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  • Oct
    18

    Could Ellis Really Miss The Whole Season?

    Bill Ingram over at Hoopsworld had a blurb on his site last night regarding Monta Ellis that said in part, “we now have reports coming out that suggest the injury might cause Ellis to miss the entire season.”
    Ingram did not cite any sources, so I’m not sure what reports he’s referring to. Three possible sources come to mind:

    A) Web/print reports
    B) Rumors coming from inside the Warriors’ organization
    C) Talk from someone in Ellis’ camp

    As for A) . . . I have not seen any reporting from Janny Hu, Marcus Thompson II or Matt Steinmetz — the other media members who cover the team on a daily basis — or anyone else, for that matter, that suggests Ellis is going to be out significantly beyond the mid-December target originally set forth by the team.

    As for B) . . . I sent a copy of the Hoopsworld article to a team spokesman, requesting comment, but did not hear back before the team got on a plane back from China. However, no one I’ve spoken to from the team has brought up the idea of this being season-ending.

    As for C) . . . well, that’s an intriguing thought; one potential way for Ellis to get back at the team for whacking him with a $3 million fine is by extending the timeframe he needs in order to be “fully recovered.” However, while I’m presuming Monta is not happy with the size of his fine, I don’t think there’s a realistic chance he would go to that kind of length to exact vengeance.

    ** While Ellis may not necessarily be in danger of missing the season, there is no doubt that the team is concerned about the possibility of him coming back too soon. The memories of Jason Richardson’s struggles to recover from arthroscopic knee surgery two years ago — a far simpler procedure than what Ellis has undergone — are still very fresh.

    Richardson had his surgery at almost the same point in the preseason as Ellis — Aug. 22, compared to Monta’s Aug. 27 — and was originally expected to be back by the start of training camp. Then he was expected to miss only a couple of weeks of training camp. He wound up playing on Opening Night, but was a mere shadow of his former self for the first two months of the season — shooting 37.4 percent from the floor, 29.7 percent on 3-pointers, with averages of 12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. It was only Richardson after incurred another injury — breaking his hand on New Year’s Eve, necessitating a seven-week layoff — that his knee finally got right.

    From the Warriors’ perspective, that’s the worst-case scenario: Ellis comes back too early and isn’t able to recapture the form that made him the league’s most efficient 20 point-per-game scorer until March or April — if at all.

    ** It’s already been documented here and other places — but was reiterated by the Sacramento Bee — that the Warriors still have the right to void Monta’s contract.

    Here’s the problem: Nobody knows for sure if that’s true.

    Certainly, Warriors president Robert Rowell feels like his team has that right. And if Ellis is never able to play again as a direct result of this prohibited activity, the team would probably terminate the deal and almost certainly win any arbitration case that ensues.

    But what if Monta is able to come back and he’s only 80 percent of the player he once was? Do the Warriors have the right to terminate in that instance?

    That’s much more muddled. And unlike with the Warriors’ 30-game suspension, there’s no doubt Ellis’ agent, Jeff Fried, would immediately appeal such a move — and might very well win.

    “I’ve given so little thought to that that I don’t even know if I can give you a real intelligent answer, other than preserving our rights and reserving our rights, which we have,” Rowell said last week. “We’ve asserted that. However, that’s a sentence.”

    It’s a sentence. But it’s not guarantee.

    – Geoff

7 Responses to “Could Ellis Really Miss The Whole Season?”

  1. norm October 18th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    Man this whole thing going on in Oakland is sketchy. From the front office on down, what is going to become the Warriors this season as well as the off season?

  2. REALITY_CHECK October 18th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Hoopsworld reporters are fans who pretend to be professional reporters and are able to do it because they somehow get game and player access. They mostly just read articles on the internet, and then say “reports suggest” and don’t mention who it is, because they’re trying to pretend hoopsworld sources are actually coming up with something.

  3. Mike October 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Personally, I want Ellis to sit this entire season. The dubs are not title contenders and Monta is extremely young with 5 more years left on his contract after this one. I want him to sit the entire year and get 150% healthy before returning. It will give the warriors’ other young players more burn and will likely result in a high lottery pick. We need Monta to be completely healthy and not do anything to jeopardize his career. It’s a marathon not a sprint and this season would be rough even with a healthy Monta. Please Mully, Nellie, Rowell, keep Monta off the harwood until fall 2009.

  4. joe October 18th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Hypotheticaly, if Monta Ellis recovers at 80% and is eligible for his full contract salary then why can’t (didn’t) Jay Williams (motorcycle crash) sue the Bulls for his 3 year rookie contract rather than happily accepting their 3 million dollar settlement?

    Ellis was explicitly violating a contract condition (riding a moped) and he lied to the GSW and the public about the nature of the injury.

    If NBA contracts aren’t enforcable for the teams and iron clad then shouldn’t teams try to invalidate them
    when a player actually sucks after an outstanding season and signs a contract (Darius Miles) or gets older (Ben Wallace)?

    I want the kid to come back 100%. If just don’t think the players union should weaken contracts. If it says no moped then riding one and getting seriously injured in a non-playing kind of injury should invalidate the 66 M salary.

  5. CL October 18th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Geoff,

    Henry Abbott of ESPN’s True Hoop reports based upon a telephone interview from China, Stephen Jackson stated Monta Ellis is ahead in his rehab schedule and is already riding a bike in Oakland. For those who have not had a chance to read this article here is the link:

    http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-35-69/Stephen-Jackson-and-the-Great-Wall-of-Static.html

  6. KennySeagle October 18th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    ummmm….so which way is it gonna go???? hes out the yr or not???? cuz between geoff & all u hombres i’m confuse….

  7. dan October 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    Yes because Nellie can’t play him heavy mins even if he can come back in Feb. It is over for Ellis his season. The only thing the W’s and fans can hope for is that Ellie will be the old Ellis next season.

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