Monta Ellis to Bucks: Trade Analysis, Grade and Twitter Reaction
The NBA trade market is finally heating up ahead of the March 15 trade deadline, thanks to...the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks?
Yes, those Warriors and Bucks, who sport a combined record of 35-45.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports was the first to break the news of this rather perplexing swap, which will see Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and (an injured) Kwame Brown suiting up in Bucks purple and Stephen Jackson rejoining his old mates in the Bay Area, along with Andrew Bogut.
"Bucks and Warriors have agreed in principle on trade to send Bogut and Jackson to Warriors for Ellis, Udoh and Brown, league source tells Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) March 14, 2012"
Of course, it's no surprise to see Monta headed out of town. The Warriors have been shopping him for years, and according to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, the mercurial scorer has long wanted out of Oakland:
"Multiple NBA sources: Monta Ellis is frustrated with the team's inability to fulfill promises to build a contending roster.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) March 13, 2012"
How ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter had time to report on it, with all the free-agency news in football that's flying around, is beyond me:
"Breaking just for the fun of it: Monta Ellis traded to Bucks, Stephen Jackson to Warriors. Just because.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2012"
I can only imagine what Monta's parting words to his teammates will be. Any insight, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle?
"Monta Ellis is addressing the team, saying his goodbyes in a closed-door session.
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) March 14, 2012"
Something along these lines, apparently:
"One Warriors player said: "If we're giving up, I can feel my hip hurting already."
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) March 14, 2012"
Ekpe Udoh, on the other hand, is speechless, per James Ham of NBA.com:
"Udoh is in shock. Not ready to talk.
— James Ham (@James_Ham) March 14, 2012"
Is this actually the entirety of the deal for Golden State, or is the team trying to earn some karma points with the basketball powers that be? Bleacher Report's Gabe Zaldivar has an idea:
"Send the #Warriors your weak and enfeebled. Doing God's work GS
— Gabe Zaldivar(@gabezal) March 14, 2012"
Allow me to answer this question posed to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group: Yes, yes, they are.
"Said one Warriors player: "So we're just giving up on the season?"
— Marcus Thompson (@gswscribe) March 14, 2012"
Monta Ellis doesn't seem to mind the change of scenery that's in store for him:
"Monta Ellis: "It's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all."
— Marcus Thompson (@gswscribe) March 14, 2012"
Needless to say, there are more than a few folks in the Bleacher Report offices in San Francisco who are none too happy about this deal:
"Good thing I keep a Monta Ellis jersey at my the desk.#worsttradeever twitter.com/BleacherReport…
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 14, 2012"
As J.E. Skeets of The Basketball Jones points out, at least the Bucks will have something "fun" to look forward to:
"@scotsedley Ellis and Jennings is a little scary. In a good and bad way, I'm afraid.
— J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) March 14, 2012"
