Bucks, Warriors agree in principle to send Bogut to GS, Ellis to Milwaukee.

J.R. · Mar 13, 2012

Bay Area News Group's Marcus Thompson tweets that the Warriors are looking to move Stephen Jackson and are likely looking for a big man.

-Thompson also tweets that Dorell Wright wanted to be part of the deal and is not happy that he wasn't included.

davidxhz · Mar 13, 2012

bogut is good, the worriers is going to be good next year, sigh, we didn't get anyone and is stuck with the fat bear's ass...

phantoman · Mar 13, 2012

here is what the rockets offered

scola/bear/plus 1st rd pick for bogut and capt'n jack

http://twitter.com/#!/GeryWoelfel

jopatmc · Mar 13, 2012

hsf09 said: ↑

Bay Area News Group's Marcus Thompson tweets that the Warriors are looking to move Stephen Jackson and are likely looking for a big man.

-Thompson also tweets that Dorell Wright wanted to be part of the deal and is not happy that he wasn't included.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmmmmm,

SJax, DLee, Curry.....for Pau????

ashiin · Mar 13, 2012

and the floodgate opens.

kjayp · Mar 13, 2012

Shoulda been our deal for Kmart/sam... DM better be bringin Okafor + pick or Josh Smith.....

robbie380 · Mar 13, 2012

phantoman said: ↑

here is what the rockets offered

scola/bear/plus 1st rd pick for bogut and capt'n jack

http://twitter.com/#!/GeryWoelfel
Click to expand...

Man that is disappointing we couldn't get it done. I guess they didn't want Martin/Bear/Hill. Ellis is a nice player to pick up on a solid contract for the Bucks and he is clearly better than Martin.

gah · Mar 13, 2012

Can anybody please post Hollinger's take here: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story?page=PERDiem-120314&_slug_=nba-make-monta-ellis-andrew-bogut-trade

redhotrox · Mar 14, 2012

gah said: ↑

Can anybody please post Hollinger's take here: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story?page=PERDiem-120314&_slug_=nba-make-monta-ellis-andrew-bogut-trade
Click to expand...

Here...

There are so many angles to this Andrew Bogut-Monta Ellis trade that it's hard to know where to start: the Golden State Warriors finally breaking up the Ellis-Stephen Curry backcourt and going legit with a true center; Milwaukee going the opposite direction and putting Scott Skiles in charge of a free-wheeling, floor-spacing offensive juggernaut; Cap'n Jack returning to Golden State; and significant collateral damage, potentially, in Utah and New York.

Let's walk through it from top to bottom.

1. Follow the money
Let’s start, as we do with all NBA trades, with the money. The Milwaukee Bucks traded Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Warriors for Monta Ellis, Kwame Brown and Ekpe Udoh. It’s money neutral this season, but in the two following seasons the advantage goes to Milwaukee in a big way. Bogut is owed $27 million over the next two seasons, and Jackson is owed $10 million next season. Milwaukee replaces that with one year and $11 million for Ellis (or two and $22 million if he chooses not to opt out), and two at a total of $8 million for Udoh.

In doing so, Golden State punted a chance at cap room this summer, while the Bucks gained a lot of cap flexibility — they could conceivably get $15 million or so under if they wanted to make a run at a player this summer, although this would involve using the amnesty on Beno Udrih and letting Ersan Ilyasova and Carlos Delfino walk. More realistically, they can re-sign the latter two and still stay under the luxury tax when an extension for Brandon Jennings kicks in. Big picture, Milwaukee saved $7 million next season, and it will make a big difference to both sides.

2. Why would it work here?
I see everyone connecting the dots. Curry and Ellis didn’t work in Golden State. Jennings is smaller than Curry and less efficient. Ergo Jennings and Ellis won’t work either.

I’m not sure it’s that simple. For one, Jennings is a pretty solid defensive player and Curry is not. But more importantly, Milwaukee is a very different environment than Golden State. Instead of the rah-rah gang ignoring his defensive apathy and trying to hype him for the All-Star Game, Ellis will be subject to the wrath of Scott Skiles when he jogs back on defense.

Additionally, every other defensive combo in the Bucks’ backcourt works much better. The Bucks’ backup point guard is 6-7 Shaun Livingston, who is a perfect cross-matching backcourt partner for the smaller Ellis. Udrih is big enough to check some 2s as well. And with wing defenders like Delfino and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and a real defensive system around them, the Bucks will likely be better able to his Ellis’ defensive shortcomings.

Offensively it will be more interesting, as the Bucks are becoming Contested 20 Footers R Us with Jennings, Ellis, Drew Gooden and Ilyasova. But Milwaukee was also in need of another shot creator to help take the heat off of Jennings, and I suspect Ellis’ presence may help elevate Jennings’ true shooting percentage to closer to the league average. (His points-per-game average, alas, will likely dip.)

In short, however, it’s hard to imagine how this is worse than the status quo. Bogut and Jackson weren’t playing; Milwaukee traded them for two guys who are, and both of them are faring pretty well.

Longer term, it’s true you’d probably rather have Bogut than Ellis. Even with all the injuries and the likelihood that 2009-10 was a career season he won’t match, Bogut is an elite defensive center who will probably shoot better on a team that doesn’t need to play through him so much.

But would you rather have Bogut than Ellis, Udoh (a pretty fair defender in his own right, albeit one with hands of stone) and $7 million in cap space? I don’t think so. Between that and the short-term considerations, I like this deal a lot for Milwaukee.

3. Sorry, Utah
The big loser here may be the Utah Jazz, as part of Golden State’s motivation appears to be an elaborate ruse to avoid ceding a lottery pick to Utah. The timing is bizarre because the Warriors had played themselves into playoff contention, but the Warriors’ brass had to view the landscape and see that (A) they were still highly unlikely to make the playoffs and (B) they owed their first-round pick to the Jazz if it didn’t fall in the top seven.

At 17-21, Golden State has some work to do to finish in the league’s bottom seven teams. (And that wouldn’t ensure a top-seven pick, since a team eightth or below could usurp a top-three spot in the lottery and push them down one.) Detroit is 15-27, just two back in wins but six in losses, and the Warriors also need to “pass” two other Eastern teams to get into the bottom seven.

But between the trade and the upcoming schedule, they may be in position to do so. Jackson is no longer capable of playing big minutes on a decent team (even if his hamstring injury magically heals itself on the flight to Oakland) and Bogut won’t be back until April, if at all. If the Warriors are smart they’ll encourage him to take his time. With the Warriors running a gauntlet of elite teams in April, they have a great shot at effectively “trading” for a lottery pick with this deal.

The irony, of course, is that the Warriors are tanking even though they have a better record than Milwaukee! Nothing serves as a more glaring example of the difference between East and West — the Bucks can load up for a playoff run at 18-24, while a 17-21 Warrior team is playing for next season.

4. Sorry, New York
The other big loser here are the New York Knicks, whi are going to have a much tougher time keeping pace with Milwaukee for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference now that the Bucks have added both Ellis and, don’t forget, a much-needed frontcourt defender in Udoh. The Bucks were already playing well, having won four of five — the only defeat in that stretch came on a Derrick Rose buzzer-beater in Chicago.

They were doing this even while starting Tobias Harris and running Ilyasova and Gooden into the ground; now they have a coherent rotation with Udoh off the bench to spell the frontcourt starters, Ellis and Delfino starting on the wings, Mike Dunleavy backing them up, and Udrih filling in the gaps. When Mbah a Moute and Livingston are healthy, this will be one of the league’s deepest teams and one capable of matching up big or small.

5. The big picture
I’ve long felt that Ellis is one of the league’s most overrated players, but every player has a right price. I think Milwaukee hit it here. The Bucks moved a lot of money and have some time to see the Ellis-Jennings combo in action before deciding to commit to one or both via contract extensions.

In the meantime, the transition is as interesting for Skiles as for Ellis; in two years he’s gone from coaching a lockdown defensive team that couldn’t score in an empty gym to what is basically a Mike D’Antoni roster — a floor-spacing, empty-middle outfit with zippy guards, jump-shooting bigs and a fast tempo. Before you chortle, remember that Skiles had considerable success playing this way with Ben Gordon in Chicago, and may be able to use that as a template for Ellis.

As for Golden State, one notable development is that this move wasn’t driven by a need to win the news conference, which represents something of a sea change for a notorious pom-pom organization. The Warriors will likely slip back in the playoff chase (in fact that may have been one of their motivations) and won’t see any return from this deal until next fall.

But they have a more workable roster with Curry-Bogut than they did with Curry-Ellis; as I outlined in Tuesday’s PER Diem, the data on their on-court performance was overwhelming. Bogut will also help protect David Lee, and he’ll need to create less offense than he had to in Milwaukee. I don’t see a return to his 2009-10 level, but the change of scenery could help him a lot.

Where Golden State erred is in managing the cap. Taking on $10 million for Stephen Jackson is a hefty price to pay when the Warriors could have been players in free agency, and despite adding Bogut their depth in the frontcourt remains a major question mark going forward.

That’s why I like this trade better for the Bucks. But this wasn’t a bad deal for the Warriors either … especially if they can manage the tanking part.
Click to expand...

HMMMHMM · Mar 14, 2012

Warriors owner Joe Lacob on trading Ellis and Udoh, Bogut’s health and balancing the roster

—-JOE LACOB email/

-LACOB: I feel badly that players have to see their lives change on the TV before we can even say anything. Ridiculous. But it is the rules.

It was very, very difficult to trade Monta and Ekpe. VERY. I love Monta Ellis the basketball player. He is a tremendous talent and very exciting. Love watching him play. And we had become close to his wife, a terrific lady.

Ekpe is a terrific guy, solid, dedicated, improving every day. He will be a very good NBA player for years. And he was getting better every day.

BUT, contrary to the reports of some, we have had a plan here right from the beginning. We want a tough, defensive-oriented, ball movement kind of team–and coaching staff.

We want to also be able to win in the half-court in the playoffs. We loved our guards and we do think they could have succeeded together with a rim protecting center.

We have tried to get bigger and tougher in the middle. We missed a bit in free agency, though Kwame was a start.

It is clear that we are not bad enough to get a top pick in the draft and there just are not many, if any, great centers in the draft anyway.

So, we identified maybe three great ideal centerpieces and have tried to acquire one. Clearly, not easy. It could have taken years to acquire that piece.

And let’s be honest, it almost never happens that you can trade great small for great big. I can’t even remember any such moves. In Boston, when I was associated with that franchise, it arguably took a lot more.

So is it hard to trade Monta and Ekpe? You bet. Terrific talents.

But, while I know this is hard for many of our fans, and perhaps not understandable to them, the fact is we just hit a home run.

Andrew Bogut and David Lee together? We are ecstatic. Both great rebounders. Both can score in similar ways and in some different ways. Andrew is the complementary rim protector and defender that will make David Lee even better.

Steph and Klay is a terrific fit, as well. Klay brings size and length and can shoot the lights out from anywhere. And he can really defend.

We lost a terrific talent but basketball is a team sport where the pieces need to fit in order to maximize success. I wish we could have kept all of our pieces but in the end, free agency is tough and we had to trade our way to our end goal.

I want to emphasize something else. We did not trade Monta because of any off-court issues or contract threats or pressure to do a deal or whatever. We did what we had to do to become better.

Our basketball operations staff was unanimous on this move. Beyond unanimous…ecstatic. This was an entirely offensive move. And the reaction around the league is extremely positive. And should be so. The Warriors just got a lot better.

On the injury issue…yes, Andrew is currently injured. We may sacrifice a little near term but we must think longer term and this deal sets us up to be much better.

And, let’s understand something, we would likely never have been able to pull this off if Andrew Bogut was perfectly healthy today. Nobody trades an all star center unless they are nervous about something such as injury or trade requests. Our medical staff has fully reviewed his situation.

Finally…your question about Stephen Jackson. Yes, he has a somewhat controversial past here.

But he also had great success here and is a very, very good basketball player. He is a tough, big wing that can really defend.

Mark Jackson is excited about him and his potential contribution. And, like Mark, I and we believe in evaluating a guy on the hear and now and going forward. The past is the past and all that matters is today and tomorrow.

Just as with the management in our organization, the only thing that matters is what can you do for us today and tomorrow? How can you make us better? In the end, our job is to get better and win.

Oh, and one very final comment. Sorry to the naysayers…but we intend to win now. Last night was a great win on the road and showed the character of our players and coaching staff. No Steph Curry and no Bogut or Jackson or Monta or Ekpe. But they competed hard and we are so proud of that effort.
Click to expand...

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawaka...-udoh-boguts-health-and-balancing-the-roster/

da_juice · Mar 14, 2012

Calling it now, Gasol for Brandon Jennings will at least be offered, if not a done deal.

A_3PO · Mar 14, 2012

Monta looked really happy during his last interview at Golden State. I think he wanted out badly. Very happy for him.

Turns out the guy was right a couple of years ago about he and Curry not being able to play together.

Shaud · Mar 14, 2012

da_juice said: ↑

Calling it now, Gasol for Brandon Jennings will at least be offered, if not a done deal.
Click to expand...

It definitely won't be accepted by LA.

AFS · Mar 14, 2012

Shaud said: ↑

It definitely won't be accepted by LA.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If they wouldn't give up Gasol for Rondo, I dunno why they'd do it for Jennings.

da_juice · Mar 14, 2012

Bucks are going to have some problems Warriors had- two undersized, no D ballhogs.

mrjohn · Mar 14, 2012

D'antoni's new team...?

jeffvangundy · Mar 16, 2012

Debut tonight @ Oracle !

bcast89 · Mar 17, 2012

jeffvangundy said: ↑

Debut tonight @ Oracle !
Click to expand...

He really took it to his old team haha. Blowout!

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Bucks, Warriors agree in principle to send Bogut to GS, Ellis to Milwaukee.

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Bucks, Warriors agree in principle to send Bogut to GS, Ellis to Milwaukee.

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