Friday, March 30, 2012
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.
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Jacob, I completely agree. (In a "Most Interesting Man in the World" voice) I don't watch the Warriors often, but when I do, I realize that Monta either tries to be, or thinks he is, Kobe Bryant, Jr. There's three differences between Monta and Kobe. First, Kobe's Kobe. He's great. He's one of a kind. He's one of the greatest players to have taken up a basketball (second only to Akron's own LeBron James). Second, Kobe's actually has some kind of a size and, when he's in a matchup where's really undersized, he utilizes his amazing athleticism. Third, and most importantly, Kobe knows how to play defense, and how to play it damn good. If I'm not mistaken, he's been the NBA Defensive Player of the Year at least once. Monta? Will never come close to guarding his man decently, more or less getting back in transition to play D. I don't hate Monta, and I understand why Warrior fans loved him, he was an electric player, but he had been hurting the Warriors. So, all in all, I agree with you. Good trade.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Jacob, i gotta agree with you and Andrei on this one. Monta is no Kobe, and he didn;t actually add any more value, or bring more wins to the team. On the other hand, Bogut can be valuable. For once, the Warriors actually got a player that knows how to play center. And Andrei, your right man! LeBron is the best player in the league, far better than Kobe.
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