Chicago Bulls: Should They Consider Trading for Monta Ellis?
The Bulls are so close to an NBA championship. Bulls Nation can taste it and the fanbase remembers just how sweet the pinnacle of the basketball world can be.
Truth be told, the Bulls could've won every game of the Miami Heat series—Games 1, 2 and 5 for sure.
This could easily be the Bulls and Mavs battling it out for the NBA crown, but the MVP didn't have the help. The Bulls shooting guard hole is clearly the largest opportunity for improvement to a roster that otherwise just needs to mature.
This offseason is sure to have its free-agent, draft and trade possibilities. One of the newest and most intriguing is the notion that the Golden State Warriors may be willing to part with their dynamic shooting guard, Monta Ellis, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Ellis averaged 24 points per game this past season, so as you may expect, the asking price won't be cheap.
Here is the case for both sides of this dilemma—five reasons to pull the trigger and five reasons to pass on this deal.
Fifth-Best Reason Not To Trade for Monta Ellis: His Height
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Ellis is 6'3" with shoes on—so is Derrick Rose. Neither of them is considered good or even average defensive players.
Compound this with a lack of height in your starting backcourt. Small backcourts are not genuinely successful; though there are exceptions, it is not the norm.
This could be a formula for continuous mismatches in the Bulls opponents' favor all season. Could Monta Ellis have guarded Joe Johnson in the playoffs?
So while you're definitely adding scoring into the mix, what are you doing to your perimeter defense?
A backcourt of Rose and Ellis may be too bad defensively to see their greatness offensively.
Fourth-Best Reason Not To Trade for Monta Ellis: Too Similar to Rose
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Putting a successful team together is more than stacking talent. In old-school video games it is that simple: put all the best players regardless of skill level on the same team and you win.
In real life, a team needs to have players with different skill sets to truly function as a team.
There may not be two more similar NBA stars in the league than Derrick Rose and Monta Ellis. Same height, very similar skill set (although Ellis is a better shooter) and their primary weapon is the dribble-drive finish.
Everything is set up by that threat.
There are questions whether or not two young players so similar can harmoniously co-exist in the same backcourt. There are many that say the best match at the 2-guard would be a strong defensive 2-guard, 6'5" or taller with good-to-great jump shooting ability.
Ellis doesn't exactly fit those criteria.
Third-Best Reason Not To Trade for Monta Ellis: Off-the-Court Issues
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Monta Ellis doesn't seem to fit the profile that the Bulls organization has attempted to build. He came to the NBA straight from high school.
He had an injury that the Warriors franchise believed was sustained doing unacceptable physical activity.
The true origin of his ankle injury was determined to be from a moped accident and the Warriors suspended Ellis for 30 games in the 2008-09 season. Ellis was young and players make mistakes and should be given opportunities to redeem themselves.
Still, If you consider, it has not been the practice of John Paxson and company to bring in players with questionable character, does Ellis really fit the Bulls character model?
Second-Best Reason Not To Trade for Monta Ellis: No Defensive Culture
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For Ellis' entire career he has played in a run-and-gun offense, where the best defense is a better offense. Obviously, this will not be the culture in Chicago with Tom Thibodeau as head coach.
We are seeing the issues that come from bringing in high-profile, high-paid players that don't buy in defensively. The Bulls have Carlos Boozer on the roster, pulling in $15 million a year, but he spends crunch time on the bench because of his defensive problems.
Boozer is a veteran and though I'm sure he doesn't like the benching, he has handled it professionally. If Ellis doesn't catch on to the defensive concepts early and Thibs pulls him in the fourth quarter in favor on Ronnie Brewer, how well do you think Ellis is going to handle that?
Best Reason Not To Trade for Monta Ellis: The Price To Pay Is Too High
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One potential trade scenario discussed on Bleacher Report last week has the Bulls sending Luol Deng, Keith Bogans and Taj Gibson to Oakland for Ellis and SF Dorell Wright. On paper it looks pretty fair, only problem is Deng's impact can't be measured on paper.
Ellis would be a significant upgrade at the 2, but losing Deng from your locker room and overall team defense may be a classic case of taking two steps backward to take one step forward.
Moving Deng completely changes the identity of the team. I don't think you do that to a team that was 62-20 in its first year of serious contention.
Glue guys are very hard to replace.
Fifth-Best Reason To Trade for Monta Ellis: He Is a Dynamic Scorer
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Ellis can flat-out put it in the hole. He scores from all over the floor and can take over offensively on nights that Rose isn't making his jump shot.
His presence also allows for Rose to play the point in a more conventional manner.
An opportunity to acquire a proven 25 PPG scorer is rare.
Fourth-Best Reason To Trade for Monta Ellis: Can Play Point Guard
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Ellis offers the versatility of moving to the point guard position when Rose isn't in the game. You could flip-flop them in certain situations to take advantage of matchups.
Ellis isn't a natural point guard, but neither is Rose. They are, however, two of the most athletic and spectacular backcourt players in the NBA.
Whenever you pair two dynamic and versatile talents it creates unique possibilities.
Third-Best Reason To Trade for Monta Ellis: He Adds Flavor
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Acquiring Ellis would be out of the norm for the Bulls. As I mentioned before, he is a prep-to-pros player, of which the Bulls haven't had a lot of success (see Chandler and Curry).
He has had character questions and the Bulls tend to avoid players with known character concerns. This attitude and approach may be a major factor as to what consistently leaves the Bulls in the cold when free agency comes around.
Players don't like stuffy organizations and, let's face it, the Bulls aren't held in high regard by this generation of players.
Adding Ellis could send the message that the Bulls are interested in creating a diverse squad. Teams cannot live on Duke players alone.
Second-Best Reason To Trade for Monta Ellis: His Upside
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As good as Ellis is, (he's probably a top-five shooting guard in the NBA) with the right coaching, there is still room for improvement.
Ellis is an extraordinary athlete and he has shown flashes of being a capable defender. If he does buy in defensively, the Bulls will have a true ball hawk and solid defender to go with his scoring ability.
Ellis has already averaged over two steals per contest. It is true, steals can be the most deceiving defensive statistic when judging overall defensive quality. That said, he has the physical ability to improve and the steals already create transition opportunities.
Even though he averaged 24 points per game last year and 25 the year before that, Ellis can even improve offensively. He turns the ball over too much and sometimes takes bad shots.
If he takes to the coaching and realizes what he can be a part of, the outcome could spectacular.
Best Reason To Trade for Monta Ellis: Guard Building Blocks
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The goal is to win a championship, and the Bulls weren't far away from that goal this year. The obvious, well-documented issue was the 2-guard spot.
Ellis plays that position, but the Bulls won't get him for free.
Even if they give up the previously mentioned players, a backcourt of Rose and Ellis will probably be the best backcourt in the NBA for the next five years.
That scenario is what you have to fall back on if this doesn't get the Bulls closer to an NBA championship.
My Conclusion
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I'd trade for Ellis in a heartbeat, but not for a package that includes Luol Deng. Is Ellis a better player than Deng? Probably. Still, losing a player that means so much tangibly and intangibly is too much, even for someone as talented as Ellis.
Let's reconsider—isn't a package of Noah, Gibson, Bogans, Korver and a draft pick for Ellis, Charlie Bell, Louis Amundson and a second-round pick a great offer for Golden State and Chicago?
Amundson is an energy bench player, the type that could be valuable in Thib's defense. He has a player option for 2011-2012 and then he'd be off the books.
Bell has an expiring $4 million deal as well.
The Bulls would also get the Warriors' 43rd pick overall. The contracts match up and the Bulls roster would look something like this:
Starters
PG: Derrick Rose
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Carlos Boozer
C: Omer Asik
Bench
PG C.J. Watson
SG: Charlie Bell
PF: Louis Amundson
SG/SF: Ronnie Brewer
PF/C: Kurt Thomas (Re-Sign)
Free-Agent, Defense-Focused PF
Free-Agent Shooter at SG/SF
Other options include immediately moving Bell and Amundson's expiring contracts for future late-round picks or cash to make roster room for incoming rookies.
Doing the deal this way would enable the Bulls to address the weakness without completely devouring what made them 62-20 and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The only player with the remote possibility of being available that the Bulls should be moving Deng for is Dwight Howard. Aside from that scenario, he is too valuable to this team.
The Bulls would be better off riding this team through its growth, than to trade a major part of its backbone.
