http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16546814 Would you guys still trade him for Iggy or Josh Smith? Seemed like before the season everyone jumped at the idea of trading him for Iggy but I don't think I would anymore. Josh Smith is intriguing but hes just a bad fit at this point as hes probably at his best at PF.
That's exactly what I was saying a few months ago, although more in regards to the OJ Mayo trade idea. Like the article says, he's definitely not the second best player in the league...but off the top of my head, I'd say he's the best $11m/year player in the league. The guy is a damn good bargain, and my doubts about him and Steph as a legit starting backcourt are vanishing. He is undoubtedly an elite scorer in the league, and he seems to be improving all of his weaknesses. He's a much better defender than he used to be, he rebounds well for how small he is, and he's arguably the quickest/fastest guy on hardwood. Would I trade him for Smith or Iggy? Nope. I'm loving what I'm seeing from our starting 5 right now, and although they're still upgradeable in theory, I don't wanna fix what ain't broke right now. The thought that we have $14m expiring in Vlad and Gadz makes me salivate. Although Gadz is actually better than I expected, Vlad is worse. Can you imagine shedding those two and replacing them with a $14m player? Or two legit $7m players? I haven't felt this good about our team since '07, and even then, we had a much older team that wasn't built for the long haul. If our shitty warriors luck doesn't fuck things up, I'd go as far as to say that the future is looking bright. So, sorry to ramble, but no...I don't want to trade Monta.
I love Monta's recent production, and there's no doubt that his value has risen. My answer to the headline question, "is Monta Ellis becoming an elite player" in short is "No." Here's why... I disagree that Monta is a great value. I still believe that 2 guards are a dime a dozen. I still don't believe that you should move him for the sake of moving, but if you can upgrade any of the front court players for a 2 guard, you do it (provided said 2 guard is not an elite player). I don't think Monta is that player. Now that's a personal preference. I will say this, if the Dubs could move Monta for a serviceable 2 and bring in an all star 3, and bring D Wright in as the 6th man of the year off the bench, I make that move. That being said, there are a couple of factors that keep me from making a move now... 1) I think the production of Biedrins and D Wright make it less desirable to move Monta. 2) The pool of available players has shrunk, and with a potential lockout, there are even less moves out there to be had. I've regained much of the respect I lost for Monta this off-season. I still haven't 100% forgiven him for the "Moped" accident and the effects it had on the team as a whole, but he got in early and has shown the desire to make himself better defender and ball-handler. But like IH8TW said, a lot of salary is coming off the books soon. Hopefully the front office understands what they have in trade pieces and doesn't over or undervalue them. IMO, you don't move Monta for the sake of moving him, but he shouldn't be considered a cornerstone either.
Do you think Monta is making a case for himself that he is a core piece though? I'm with you about improving the frontcourt but on the same token we already got a high level PF so its unlikely Monta could land anyone better than Lee. Perhaps he could net a good C but Andris is playing well too. Assuming what we've seen from Ellis thus far this season is how he will play for the duration, where does he rank among SGs? Hes still gotta be behind Kobe, Wade, and Joe Johnson. But can you say hes better than Roy, Kevin Martin, Ginobili, Tyreke Evans? IMO so far he is ahead of all those guys. Hes a top SG in the league right now, hes scoring with the best of them and doing it at 52% FGs to go along with 4 rpg, 5 apg, 3 spg. And hes doing it in the flow of the offense playing his role as the SG plus he hasn't been a liability at all on defense. If we're to believe hes really a top 5 SG then is it safe to say he can be a core piece? All of the anti-Monta sentiment prior to the season was based around the idea that he was unhappy here, unhappy with Curry, playing selfishly, playing inefficiently, etc. This season he has completely made my dreams come true by going back to his efficient ways of playing off the ball. Now that hes playing the right way, experiencing great success, and proving that he and Curry not only work well together as a backcourt but perhaps form the best backcourt in the league does he deserve to be included in the "core"? IMO so far hes earning it but its still early to say. I would say if you could get an upgrade in the front court you do it but I don't see Monta getting any great frontcourt players and I don't see us adding a 12 mils/year center and moving AB to the bench. If we're getting a new C I think Andris has to be swapped because I don't think Riley/Lacob would want a 9 mil/year backup. SF is a position that we could get an upgrade on paper but I can't think of many guys who fit that role. IMO that SF needs to have range and needs to play within the confines of the current scheme- Curry and Monta will dominate the ball, Lee will get a lot of the leftovers, the SF and the C just feed off of that. Wright fits beautifully because hes shooting the lights out, playing defense, rebounding, and thriving by playing off of our "big 3". Adding a scoring-first SF or an SF who can't shoot with our expirings isn't going to help IMO. Maybe we could trade Monta for an SF but, again, I think anyone we trade for Monta right now would be a downgrade in talent/production. Hes playing like a top flight SG. Hes not up there with Kobe, Wade, JJ yet but I think hes at the top of the next tier right now.
I didn't have any anti-Monta sentiment, but I was definitely willing to trade him. I liked the Mayo/Thabeet/Haddadi trade for several reasons. First, you have a ton of expiring contract cap space to fall back on if none of the three players pans out. Second, you get two prospects who are both young (career-wise) and are both several inches over 7 feet. And you get a bigger guard in Mayo who could have a breakout year. Well, after watching the GS-Memphis game the other night, I'm sure glad we didn't do it. The two beanstalks got some run, and they could pan out well still. And Mayo actually looked pretty good, getting 23 points on 9-20 shooting, including a few timely threes. Maybe one day that trade would look good. But right now, I would be regretting pretty much any Monta trade. The guy is playing unreal. And it's not really just a case of being "hot." He's just playing awesome, in all areas of the game. ANd he's fitting so well with Curry. This summer, I just didn't see it. This fall, when he said he is a "changed man," I took it lightly. And who knows -- it's a very short stretch so far, and Monta has yet to deal with adversity -- but right now, they way this group is playing together as a team, it kind of reminds me a bit of the SF Giants... If Monta keeps this up -- yes, he will be moving into definite all-star status. As far as "elite?" Well, he'll have to do a few things, the first being to get that FT% up from 69% lol...
That's exactly it, We're in that state where all of our starting 5 are promising, or on good contracts (Beidrins is on a flat contract which gets better every year). I don't see us getting an upgrade. There are no real 3's out there to be had (at least at Monta's price) that would be a significant upgrade. The only guy I think that could be a target would be Marc Gasol, but is he that big of an upgrade over Beidrins? Is it worth moving Monta to make that leap? You'd have to package Monta and Biedrins to make that move, I guess Mayo would be the guy you get back. Personally, I'd rather keep these guys together and not rock the boat.
I think Marc Gasol is an FA this coming offseason no? I would LOVE to pick him up. He is an upgrade over Beans for two reasons; 1) dude is bigger than Beans- listed as 7'1 and 265 lbs but I bet hes even heavier than that, we saw how our frontline got wrecked on the Laker game. To compete with the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, and all the other big boys in the playoffs we need excellent size and Beans doesn't give that to us. 2) Dude is better offensively than Beans. Yeah, I don't think we should add another scoring player at SF or C but Beans is already getting touches on the block and Marc hasn't been gotten a ton of touches his whole career. Give Marc all those touches Beans gets in the post plus a few extra and hes right up to where he is with the Grizz. Hes an RFA though so he'd be tough to land. Although we're engrained in this starting 5, and its not a bad thing if they keep playing well, we do have options to get better. According to hoopshype we're at about 49 mils in salary this offseason if we let our expirings expire and don't pick up Wright's QO and that includes Lou Amundson not opting out so it could be a little less. The cap was set at 58 mils this year and given that it went up a little from the prior year it probably will again. That gives us about 9-10 mils to play with in FA. We could add another 12-13 mil a year player with that base salary or a few solid players. Additionally we have those expiring contracts to work with this season- hopefully some teams who thought they would be in the POs end up sucking and having a firesale. The upcoming CBA is an issue but I really don't think we'll see many radical changes from it although it could last the entire offseason and beyond.
just noticed watching the warriors/pistons game, monta has the new warriors logo tattooed on his upper left back...pretty big tattoo. you can see it peeking out of his jersey. as far as i'm concerned, that's a good sign hahaha...shows some dedication and commitment. That's the best screenshot i could get.
Yeah I saw that same tattoo earlier in the offseason. Lol pretty dedicated considering the constant trade rumors over the last year or so. Missed all of the Pistons game except the last couple minutes. Seems like we couldn't get a stop.
Marc Gasol would be a huge upgrade over Biedrins. Andris is looking really good this year, like the old Andris, but he'll never have the offensive skills Gasol already does (and being younger at that). And yes, Andris is still undersized and pretty easily muscled out of the lane. Other very important things that Gasol gives you that Biedrins cannot are an ability to play longer minutes (32-35) and much better freethrow shooting, which makes Andris a liability in close game situations. I think Gasol is already a top 7-8 center in the NBA and he's still improving, so it will be very tough to get him. He'll have a lot of bidders and the price will be high. But I would love to pursue him anyway, who knows.
I am concerned about the lack of defense from AB, but he may not be 100% yet. His rebounding is back. As for Monta, I think he's a keeper because he's one of the fastest and most prolific scorers in the league now, but he needs to step up his 'D.' Maybe we need a big, fast 2-guard who can defend the perimeter like a Keith Bogans as backup.
i haven't really seen monta as much of a defensive liability this season, so far. but yeah, i wouldn't be against getting a defensive 2-guard to back him up. also, i saw that jose calderon is coming off the bench now for toronto. personally, i think he'd be an awesome backup point. but i'm hoping lin pans out.
Actually Ellis does quite a lot. He may not be the best defender, but he gets a lot of deflections and is consistently among the top in steals in the NBA. He's pretty solid averaging about 26 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals over the last calendar year. Perhaps your definition of elite is different from mine, but Ellis is a very good player with contributions in many areas of the game. The only thing I can think of where he could improve would be in limiting turnovers and getting a little better percentage shooting 3 pointers. It's not as if Kobe Bryant is "elite" in other parts of his game. But he certainly produces in the other areas which makes him the great player he is.
Here's a guy to keep an eye on if he becomes available -- Landry Fields of Stanford (he was a 2nd round pick @ 9). I think Wilson Chandler is chomping at the bit to be the starting two for the Knicks. Fields is 6'7" who's a rebounder and defensive specialist. He's improved his 3-pt and free throw shooting. I can see why he continues to start for the Knicks.
Kobe is an inefficient scorer but he can play defense and make incredible shots. And he's has a lot of great teammates. And plays for the great Lakers. So, he must be elite. I'm just joking, sorta, but Monta is doing a lot of things this season, so for a Laker fan to come in here and tell us he's just a scorer is pretty annoying.
The funny part about that is, Monta does pretty much everything lol. Scores, passes well, rebounds very well for his position, defends bigger guards, including Kobe, plays 40 minutes a night, he's leading the league in scoring, and he's 3rd in the league in steals with 2.7... and he's 5th in the league amongst shooting guards in FG %, shooting 52% from the field. The season is still young, but right now Monta is doing everything, in all areas of the game. The only thing is his 3pt% is low, but that will climb. If he can keep this up, and get his FT% up from 72%, yes... he will be an elite player this year. Maybe not his whole career, or maybe so... but right now, this season, he's got a chance to be the league MVP as far as I'm concerned. It's just that he's still not well known. There's still a lot of media, as well as fans like kobeownslebron, who just have no clue what Monta's game is all about, mostly because they rarely if ever see him play.
No way in hell is NY trading him. Hes one of the best rookies so far and very, very cheap. Unless they're getting a GREAT deal hes not going anywhere. And yeah, if you just take away all of the combo guard connotations that come with Monta and jut consider him a SG hes pretty well rounded. The ppg speaks for itself but hes in a league of his own as far as FG% from a guard who scores that much. His rebounding and assist numbers aren't excellent but certainly not bad. His defense isn't good but, again its not terrible. Aside from Kobe, Wade who are the next best SGs? Roy of old would be up there but hes seriously off lately. Joe Johnson is there. Ray Allen was there prior to the trade to the Celtics. Monta puts up similar rebounding and assist numbers and plays comarable defense to JJ and Ray Allen (prime). The main difference is elite level guys take over games and win games. We see Monta dominate games but how often does he really take over at the end and will the team to victory? Hes hit some big shots at the end of games this season but I he doesn't carry us in the last 3 minutes. Steph Curry does though. And I am absolutely LOVING seeing him do it the past few games. Hes totally the man on this club and that is part of the reason why. Monta is very important carrying the scoring load and dominating while doing it for the first 45 minutes of the game. At the end though I don't see him taking over. Curry, however, seems to be playing within himself the whole game and then really winning games for us at the end. hope he keeps it up. Back to Monta though, hes got the stats and production but the key is really that the "elite" guys take over games when it matters. They dominate in the playoffs. They are also their team's best players usually. Curry right now is the guy closing games. Monta could be elite but right now its just not happening. Hes producing like an elite player but its as much about when you produce as about how you produce. Look at Manu Ginobili. Hes got pretty pedestrian career averages but he was an elite SG for a long time because he took games over in the playoffs and in crunch time.
