By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — It wasn’t quite the first thing out of Don Nelson’s mouth once he rejoined the Warriors in the fall of 2006, but for more than a year now, Golden State’s coach/oracle/genius-in-residence has insisted to any microphone, notepad or bullhorn within reach that Monta Ellis needs to be a point guard to reach his full potential as an NBA player.

Must be.

Not, “maybe.”

Not, “well, we’ll try him there and see what happens.”

Must be.

You’ll imagine my surprise, therefore, when Nelson announced last week in Dallas, three games into Ellis’ return from Moped Madness, that the transition to point guard was being shelved. Jamal Crawford moved back to the point and Ellis will play the 2, at least at the offensive end.

“It’s a little different when you have to initiate — that guy’s got to move the ball,” Nelson said at the time. “(Monta’s) a shoot-first guy and he’s had success doing that. You don’t expect he’s going to change it.”

Nelson reiterated his points on Monday:

“(Ellis) is a bit rusty and there’s a lot of adjustments to be made with him at the 1,” Nelson said. “And it’s probably less adjustments at this point by playing him at the 2, where he can just score and come off screens.”

I know Mr. Just Let Me Coach My Team doesn’t want to listen to those of us out here in cyberspace, but Don, if you’re not expecting that Ellis is going to change his shoot-first ways, then why yak for more than a year about the need for him to make just such a transformation? Was that all just so much hot air?

This goes well beyond the pie fight over Anthony Randolph’s minutes, which is bad enough in and of itself (and on the brink of getting worse, potentially.)

It was always something of a pipe dream that Ellis would be able to pick up the reins as a full-time point guard after just one October’s worth of work in any case. So if Nelson won’t use the remnants of this lost season — that 29-5 stretch run to reach 44 victories and vie for the final playoff spot ain’t happening — to work out whether the guy who is arguably his most important player can succeed at a transformation that’s been talked up for more than a year as being vital, then what is the plan?

There are 36 games left this season. That’s more than enough time to get (or at least start getting) Ellis up to speed as a 1 — or for the Warriors reach the conclusion that it’s not going to work and adjust their long-term plans accordingly.

Nelson has said repeatedly that he doesn’t care about passing Lenny Wilkens for the title of NBA’s all-time winningest coach, but leaving Ellis at the 2 provides a boost toward that goal without helping the Warriors in the long term. That, in turn, leaves the impression it might be happening in order to close that 37-win gap between Nelson and immortality.

Then there’s the argument that keeping Ellis where he is will boost his trade value. I’m not saying the Warriors necessarily want to ship him out (although the continuing thorn that is the unresolved status of Ellis’ contract can’t be making him any more desirous of staying), but if Golden State does want to shop Ellis, other teams have to be convinced that he will regain his old form.

The best and quickest way to do that is not by learning a new position on the fly, but by continuing in the familiar role that earned him $66 million (well, $63 million and a presumably totaled scooter) in the first place.

Is that what’s happening here? If Feb. 20 — the morning after the trade deadline — rolls around and Nelson suddenly reverses course again, we’ll have a pretty good idea.

Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net