Goodbye Monta, Welcome Bogut.

Well its official Monta Ellis is no longer a Warrior.  He departed Golden State a few days before the trade deadline with Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks for center Andrew Bogut and small forward Steven Jackson.  This was quite a hefty price for Andrew Bogut, but I feel they got a bargain for such a quality center in today's league.  The Warriors later swapped Steven Jackson for Richard Jefferson from the Spurs and took on a veteran three point specialist with a fairly large contract.  Although many were skeptical of this trade, mainly because of the Warriors history of trades, but also because Bogut is hurt for the rest of the season , I am simply excited for the change of scenery.  While Monta Ellis put up All-star potential numbers  he is an undersized shooting guard who provides little defense and doen't make the other players around him better.  Bogut on the other hand is an anchor inside defensively and will erase David Lee's deficit defensively.  Bogut provides a reliable scoring option and a dominant rebounder to the largely undersized Warriors.  This is the center they have been waiting for and it is a steal with such a center desparity in the league today.  Another reason I'm conident in trading Monta is the consistant production of Klay Thompson who seems to get better every game.  These new aquisitions have me excited for the Warriors potential next year if Steph Curry can stay healthy and Klay Thompson can continue to develop into a repectable shooting guard in today's NBA.

NFL Draft and NBA trade rumors

Although the NFL draft starts on April 26th the combine happened last week and everyone is abuzz about Robert Griffin III's 40-time.  For those who didn't hear RG III ran a time of 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash which is the third fastest time for a QB ever at the combine.  RG III is projected to be drafted second in the upcoming draft, but with the Rams believing Sam Bradford is their future QB this opens up many trade possibilities for the rebuilding Rams and if they play their cards right they could really speed up that rebuilding process.  Teams needing quarterbacks such as the Browns, Redskins, and Dolphins all have high draft picks and should be willing to give up some keys pieces for the highly sought after Robert Griffin III.  In my opinion the best deal for the Rams is to trade the rights to RG III to the Redskins for their 6th pick and maybe a key player from their defense such as Laron Landry if the Redskins are willing.  As the draft approaches we will see what the Rams decide to do with their many possibilities.  If they play this opportunity right they have a chance of turning their season around next year and challenging the 49ers for the division title.

Now in NBA news the trade deadline is a little more than a  week away and this is the time when the trade rumors are at an all-time high.   With the Magic considering trading Dwight Howard since the beginning of the season, the Celtics reportedly shopping Rondo around, and the Warriors contemplating the trade possibilities of Monta Ellis it should be an exciting week in the NBA.  I'm going to focus mainly on the Warriors situation because they are the most in need of a trade and I know the most about their situation.  With the Warriors in extreme need of a center I believe that trading Monta Ellis is inevitable the dilemma is that there is a disparity of quality centers in the league.  Due to this disparity the Warriors are going to have to give up one or two key pieces to get a good center.  Also, the question of whether Steph Curry's ankle injury is going to keep reoccurring over the rest of his career makes me worried about putting more pressure on him by losing his back-court teammate.  A factor that makes me encouraged about this trade is the development of Klay Thompson who seems to get better every game although I think some time is needed before he is ready to take over as a starter.  These factors have me excited about a trade happening and if the do get a good center it will help alleviate David Lee's weakness.  If this trade happens and Steph Curry stays healthy I'm excited about the Warrior's chances going into the rest of the season.