Biedrins', Ellis' impact play might be costly to Warriors

<div class="quote_poster">dareedle Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It's a no brainer to resigning Biedrins to a long term franchise type contract. I still don't see any upside for Pietrus, but he will perform well under the Don Nelson type of system. There is a million players like Ellis in the league and the Warriors have a history of finding quality scoring guards in the CBA and 2nd Round NBA draft (Keith Mr. Jennings, Earl Boykins, Arenas, Ellis) so I woud let him walk if he wants to be the next Strawberry of Stevie Franchise. Besides Webber, a number 1 pick and the Dampier trade, it has taken our franchise 10 fricking years to find a decent big. I still think Dunleavy will be our most tradable asset because Sr. can't stand Maguette. Finally, I do think Diogu will be leaving soon in package because he doesn't fit in the Nellie system and we need to sweeten the pot to get rid of the Foyle, Murphy contracts. On a side note the luxury tax is a joke, it has crippled franchises like the Knicks, Mavericks , Fakers and Warriors and has let no name markets like San Antonio to dismal NBA playoff ratings. If Cohan and Cuban want to spend to farm to keep good players, they shouldn't have to pay David Stern $2 dollars for every dollar over the cap.</div>


Where to start....

First there are not a million like Ellis,not a hundred...probably not a dozen. He's very young-has damn little floor time beyond HS and is outplaying big name NBA veterans often. Just the same-Biedrens is a 20 yr old C----and currently looks like a top 5 C.

Actually-If you look at the big picture-Webber and Dampier were no prizes. Webber derailed this franchise when it was headed upward. Damp had more years of DNP-injury than played well. All things considered-Murphy was the best big we have had in awhile. We really have not had the C job covered since Nate Thurmond.

Trade off both Ike AND Murphy? Gee..you must have more faith in Zarko than I do. Nellie has not yet had the opportunity to weave Ike into the mix. He will.
In a few years Ike will be a major part of our core. Tonight,against the Bucks-he'd have been a major plus. They couldn't stop him without foul trouble-and they have a thin frontcourt.

Nellie is still a wild card. He has upgraded players,when they stay helthy enough to play. After the season...Nellie and Mullin will certainly consider deals. They might find a deadline deal,but unless the whole project collapses,the focus will be on winning. USEFUL players won't get swapped for junk to ease the budget now for a future season. It has been far to long since the last Warrior playoff game. Nellie is here to build and win-asap,not to dismantle so we can muck around as "almost average" for another decade.

For each $ over Lux Tax...ONE $...not 2,goes to the league....and a percentage is redistributed to all. So....if we are $6 mill past the Lux Tax line--we pay in $6 mill to the pool. We'd get some of that back. The Warriors spent over $6 mill buying out Monty,Taft,Wagner,Owens,and Brown.

 

Ellis is so young, one has to wonder how did he ever develop such an instinctive and relatively polished offensive game without going to college? He's got a variety of moves most guards his age do not have. And he will get better. He's displayed that he can be a capable playmaker at times, but he's got to develop that role a little better. He doesn't seem overly like a showboater and he's not a headcase. Plus, he can shoot, he's quick off his feet, and can play defense. My kind of player.

Biedrins + Ike are my kind of frontline. Both are tough and can mix it up inside. Biedrins is the defensive specialist and has some offense. Ike has more offense and some defense. I think they can cover each other and alter shots at the rim and get offensive rebounds for our guards. They both have great hands, great hustle, and are high% guys in most of the areas (Biedrins is not a good free throw shooter, but he would lead the league in fg% if all he did was catch and dunk). 1-2 punch could be Ellis and Baron going inside. Maybe we could groom Ellis to be the point, Baron to be the shooting guard. Baron seems to be doing the Marbury shuffle when it comes to wanting to shoot first and still being a 7+ assist guy a night.

 

For the time being,Baron's experiance and ability to control the ball,manage a play,makes him the PG choice. Him stepping over to a SG-like role,letting monta do some of the PG stuff is good. After Baron's era-Monta figures to be the pg.

I saw Magic Johnson as a freshman. He was not only polished and skilled---he changed the game. You could see from the start he was not just a great freshman-but he'd inevitably be a great pro.
Oscar Robertson played when freshmen were not eligible. As a Soph he scored about 34 a game to lead the nation. Other guys in the race for top scorer that year-Wilt Chamberlain,Elgin Baylor,Jerry West.

 

The potential on Monta Ellis is pretty scary. I hope the guy can be pretty durable because didn't he have some knee injury problems?

He's got some good all-around skills and he's been surprisingly high %, despite the turnovers. If he can be a good point guard, he'll help us offensively and defensively. That's always a plus. Production on both ends of the floor is what we need. We can't have a guy who scores, but causes others to get into foul trouble or allow the other team to go uncontested. He seems pretty smart too for a high school guy. Could be one of those natural ballers. We'll see how the league figures him out.

 

I haven't seen Ellis dominate all the way through a game lately. He seems to have some rough spots filled with turnovers and foul problems, or he'll disappear for a few quarters sometimes where he's just not aggressive and doing what he does best, take the ball straight at defenders and to the rack. Although he's been pretty good in the 4th quarter. Now when you talk about things that separate good players from great players, dominating for all four quarters is one of those things. You didn't see Michael or Magic or Bird take a quarter off.

 

Ellis just signed a 2 year shoe deal with And 1. He's definitely been getting noticed.

 

<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I haven't seen Ellis dominate all the way through a game lately. He seems to have some rough spots filled with turnovers and foul problems, or he'll disappear for a few quarters sometimes where he's just not aggressive and doing what he does best, take the ball straight at defenders and to the rack. Although he's been pretty good in the 4th quarter. Now when you talk about things that separate good players from great players, dominating for all four quarters is one of those things. You didn't see Michael or Magic or Bird take a quarter off.</div>

Let's give Monta some break. After all, he still is 21 years old player, so it may be too early to expect him to be a dominating player in every quarter. Although, Monta's development was overshadowed by Biedrins a bit, he averaged 18.3 pts, 49% fg, and 35% from 3 pts line, which is an amazing number for 2nd year player and right out of high school. And, he has been scoring machine in 4th quarter. I am sure he will smooth rough edges in offense over years. One thing that may stop him from being a superstar is whether he can play PG's role. Right now, his court vision isn't good to say the least, and it's very hard for SG to become PG. Although he can still be a great SG, his 6'3" frame may limit him from being a superstar. If he can remove a tweener tag, he may have as good or even better career than Biedrins...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Kwan1031 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Let's give Monta some break. After all, he still is 21 years old player, so it may be too early to expect him to be a dominating player in every quarter. Although, Monta's development was overshadowed by Biedrins a bit, he averaged 18.3 pts, 49% fg, and 35% from 3 pts line, which is an amazing number for 2nd year player and right out of high school. And, he has been scoring machine in 4th quarter. I am sure he will smooth rough edges in offense over years. One thing that may stop him from being a superstar is whether he can play PG's role. Right now, his court vision isn't good to say the least, and it's very hard for SG to become PG. Although he can still be a great SG, his 6'3" frame may limit him from being a superstar. If he can remove a tweener tag, he may have as good or even better career than Biedrins...</div>

You're right, getting 18pts on great numbers from a second year, second rounder, out of highschool kid is amazing. I'm fine with everything he does, I wish just Nelson would tell Ellis to put a little more mustard on his passes.

 

Kwan, of course I'm not down on Monta at all, he is fantastic. I'm just trying to point out some realities and hurdles he has to overcome before people start carving his HOF statue.