I can't believe all the Bucks had to give up for Monta Ellis and a potential young stud defensive Center was a broken down (potentially injured and never the same?) Andrew Bogut. Even then they STILL save money on this deal by dumping SJax who wasn't even playing for them!

Absurd.

WHERE THE FYCK ARE YOU KAHN?!?!

College Wolf wrote:
I know man. That was the first thing that crossed my mind.

I think it was one of those situations where Golden State was targeting a defensive center at all costs, and were willing to move Monta only for something that met that need. They had a clear plan in mind, and the Wolves didn't have the types of players they wanted.

Man, Bogut. He's a really nice player but his durability is a pretty big problem.

Have we overvalued Monta around here? I always thought he was a huge stud guard.....

Monta Ellis is a beast. Very weird trade, as the Bucks have a starting backcourt now of Jennings and Ellis. Who is guarding the starting 2 guard there? I am assuming Ellis will be primarily a shooting guard unless Jennings is out. I am personally upset because I lost Udoh as a $1 keeper in my WCOnly league. I guess Golden State is basically saying they won't even try to compete for a playoff spot this year (which in all reality makes sense). I am interested to see how this turns out for Milwaukee. Any chance they move Jennings by the deadline?

Monta is an enormous stud. Is he not one of 5-10 guys you would pick to have the ball in his hands in the closing seconds of a game? Does he have a bad attitude or anything? Don't understand why he isn't held in higher regard around the league.

There were some Jennings rumblings the other day. That backcourt is only good in NBA 2k. Those guys are going to fight over the ball from day one and kill eachother by day 4 or so. Not a good combination. They should make a play for Dwight in deal around Jennings, Illyasova and stuff. That would be a humorous ending for Dwight.

I suspect (Daddy could be wrong) that once Ellis finds the right coach (Adelman) he'll blossom into a winner. His attitude is fine. He's rumored to be traded every year after all he does is pour his heart out on the court. He doesn't complain, just plays...EVERY game. He's not very good at running an offense so at 6'3-ish, he's better suited to play SG. He's athletic as all hell, so (I repeat) with the right coach and system he'll be fine on defense 95% of the time. When he meets Kobe in the finals then it will be a problem. I don't know of many/any other two guards who are so strong and athletic that it will work out too terribly. Remember, they have to guard HIM, too.

The NBA is changing. the 4-5 positions are blurry. The 2-3 positions are blurry. The "ideal backcourt" hasn't been tall-ass Ron Harper and Jordan since...Ron Harper and Jordan.

BonK wrote:
I saw that the Bucks were in talks to deal Jennings but it fell through and they decided to trade for Monta anyways. Now they plan on keeping him (GM speak to keep him happy no doubt). I bet he gets traded sometime in the next calendar year. I'm sure those comments he made about checking out big market teams rubbed everyone the wrong way.

WallyWorld wrote:
See, I think that Monta is a great NBA2K12 guy and probably a decent person, but as a basketball player I think his fatal flaw is that he dominates the ball but doesn't make his teammates better.

While you all know how much I loath Hollinger, he had an interesting write up the other day about how, over the last 3 years (or whatever), with Curry in the game without Ellis, the Warriors are cumulative +160 (or something like that) and with Ellis in the game without Curry the team is cumulative -98 (or something like that, again. I mean, we are talking a large number of minutes and there is no "Curry always plays with better players" dynamic here since they both have been starters. I don't have specifics since I spent as little time reading anything written by Hollinger as possible, but the point was valid.

Something about Ellis's game always rubbed me the wrong way and I've learned to trust my gut when it comes to basketball. While he would have been an upgrade for us, I am almost certain that it would not have been a great long term move for the team due to the length and amount of his contract, his ball-dominance, and the fact that he would take the ball out of Rubio's and Love's hands for major chunks of every possession.

daddyfatsax wrote:
Also, what you said about Monta hustling I agree with entirely, which is why I find him to be an odd character on the court. In some ways I totally like the way he plays, but at the same time unless he could manage to handle the ball about 50% as much during the course of the game, I think it would be hard to win with him. He would be extremely valuable if (and it's a huge if) he could adapt to playing the Kevin Martin role, or the Ray Allen role. Those guys can create, can slash, can score, but don't have to boost 20 shots a game every game.

wolfenstein wrote:
Coaching and team-personnel leadership. Who has he consistently played with? Who has been his Flip or his Sam Mitchell? Give him Adelman or give him Popovich or give him Jason Kidd or give him Chris Paul, he'll figure it out.

Do you think that he'd take to it? I have no idea. Milwaukee is hardly the hotbed of competent coaching, so I guess we wait for now.

Monta is kind of reinforcing the view that he isn't a winner when the first quote from him after being traded is, "I knew they wouldn't trade me to a playoff team." Especially bad considering the Bucks are currently 8th seed in the East and they traded for him to help them make the playoffs. Doh.

roundhouse wrote:
Plus they traded him to the Eastern Conference. You could trip and fall over in the EC and make the playoffs.

wolfenstein wrote:
I have always thought that Scotty Skiles was a very good coach who gets the most out of his teams,demands effort and defense, and is a hard-ass.

daddyfatsax wrote: Word. I heart Monta's game. I can't say I know a ton about his "attitude" or "character off the court" or whatever, but he is a gamer for sure.

But you understand that his game results in awesome individual statistics and awful team statistics? His Warriors teams over the last couple years have played better without him than with. I mean, that's kind of the worst kind of stat.