Larry Brown Sports

Monta Ellis and Dwyane Wade are both guards. They both have more than seven years of experience in the NBA. Both men have led their teams in scoring. While there are a number of characteristics that make the two similar, very few people would argue that Ellis is nearly as good a player as Wade. Ellis is one of those few.

During a recent interview that Pro Basketball Talk passed along, Ellis said he would put himself on the same level as Wade.

“To be honest, I would put myself in the same category as D-Wade,” Ellis said. “I mean, at the end of the day, the only thing that he has that I don’t have is more wins and two championships. That’s it. As far as playing at the same level? Competing every night? Both ends? Shooting inside and outside? Fast break? Transition? Monta Ellis have it all.”

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Joe Lacob might have to sleep on the couch for a while. And it’s all because the Warriors owner let his team trade its best and most popular player.

When the team sent Monta Ellis to the Bucks this week, reaction from the Warriors faithful was decidedly mixed, and Lacob’s own fiancee was one of those who derided the move.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“My fiancee is mad at me,” co-owner Lacob said, hanging out in the hallway off the court before Wednesday night’s game. “She hasn’t talked to me in two days.”

Is he kidding?

“There she is,” Lacob said. “Ask her.”

His fiancee brushed past without answering. She looked unhappy.

Lacob’s fiancee had formed a friendship with Ellis’ wife. When you trade a guy, you break some hearts.

Well, at least it wasn’t because Kwame Brown was traded. That would have been a deal-breaker, Lacob.

H/T I am a GM
Photo credit: Kelley L. Cox, US Presswire

We have our first NBA trade deadline deal, folks. But don’t get your hopes up. It doesn’t involve Dwight Howard, although it’s still a swap involving big names.

The Warriors agreed Tuesday to trade shooting guard Monta Ellis, forward Ekpe Udoh and injured center Kwame Brown to the Bucks for center Andrew Bogut and forward Stephen Jackson, according to Yahoo! Sports.

And how’s this for irony: The Warriors host the Bucks on Friday.

Ellis, obviously, has previously been linked to trade scenarios sending him to Orlando. But instead he’ll be heading to Milwaukee where he’ll be part of a dynamic backcourt along with Brandon Jennings. Udoh, who can also fill in at center, gives the Bucks a young big man with plenty of upside.

With the Bucks hanging around the fringe of the East’s playoff picture, both players will give the team a serious boost that it wouldn’t have otherwise gotten with Bogut out for possibly the rest of the season. And then there’s Kwame Brown, who despite being Kwame Brown was a prominent role player for the Warriors before tearing a pectoral muscle in January.

Bogut, who has faced injury troubles throughout his career, has missed all but 12 games this season, thanks mostly to a fractured ankle. Golden State also welcomes back Stephen “Stak5” Jackson, who for now returns to the team for which he was a key contributor during its impressive 2007 “We Believe” playoff run. We say “for now” because the Warriors are reportedly shopping Jackson in hopes of getting another big.

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After all the trade chatter centering on Dwight Howard this season, the Magic for now appear dedicated to keeping its superstar center in Orlando for the long term. The Magic reportedly reached out to the Warriors regarding a trade involving Monta Ellis. According to Chris Broussard’s report, the Magic hope acquiring Ellis is enough to entice Howard to sign an extension with the team after the season. Howard reportedly has told the Magic front office in the past that Ellis is one player he’d like to play with.

The Warriors have no problem sending their dazzling shooting guard to Orlando. The only problem is that they want Howard in return, as Warriors beat reporter Marcus Thompson confirms. That’s why Broussard says the framework for a deal is nowhere near being in place. Golden State is in dire need of a big man and previous national media reports have named the Warriors as actively trying to work a deal for Howard, even though he’s said he wouldn’t sign an extension with them.

The Magic understand this and, according to Broussard, are trying to find at least one other team to wrangle into the trade to help give the Warriors adequate compensation.

But that the Magic look to be approaching the trade deadline as buyers rather than sellers is telling. They now appear willing to gamble on losing Howard this summer for nothing in return. As for the Warriors, it’s hard to see them trading their franchise player and possible other pieces for anything much less than somebody of Howard’s caliber. Who do the Magic think is running the Warriors, Billy Beane?

Photo credit: Kyle Terada, US Presswire

A former Golden State Warriors employee is suing the team and guard Monta Ellis for sexual harassment.

The former employee’s attorney said in an email that they have photo proof of the harassment that occurred from November 2010-January 2011.

“You will be shocked when you see it,” the lawyer said. “It’s pretty disgusting and graphic.”

The suit claims the Warriors fired the ex-employee as a coverup.

I really don’t understand how or why we have to keep coming down this path. Haven’t athletes learned yet that sending sexual pics via cell phone is not a good idea? Then again, Monta could have just sent a photo of his tattoos, because those are pretty offensive too.

via Deadspin

Professional athletes love new tattoos.  Now that we have things like Twitter, that concept is pretty well-documented.  Last April, we showed you all the new tattoos Shaq had gotten as a member of the Cavs while he recovered from a thumb injury.  Then there’s Monta Ellis, who went from looking like an innocent high schooler without any cash to spend on tats to all inked up in a matter of one off-season.  The Warriors guard hasn’t stopped since, and his latest piece of body art could be the strangest.  Check out Monta Ellis’ family tree tattoo, courtesy of The Big Lead:

Whatever tickles your fancy I guess.  Nothing wrong with a family man.  Would I do it?  Probably not.  But hey who am I to judge?  One thing’s for sure: it certainly beats Andrei Kirlenko’s massive back tattoo.  That thing is just creepy.

In mid-March last year, Brian Windhorst wrote an article detailing a new statistic the Cavaliers began to keep track of called the chase-down block. They noticed that LeBron James was getting a bunch of blocks from behind in transition in what became a signature move for King James. Ball Don’t Lie even posted a compilation video of LeBron’s chase down blocks to showoff some of his highlights. On Tuesday night, LeBron’s move was on display against the Warriors. Check out the video of LeBron James’ chase down block on Monta Ellis:

Man, he just rejected that with extreme force. Monta supposedly wants out of Golden State because he’s unhappy with his relationship with Don Nelson who’s not winning many people over in Oakland. At this point Monta might want to get out of there just to escape the embarrassment from that play. Yikes.