Marcus Thompson II came out with an article titled “Team Sources: Golden State Warriors Would trade Monta Ellis, not Stephen Curry, for Chris Paul.” That alone right there signifies a huge issues with the Warriors leadership from head coach Mark Jackson to co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber!
Now the realization is that there’s not a very high probability of the Warriors being able to make the splash to acquire Paul in the first place. For one including Ellis in a deal for Paul makes absolutely no sense for the Warriors and the second reason is that there’s no guarantee Paul would even remain with the Warriors once he becomes a free agent.
Back to the first point on why it wouldn’t make sense to include Ellis in a deal for Paul because it would put a huge void at the shooting guard position. Would the Warriors go small and start Paul and Stephen Curry together? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Do the Warriors re-sign restricted free agent Reggie Williams to become the starter and let Curry be the sixth man for the Warriors? Would Klay Thompson become the starter as a rookie instead if for some reason the Warriors decide not to re-sign or another team decides to pay Williams more?
Does a lineup of Paul, Thompson/Williams, Dorell Wright, David Lee and Andris Biedrins make the Warriors a playoff team with Curry coming off the bench? Obviously acquiring Paul upgrades the point guard position yet clearly have a downgrade in talent at the shooting guard position, which is a more important position than point guard. So, that lineup wouldn’t necessarily mean playoffs especially in the Western Conference.
Also, here’s a reason why elite point guards are not necessarily needed for playoff success, further solidifying why trading Ellis makes no sense.
Like I mentioned before the trade isn’t likely to happen, yet it still doesn’t include the biggest issue and that is Curry himself. For most of last season Curry was slowed down by an ankle injury yet in the two seasons he’s been in the league he has proven that he has poor footwork on the defensive end which gets him into foul trouble and makes him one of the worst defensive point guards in the NBA, another issue with Curry he has hasn’t shown himself as a leader of the team, he also turns the ball over way too much and at times he looks too pass instead of looking for opportunity to score.
Curry in my opinion will always be a great complimentary player he’ll never get to the upper echelon at the point guard position. Ellis on the other hand is one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, of course there’s knocks on Ellis’ game due to his lack of height, yet he’s come a long way and has become the leader of the Warriors team, he has improved tremendously on the defensive end, has become a much better distributor of the ball since he was thrust into the no.1 option for the Warriors and has improved his shooting especially from beyond the arc.
With that being said and no guarantee of Paul staying with the Warriors it makes absolutely no sense for Ellis to be included in any trade and it would make much more sense to include Curry based on the flaws in his game and the lack of a replacement if Ellis traded.
Thankfully though the Warriors will not likely be acquiring Paul and it gives Lacob and Guber opportunities to instead add depth by signing free agents to limit the minutes of both Curry and Ellis. The major reason why the Warriors are not a playoff team is based on the heavy minutes played by their backcourt and the lack of a true big man.
The Warriors have an opportunity to acquire those in free agency and actually show that Lacob and Guber will be able to not make a foolish decision and trade Ellis and instead build a team with depth.
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Lacob made a statement a year and half ago: they were going to be bold and make risk-taking moves to make this lackluster franchise be relevant. Moving Ellis (along with Udoh, Thompson) is probably enough to convince the Hornets that those group of players are still young and can grow together (since NO is essentially going to rebuild). If that plan falls through, CP3 is the primary ball handler, and Curry is good enough to play off ball…for this season. We keep Curry because his value is extremely high compared to Ellis (Though Ellis is a great player, they feel he can help any team in scoring). Plus, Curry is simply the perfect key trading chip to land Dwight Howard. If we package him, Lee, Nene(Lets say we do sign him), fillers, That should be enough to lure him to the Bay Area–Thus, making CP3 stay in the Bay Area, as well. Does that make sense to you?
Andrew I’m going to go have too disagree with you on this one. Yes, making a statement that they are going to be “bold” and “relevant” is great! Trading away your best player for a chance at a player who will only be around for a year is complete and utter stupidity and would be more of something the previous ownership would have done.
Well, it won’t happen because the Lakers have acquired Paul. I think you’re overrating Curry, he can certainly play off the ball and shoot jumpers all day long, yet he would be the one having to defend the shooting guards and that wouldn’t have bode well for the Warriors and it would have led to him in foul trouble.
Ekpe Udoh if he doesn’t show any improvement offensively this season in the first part of the season he should be released just an awful draft pick.
CURRY IS OVER RATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I LOVE THIS ARTICLE GO MONTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Monta plays hard on D and he has been a good leader!
Ah finally someone who sees the real need of the Golden States Warriors. I agree 100%. Why these people trying to make things so difficult. It’s obvious what the team is lacking, so why don’t they go after it? Two outstanding back court players, why mess with it? Why don’t they just get a tall guard as back up and a big center? Enough of this trade nonsense and let’s focus on the real issues. We need depth and a center that can rebound, defend, and score 10 points average.
Dino I agree with you completely. Get more depth at the guard position and add an additional big man. Wouldn’t mind seeing the Warriors actually sign Deandre Jordan.