NBA Trade Deadline: Why the Warriors Trading Away Monta Ellis Makes No Sense

The Milwaukee Bucks need to head on over to their local casino and put some serious bets down on the roulette table, because they are the luckiest bunch of guys in the country right now.

With the first big trade of the 2011-12 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to send Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden Warriors for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown.

After reading that, if you're left thinking "why in the world would the Warriors make a trade like that?", you're not alone.

There's no doubt that Andrew Bogut is a solid big man when he's healthy, but Golden State didn't necessarily make an upgrade at any position with this trade. Instead of becoming a better team, they sent away solid and consistent production for an injury-prone player, and a player that's well past his prime in Stephen Jackson.

The Bucks undoubtedly got an absolute steal, which could certainly become the most lopsided trade that goes down before the March 15th trade deadline.

The Warriors, on the other hand, could have altered the future of their franchise, for the worse, with this questionable move. While there's a multitude of reasons why this trade doesn't make sense, I'll just list a few.

Golden State Originally Wanted Dwight Howard in Return for Monta Ellis

Just a week ago, the Warriors were reportedly looking to ship out Monta Ellis to the Orlando Magic, in hopes of getting Dwight Howard in return. 

If that was the case, how in the world does Golden State rationalize giving away Monta Ellis and an emerging big man in Ekpe Udoh, for an injury-prone center and a horribly inefficient shooting guard?

To move Ellis for such limited talent brings into question the kind of relationship that Ellis had with his teammates and with the Warriors' front office. Without the presence of a chemistry issue with his teammates, there's no way to realistically rationalize the team's move.

There's no feasible way to equate the likes of Dwight Howard with the combination of Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, and while the Warriors' hopes of getting Superman in return for Ellis was just a pipe dream, if that's the price tag they placed on Ellis, that's the price tag they should've stuck with.

Golden State is Getting Less Productive and Less Efficient Talent 

To understand the insanity that exists within this trade, just take a minute and look at the comparison between all the players' combined production for each team in this trade.

Bogut and Jackson: 21.8 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 5.6 APG, 24.8 PER, 40.2 FG%

Ellis, Udoh and Brown: 33.7 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 7.2 APG, 41.8 PER, 46.7 FG%

Aside from rebounds per game, the Warriors are the clear winners when it comes to every major statistical category. If you take out both players that are currently injured, Andrew Bogut and Kwame Brown, those statistics become that much more lopsided in the Bucks' favor.

Not only are the Warriors sending away a significant amount of offensive production, they are also getting rid of three players that are much more efficient than the talent they are getting in return, which will certainly hold Golden State back this year and into the future.

Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson Don't Fit the Warriors' Offensive Style of Play

Golden State currently ranks ninth overall in offensive production, with an average of 97.8 points per game. A majority of that offensive production is a result of the Warriors ability to get out and run in transition.

While Andrew Bogut is certainly an athletic player, there's no doubt that he's better suited for a slower-paced offensive set, which the Warriors don't tend to focus on.

Golden State's offense will undoubtedly look a lot different with Monta Ellis out of the picture, but it's going to take more time than the Warriors have to adapt to their new lineup before the end of the 2011-12 season.

While the Bucks upgraded their production and the level of talent on their team with this trade, the Warriors launched themselves into serious "rebuild" mode, which isn't exactly what fans were expecting out of Golden State down the stretch this season. 

For this trade to make sense for Golden State, Bogut needs to come back and average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game, and Stephen Jackson needs to be the caliber of player he was in his first stint in Oakland. 

I don't see either of those happening, which means it's time to rebuild for Golden State—something that Warriors fans should be relatively used to.

What are your thoughts on the trade? Let your thoughts be known in the comments section below.

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