<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> LAS VEGAS ? Monta Ellis' instructions for his sophomore teammates were simple. "Just throw the ball up there and I'll catch it," he said. Ellis did more than just secure the ball with both hands. The Golden State Warriors' second-year guard threw it down repeatedly in an entertaining display of dunks worthy of the Vegas spotlight. New York Knicks forward David Lee won the Rookie Challenge's Most Valuable Player with a game-high 30 points on 14-for-14 shooting in the sophomores' 155-114 crushing of an overmatched and defenseless rookie squad. But as far as style points, Ellis put on the best show in his 13-for-16, 28-point effort. "He deserved it," a not-too-disappointed Ellis said of Lee. "He didn't miss, he got all the rebounds and he played hard tonight. ADVERTISEMENT "We all just wanted to go out and play basketball." Ellis was the last player on either team to get into the game, coming off the bench with 6:26 remaining in the first half. It didn't take long for him to make his presence felt. He scored consecutive layups and then dunked off Chris Paul's alley-oop feeds on his next three buckets to catch the attention of the 6,000 local youth that filled the stands. Like Lee, Ellis didn't miss a shot in the first half, going 7-for-7 for 14 points. Ellis' intention wasn't to steal the stage. But he did. "I was just going out there and playing my game," Ellis said. "I worked so hard this summer and it's paying off with the system that coach (Don) Nelson has brought in. It's given me confidence whenever I play. I was just doing what I've been doing all season." For the uninitiated, what Ellis has done is raise his scoring average from 6.8 points a game to 17.1 in the Warriors' wide-open running attack. He has also produced several of this season's must-see highlights, most notably a coast-to-coast drive against Phoenix that resulted in a vicious posterizing dunk on Leandro Barbosa. At the end of last season, after another Baron Davis injury and another trip to the lottery, the Warriors decided to see what Ellis could do. The 2005 second-round pick averaged 11 points a game last April and closed out his season-ending flourish with a then-career-high 27 points. Ellis carried that momentum into this season, becoming the one backcourt constant for the 25-29 Warriors, who have been without Jason Richardson (broken hand) since New Year's Eve and are now without franchise point guard Baron Davis. Davis is out indefinitely after having knee surgery. So if Golden State manages to end its 12-year playoff drought, a big reason will be Ellis, the 6-foot-3 guard with Iversonian quickness and Marion-esque hops who's now starting at the point for the Warriors. "To me, this is like my rookie season," Ellis said. "The coach has allowed me to make mistakes and he's allowed me to make plays and do things to help our team win." Ellis and his sophomore teammates didn't have to work hard to earn the W on Friday night, as just about all of them had a chance to shine. But despite what the MVP fan voting indicated, there's no question who was the favorite at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday night. "I really wasn't focused on coming out here and dominating," Ellis said. "I just wanted to come out here, have fun and enjoy this opportunity that I got. I just wanted to get to know these guys better and put on a show. </div> http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AgwH...=yhoo&type=lgns Made the front page of yahoo. The price tag on this kid goes up each day
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> The price tag on this kid goes up each day </div> Who cares? Do you want him to play like ass so we can give him a cheap contract, THEN have him blow up and lead the league in scoring? That makes no sense. If the guy plays like crap, why would you resign him? If anything you should hope he plays well, takes GS to the playoffs and gets a max contract AND blows up to lead the league in scoring like Iverson...
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> If anything you should hope he plays well, takes GS to the playoffs and gets a max contract AND blows up to lead the league in scoring like Iverson...</div> There's no max contract to give him... Oh, you mean gets a max contract from some OTHER team?
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shouldn't we be able to afford him now after dumping the Dunmurphy sisters (as Damon Bruce says)?</div> Considering Biedrins could potentially get the max extension price, who knows. But Foyle's contract is off the books in 2 years so we should be able to keep both.
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Who cares? Do you want him to play like ass so we can give him a cheap contract, THEN have him blow up and lead the league in scoring? That makes no sense. If the guy plays like crap, why would you resign him? If anything you should hope he plays well, takes GS to the playoffs and gets a max contract AND blows up to lead the league in scoring like Iverson...</div> Relax, I'm just saying that he's going to be expensive. And even though we dumped Murphy and Dunleavy, we still will have some issues with cap space.
Do you guys not follow the salary cap situation with GS? Please visit here: GoldenStateSalaries The current salary cap is $53.135 it will go up next year a bit, I believe. There are stipulations which allow teams to go over the cap -- the team can do that with Beans, but not sure about Monta. For every 1 mils you go over the cap, you pay 1 mils in lux tax which is disbursed to the other teams in the league who are not over cap. The Pacer deal did free up some dough, but Al and SJax are both signed beyond the time when Ellis and Beans come up for deals. So while they'll come off the books earlier than Dunmurphy would have, they will NOT come off the books in time to make room for Ellis/Beans. As you can see from link above, both Pietrus and Beans have qualifying offer options (the green numbers). What that means is the team has the choice to make them restricted free agents. For Pietrus, this summer, the team will have until June 30th to make him a qualifying offer (3.5 mils for Pietrus, roughly). If they don't make the offer, he becomes unrestricted free agent and can go anywhere. If they do make q. offer, he becomes a restricted free agent. He can choose to take the $$, or test the waters. If he tests the waters, he'll do so as a restricted FA, thus any offer sheet another team gives him, GS will have the right to match the offer and retain him. See here: RestrictedFreeAgency Same for Beans -- when he comes up, GS can make him a restricted free agent and enter the same process. However, while they can go over the cap to sign their own restriced free agents, the $$ still IMPACTS the cap such that they'll have less room to sign other players. Monta was a 2nd round pick. Thus, he becomes an unrestricted free agent when his contract is up. There is the new Arenas Rule which makes it more difficult to lure away other teams 2nd round picks, but basically, GS will still have a more difficult time retaining Monta. I don't think they'll have the luxury of going over the cap to retain him. If you look at Hoopshype for 2008/2009, when Monta comes up for a contract, the team will already be over the cap (and this assumes they DON'T make qualifying offer to Pietrus. Between Baron, JRich, Foyle, SJax, Harrington, and small offers to POB and Andris, the team is already over the cap. And there's nothing they can do about this! Other than trades. So I think Mully must be looking at how he can make rook to sign Beans and Monta. While he'll be able to enter the restricted free agency process with Beans, he probably won't want to. But regardless, Beans can be kept but his $$salary will still impact our cap. Even with trades, the way I read it, it will be very difficult should Monta command more than 5 or 6 mils, which I think he will. But I'm no expert. Read that salary cap website for yourself! Salary Cap Page
Here is the "Gilbert Arenas Rule" as described by Larry Coon: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">37. What is the "Gilbert Arenas" provision? With the previous CBA it was sometimes possible to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets their original teams couldn't match. This happened when a player was an Early Bird or Non-Bird free agent (see question number 19) and the team didn't have enough cap room to match a sufficiently large offer. For example, Gilbert Arenas was Golden State's second round draft pick in 2001, and became an Early Bird free agent in 2003. Golden State therefore could only match an offer sheet (or sign Arenas themselves) for up to the average salary (see question number 24), which was about $4.9 million. Washington signed Arenas to an offer sheet with a starting salary of about $8.5 million, which Golden State was powerless to match. This loophole was addressed in the current CBA (although not closed completely -- see below). Teams are now limited in the salary they can offer in an offer sheet to a restricted free agent with one or two years in the league. The first-year salary in the offer sheet cannot be greater than the average salary (see question number 24). Limiting the first year salary in this way guarantees that the player's original team will be able to match the offer sheet by using the Early Bird exception (if applicable -- see question number 19), or Mid-Level exception (provided they haven't used it already). The second year salary in such an offer sheet is limited to the standard 8% raise. The third year salary can jump considerably -- it is allowed to be as high as it would have been had the first year salary not been limited by this rule to the average salary. Raises (and decreases) after the third season are limited to 6.9% of the salary in the third season. The offer sheet can only contain the large jump in the third season if it provides the maximum salary allowed in the first two seasons. In addition, the offer must be guaranteed and cannot contain bonuses of any kind. If the raise in the third season exceeds the standard raise (8% of the salary in the first season of the contract), then they place an additional restriction on the team. In order to determine the size of the offer the team can make, they don't fit just the first year salary under the cap. Instead, they must fit the average salary in the entire contract under the cap. So a team $8 million under the cap is limited to offering a total of $24 million over three years, $32 million over four years, or $40 million over five years. If the offer sheet does not contain a third-season raise larger than 8% of the first-season salary, then they only have to fit the first year salary under the cap.</div> http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#37 Theres even more that he uses to describe it as an example. Its extremely confusing to me so hopefully one of you capologists can explain it more simply. It sounds like the first few years of Monta's next deal can only be for around 5 million, so as long as we don't use the MLE this offseason, we can use it next offseason to pay for Monta's first year of his new contract. Also, Monta has bird rights so we should be fine in re-signing him even if we're over the cap.
I'm still not 100% convinced we should keep Monta anyway. He obviously has a lot of talent, however, is he the best fit for the Warriors? I'm still somewhat doubtful he'll ever be a true point guard. "Max contract" should mean you're a superstar, a franchise player or unreplaceable piece. Andris is close to that, but I don't think think that describes Monta, not yet anyway. You look at the top players like Wade, Gilbert, Kobe, LeBron, Nash...they simply don't take nights off. They show up to play every single night, they make their presence in the game felt every single night, and they frequently dominate. My main problem with Monta is that his greatness comes in spurts. While he makes some great plays and is capable of dominating a game, he does it erratically. He tends to disappear for quarters or even entire games at a time where sometimes I honestly forget he's even in the game. So that's why I'd hesitate right now on giving him the max contract. Because his trade value is sky-high, and he could definitely be a big key in bringing in a superstar frontcourt player like Gasol or possibly even KG. The loss of Monta would hurt GS but IMO that's the piece that gets them over the hump. The problem there is getting Nellie to play Andris and another big man together, which may never happen.
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm still not 100% convinced we should keep Monta anyway. He obviously has a lot of talent, however, is he the best fit for the Warriors? I'm still somewhat doubtful he'll ever be a true point guard. "Max contract" should mean you're a superstar, a franchise player or unreplaceable piece. Andris is close to that, but I don't think think that describes Monta, not yet anyway. You look at the top players like Wade, Gilbert, Kobe, LeBron, Nash...they simply don't take nights off. They show up to play every single night, they make their presence in the game felt every single night, and they frequently dominate. My main problem with Monta is that his greatness comes in spurts. While he makes some great plays and is capable of dominating a game, he does it erratically. He tends to disappear for quarters or even entire games at a time where sometimes I honestly forget he's even in the game. So that's why I'd hesitate right now on giving him the max contract. Because his trade value is sky-high, and he could definitely be a big key in bringing in a superstar frontcourt player like Gasol or possibly even KG. The loss of Monta would hurt GS but IMO that's the piece that gets them over the hump. The problem there is getting Nellie to play Andris and another big man together, which may never happen.</div> Just my opinion but I think he's going to be a marquee face for the NBA -- like LeBron, Wade, Arenas type popularity... one day. Call me crazy. No way in hell I trade either Monta or Beans. That's under the assumption that we can make room to sign them, though... oh, P.S. Monta has scored in double figures in 18 out of his last 20 games...including an 11 game streak in double digits... 9 of those for 20+ points... that is INCREDIBLY consistent...
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">oh, P.S. Monta has scored in double figures in 18 out of his last 20 games...including an 11 game streak in double digits... 9 of those for 20+ points... that is INCREDIBLY consistent...</div>He gets decent numbers, but does he make his presence felt in every game? I'd say not really. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That's what I'm talking about when refering to superstar status and max contracts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not turning on Monta. I still love his game and I know he's still young and learning. But will he be worth let's say $15 million a year or more? Not so sure at this time.
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He gets decent numbers, but does he make his presence felt in every game? I'd say not really. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That's what I'm talking about when refering to superstar status and max contracts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not turning on Monta. I still love his game and I know he's still young and learning. But will he be worth let's say $15 million a year or more? Not so sure at this time.</div> No, he's not a superstar, and he doesn't deserve a max contract yet, I totally agree. But, IMO, his potential -- and what he's been able to do in his first year of actual PT -- is so incredible that the Warriors would be silly to let him go or to not do everything they can to keep him. I agree that he won't garner a DWade or LEBron max contract, but he'll still be expensive if he keeps playing like this. Remeber, his contract won't be up till after NEXT season. He still has another season to prove his worth. Who knows, he might make the all-star team next year... Then 15 mils won't sound so crazy...
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He gets decent numbers, but does he make his presence felt in every game? I'd say not really. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That's what I'm talking about when refering to superstar status and max contracts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not turning on Monta. I still love his game and I know he's still young and learning. But will he be worth let's say $15 million a year or more? Not so sure at this time.</div> I'm not sure if hes worth max right now either but hes only 21, I don't expect him to be anywhere close LeBron, Wade, etc. this season. But when you compare him to guys like Wade, Kobe, Arenas, Carter at the same age hes not too far off statistically and hes better than guys like Ray Allen, J-Rich, Joe Johnson, Ben Gordon, Chauncy Billups, Rip Hamilton. Of course there's no guarantees, but from watching Monta I get the sense that he has that "it" that you want from a superstar, we've seen him progress greatly just throughout the course of this season; hes gone form an automatic TO late in the game to nailing a buzzer beaters against the Nets and hitting key shots down the stretch vs. the Bulls. His handle and left hand have improved noticeably during the course of the season, his FT % has shot up lately, at the beginning of the year you didn't want him playing PG at all, now hes starting at PG and playing great in the absence of Baron. Hes probably never going to have the natural court vision but you can see hes improved at finding the open man. Right now we don't know if he's good enough to be a max player but I think theres a pretty good chance he'll be an all-star level player based on how hes producing and improving, especially compared to other all-star level guys and even superstar level guys. I don't think he'll even get a max contract immediately after his rookie deal, there are restrictions on how much a player can make based on how many years hes played in the NBA, Monta will probably want to have a 3 year deal where he can get up to his potential and play more years, then cash in on a max deal at 15+ mil/year rather than getting as much as he can as a 22 year old (maybe 12 mil/year at best) but ending up being a max contract level player and being underpaid for 4-5 years.
If concerns are based on Monta Ellis getting a max contract, which make some not be too fond of being zealous about calling Ellis a franchise/max-contract player, then I can somewhat understand that. I mean does a basketball player really need/deserve 15 million dollars each season? Well for how much they occupy us, maybe...lol...But I disagree that Monta Ellis is inconsistant. If anything else, he has been one of the most consistant players on the Warriors team this season. Monta is getting deflections and doing his thing often. Monta Ellis is one of the players that I encourage to be in the game when things are going a little stale, because he usually is pretty consistent in my opinion with his play and making plays with deflections, driving to the hoop for easy buckets, getting to the FT line, etc. Actually his ability to get to the FT line and to the hoop is one of the main reasons if not the sole reason why, in my opinion, Monta Ellis is consistent and probably the most consistant player on the team (especially ranked up with his teammates).
Harrington and Jackson trade did help our caproom a bit to resign Monta and Biedrins (roughly 5 mils), and it was a nice start. But, by no mean that trade solved our financial problem. In order to solve our financial problem, we need to acquire 1.5 years contract or less, and the only players we lose are Pietrus, Zarko and Cabbage. If Cohan said no to luxury tax, we are basically screwed. This year's luxury tax line was $65.42 mils, and in 08-09, we are projected to pay at least $55.5 mils. And, if we include POB's contract alone, it will be $57.9 mils, and if we include any additional players (since we only have 6 players), our salary can easily be $62 mils. Even though we hope luxury tax line goes up by roughly 6-7 mils (making luxury tax line $71-$72 mils), that only leaves one large extension between Monta and Biedrins. So, if we assume that both players improve like now, and luxury tax line increases normally... 1. Cohan bites a bullet and pay a luxury tax for a year. After a year, we lose Davis and Foyle's contract. 2. Mullin finds a way to dump any of Davis, Richardson, Foyle or Harrington for expiring contracts. That means no Kidd btw. 3. We have to give up either Monta or Biedrins...
I'm not sure why, but the Warriors gave Monta a third year. I guess they didn't think he'd be this good this fast and fall under the Arenas provision. The Arenas proviso only applies to two year contracts and would have allowed the Warriors to keep Monta at the average salary for next season and an 8% raise the year after. Where Monta would've made out would be in the third year where the Warriors could offer considerably more. Anyway the Warriors hold Bird rights to Monta and can match any offer that he gets when his deal is up next year. Hopefully, Mullin and Higgins will have enough cap space to re-sign him. What gets tricky as Kwan pointed out (ooo eee it looks nasty when you just look at it from a financial POV) is trying to re-sign both AB and Monta the same year. First things first though. We should try to keep Kelenna Azubuike and Josh Powell. but I've been hearing Powell may not be back. I think it depends on what kind of offers they get. The guy on the bubble is Matt Barnes. He probably will not be back. All of this assuming Mullin doesn't make a trade before the trading deadline. Right now, it sounds as if the Warriors are looking to trade in order to improve themselves for a playoff run.
<div class="quote_poster">jason voorhees Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">First things first though. We should try to keep Kelenna Azubuike and Josh Powell. but I've been hearing Powell may not be back.</div>I agree we should try to keep these two. Powell is not the long-term fix for starting frontline that we need, but he provides some nice inside presence off the bench and provides a little more protection for when Andris gets in foul trouble or needs a rest. Azubuike has exceeded expections, he's cheap, and really makes you wonder if resigning Pietrus makes sense, especially if you can get something out of him in a trade before his contract is up. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">All of this assuming Mullin doesn't make a trade before the trading deadline. Right now, it sounds as if the Warriors are looking to trade in order to improve themselves for a playoff run.</div>I haven't heard much involving the Warriors except for the Kidd rumor, which I see as highly improbable. It seems like they're on the outside of any Gasol deal too, so I don't know what they'd do. Mully has surprised us before though, he may have another shocker in the works. I hope so because right now even though the Warriors are technically "right there" in the hunt for the #8 spot, I think they'd be a long shot. Even if Baron comes back and even if JRich comes back and isn't rusty, both of which I think are unlikely.
Guys, lets not forget that Mully will need to save room because Foyle has a team option in 2009/2010 (right when he'll be entering his prime) for $10,562,500. I don't think Mully can extend that option to Foyle if he doesn't have the cap space, and then Foyle would be free to just walk awy for nothing!...
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Guys, lets not forget that Mully will need to save room because Foyle has a team option in 2009/2010 (right when he'll be entering his prime) for $10,562,500. I don't think Mully can extend that option to Foyle if he doesn't have the cap space, and then Foyle would be free to just walk awy for nothing!...</div> I hope we can sign and trade him so we dont let his presence leave for nothing in return. I would say the next 3 lottery picks and Dwight Howard in return is fair. In fact throw in Jameer Nelson just to make it fair...
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> I hope we can sign and trade him so we dont let his presence leave for nothing in return. I would say the next 3 lottery picks and Dwight Howard in return is fair. In fact throw in Jameer Nelson just to make it fair...</div> True -- I think it's really smart that GS put that "team option" in Foyle's contract in 2010 -- you know, just in case he starts playing like Bill Russell and merits $10.5 mils, yeah? That's gonna be a tough decision for Mully...
