings, who is only shooting a dreadful 40% from the field. Hopefully now Jennings can become more of a facilitator and less of an offensive showman.
This is a move the Milwaukee Bucks had to make. With the New York Knicks falling faster than the stock market, the Bucks now have a legitimate shot at the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. No one would pick them to win a series, but making the playoffs would still be quite the accomplishment for the franchise.
GRADE FOR BUCKS : A –
I don’t understand the thought process behind this trade for the Warriors.
When healthy, Andrew Bogut is the 2nd/3rd best center in the NBA.
The key word in that sentence being “healthy“. Since entering the league back in 2005, Bogut has only played more than 70 games twice.
The Warriors just gave up their #1 scoring option for a guy who will never be fully healthy for the rest of his career.
In what universe is that smart? I’m a Bogut fan just as much as the next guy, but if he can’t stay healthy long enough to make an impact on the court, then where has your investment gone?
He’s not even coming back to action this season. They might as well send out a mass email to all Warriors season-ticket holders and inform them that “operation: tank the season” is now in full effect.
Then you have a guy in Stephen Jackson whose piss-poor attitude proceeds himself. He will more than likely step into the starting role vacated by Ellis, but what else can he really offer at this stage of his career? Is Golden State hoping he can relive his glory days as a Warrior and turn back the clock?
I don’t think he can.
Starting a guy like Klay Thompson or Brandon Rush would make more sense long-term because clearly Jackson is not in the plans 2 to 3 years down the road.
This season is officially in the toilet for Golden State. Ellis is gone, Bogut is on the shelf, guard Stephen Curry can’t stay healthy and Mark Jackson’s playoff guarantee to the fans looks all the more insane.
GRADE FOR WARRIORS: C –
Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports