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The deafening silence from Monta Ellis’ camp finally ended this evening when Jeff Fried, Ellis’ agent, released a statement on behalf of his client.

ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard has the full story here, and it confirms what Ellis made apparent yesterday with his no-comment brush past the local media: That he will be fighting the 30-game suspension handed down by the team after Ellis wracked his left ankle while engaging in the contractually prohibited activity of riding a 250cc moped. Broussard reported that the appeal will be filed next week.

Some highlights of Ellis’ statement:

“While management and I do not agree on their actions, I want to be clear that my injury is based on my mistake in judgment. And I always accept responsibility for my actions. . . .

“I am working hard to get back on the court and help my teammates and coaches win many games and recreate the playoff atmosphere of 2007. We were as excited on the court as the fans in the stands. . . .

“The Bay area has become home to me and I love everything about this community. I see the kids wearing Number 8 in the arena and around the Bay area and it always brings a big smile to my face and a sense of pride and responsibility.”

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Anthony Randolph may have stood alongside the Warriors’ four other rookies Sunday as they delivered an off-key, warbling rendition of Stevie Wonder’s arrangement of “Happy Birthday” to guard Monta Ellis, who just turned 23 years old. But that was about the only time Randolph resembled a rookie during Golden State’s annual open practice.

Randolph started early during the scrimmage session by dunking with relish over veteran Al Harrington. Later, he threatened to deliver a knee to Harrington’s sternum while swooping in for a layup. Finally, he shot a withering look to second-year guard Marco Belinelli when the Italian and he got tangled up filling the same lane on a fast break.

So much for rookies not making an impression.

Warriors captain Stephen Jackson helped keep Randolph in check by juking past him from the right wing and flushing a two-handed jam as the 19-year-old tried vainly to block it.

“They only remember the last dunk, so Jack got that,” Randolph said. “I got him. (Revenge) is coming. Y’all might not see it, but it’s coming.”

For his part, Harrington chalked up Randolph’s successes to a veteran’s prudence.

“I wasn’t trying to block the shot,” Harrington said of Randolph’s tomahawk. “That was fake hustle. You know that. Everybody knows that.”

And as for the retreat on Randolph’s knees-up drive?

“I got out of the way on that one,” said Harrington, who attempted to take a charge on Randolph earlier but was whistled for a block instead. “I could have got another (charge), but these refs probably would have called a blocking foul. He probably would have kneed off of me and dunked. It would have been all bad.”

** A team source confirmed the examiner.com report that rookie forward Rob Kurz will officially become the Warriors’ final cut Monday, an unsurprising move that secures a roster spot for fellow rookie guard Anthony Morrow.

It looked like Kurz might have been informed of the move prior to practice; his most memorable sequence involved getting blocked in quick succession by Kelenna Azubuike (while trying to exploit his size advantage in the low block) and Andris Biedrins.

** Ellis came dressed in an almost entirely monochromatic outfit (his sweatpants had white stripes on the outside), but unlike Johnny Cash, this Man in Black had nothing to say.

Ellis, moving briskly on crutches and wearing regular sneakers, walked past the assembled media outside the Warriors’ locker room (since it was still considered a practice day, the media was not allowed inside) and declined multiple requests to stop and take questions regarding his 30-game suspension in the wake of trying to cover up the August moped accident that shredded his left ankle.

[EDITED 10/27/08, 2:27 a.m. for clarity] A Warriors spokesman said his department has tried on numerous occasions to get Ellis to meet with the media — a situation that would afford him the opportunity to follow through on his September pledge to explain, after any potential disciplinary action had been handed down, what happened in his accident.

But Ellis still has not done so, and his explanation for the continued silence — delivered through the spokesman — is that the situation is not yet resolved. That leaves the distinct impression that Ellis and his agent, Jeff Fried, are still planning on filing an appeal to the Warriors’ unilateral ban.

** Marcus Williams went off for the second team in the Blue-White scrimmage, scoring a team-high 24 points for the Warriors’ reserves, 16 in the third quarter alone. But he also showed exactly why fellow rookie DeMarcus Nelson has jumped so far ahead of him on the Golden State depth chart: Despite getting explicit instructions from White team coach Sidney Moncrief to duck under opposing screens, Williams kept getting picked off with ease, leaving the man he was covering plenty of room to wreak havoc.

Nelson, on the other hand, consistently went over the top of screens with success, something the Warriors have been lacking at the point guard position for a long while, at least on a consistent basis.

** Corey Maggette did not participate in practice because of his strained right hamstring, and it’s becoming a more realistic possibility that he won’t be available for the Warriors’ regular-season opener against New Orleans on Wednesday. It’s likely that he won’t practice Monday and Tuesday and will test the leg at Wednesday’s shootaround to determine if he’s OK to play.

“It’s still not ready yet,” Maggette said. “We’re just waiting. . . . I’m hopeful every day. I’m trying to rest it and get the soreness out, be able to run and explode. If I can’t do that, there’s no point trying to get on the court.”

Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

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

Interesting note from Jon Saraceno in Monday’s edition of USA Today: Jeff Fried, Monta Ellis’ agent, is talking as though he’s going to appeal the Warriors’ 30-game suspension of his client in response to Ellis’ serious ankle injury suffered while participating in an activity — driving a moped — expressly prohibited under the terms of his new six-year, $66 million contract.

“We’ve previously evaluated Monta’s options, and now that the team has taken a definitive position we will move aggressively in protecting Monta’s rights,” Fried is quoted as saying.

From this vantage point, it’s hard to see where Fried thinks he’s going to find something to dispute. Section 12 of the NBA’s Uniform Player Contract is eminently clear. I won’t reprint the whole section, but here’s the most critical sentence, in all its clause-stuffed glory (bolding adding by yours truly):

“Accordingly, the Player agrees that he will not, without the written consent of the Team, engage in any activity that a reasonable person would recognize as involving or exposing the participant to a substantial risk of bodily injury including, but not limited to: (i) sky-diving, hang gliding, snow skiing, rock or mountain climbing (as distinguished from hiking), rappelling, and bungee jumping; (ii) any fighting, boxing, or wrestling; (iii) driving or riding on a motorcycle or moped; (iv) riding in or on any motorized vehicle in any kind of race of racing contest; (v) operating an aircraft of any kind; (vi) engaging in any other activity excluded or prohibited by or under any insurance policy which the Team procures against the injury, illness or disability to or of the Player, or death of the Player, for which the Player has received written notice from the Team prior to the execution of this Contract; or (vii) participating in any game or exhibition of basketball, football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, or other team sport or competition.”

The next sentence spells out the consequences:

“If the Player violates this Paragraph 12, he shall be subject to discipline imposed by the Team and/or the Commissioner of the NBA.”

That sure seems pretty cut-and-dried, no?

The one area where I could envision Fried making some headway is claiming that the suspension runs so long that Monta might be healthy, ready to go yet stuck on the sidelines prior to Dec. 19.

Let’s figure the best-case scenario: Ellis underwent surgery on Aug. 27. At that point, the team said he needed six weeks’ worth of immobilization (taking us to Oct. 8, which was pretty much spot on), then another six weeks of off-court rehab. Assuming that figure holds — and that he won’t require extra time to recover from the surgery he needs to eventually remove hardware from his left ankle — that takes us out to Nov. 19, four weeks before the suspension is up.

Will Ellis be ready to play in a game back on the floor on Nov. 19? Assuredly not. But could he be set by, say, early December, yet barred from playing? That’s a possibility. And maybe Fried can use that to convince an arbitrator to knock a few games off the length of the suspension.

I wouldn’t count on it, however.

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Warriors guard Monta Ellis will go down in history as having taken the most expensive moped ride in history.

Golden State finally dropped the hammer on its franchise player Saturday, announcing a 30-game suspension that essentially translates into a $2.97 million fine in response to the left ankle injury Ellis suffered while crashing his 250cc moped on Aug. 21, an incident that violated the terms of the six-year, $66 million deal he had signed mere weeks earlier.

“We made a commitment to Monta for $66 million to be a great basketball player,” said team president Robert Rowell, who arrived at the 30-game figure with owner Chris Cohan after discussions with Jeff Fried, Ellis’ agent. “We’re in a situation where he is now not with us. We’re going to do everything possible that we can obviously to get him back and to help him rehab and get back on the basketball floor, but right now we felt that it was an appropriate consequence.”

The decision means the team is certain Ellis, who suffered a high ankle sprain and a torn deltoid ligament that required surgery to repair, won’t be healthy until after Dec. 17, when the suspension expires. When the injury was announced in late August, the team said that Ellis would need six weeks’ worth of immobilization, which just recently ended, and six more weeks of off-court rehab before a potential timetable for a return could be established.

However, one facet of the recovery plan has yet to be publicized: Multiple team sources confirmed Saturday that Ellis will eventually have to undergo another surgery to remove screws that are currently holding the ligament in place, something that will require additional recovery time.

Rowell claimed the team never considered voiding Ellis’ deal — as was reported by multiple media outlets in the wake of Ellis’ failed attempt to originally cover up the true nature of his injury — but said an indefinite suspension was discussed. That option was scrapped for fear it would encourage Ellis to come back before getting fully healthy, leading to the potential of further damage, possibly permanent.

“We could have done an indefinite suspension, and what would that have done?” Rowell said. “Then he would have put himself in a situation where he would have rushed back and all he would have been worried about is the money and getting paid, and then we could have a player that is screwed up forever. You could have a guy who never recovers.”

It’s unknown how Ellis reacted to the decision. The 22-year-old did not attend the Warriors’ 122-102 exhibition victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, and attempts to reach Fried were unsuccessful.

“I’m hoping that (Ellis) is professional and understands that we’re not doing this to punish him,” Rowell said. “This is being done because he violated his contract. And when I say punish him, it’s not vindictive at all. It’s not personal. This is a business decision that we made.”

Rowell acknowledged that the decision was made against the advice of Chris Mullin, the Warriors’ executive vice president and head of basketball operations. A team source said that Mullin was looking at the situation like “more of a father,” wanting to fine Ellis enough to set a boundary and prevent any future similar incidents, but not so much that it would be excessively punitive.

To put it mildly, Rowell disagreed.

“Chris Mullin made it perfectly clear to both Mr. Cohan and myself that he didn’t think this was a big deal at the beginning,” Rowell said. “And we happen to think it’s a very big deal. We happen to think that it’s a big deal for our fans, it’s a big deal for our season ticket-holders, it’s a big deal for our business partners, it’s a big deal for the Warriors organization.”

There was no hue and cry from Ellis’ teammates.

“I know he’s happy to get that behind him,” Warriors forward Al Harrington said. “It was never an issue for the team. We never discussed it as a team. Nobody was in here worried about it. We knew something was going to happen, but at the end of the day, I feel like it’s fair. He’s able to keep his contract. And like I said before, he’s got $63 (million) more.”

That may not necessarily be the case. Rowell said repeatedly that the team has reserved its right to revisit the contract if Ellis, whose quickness made him the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2006-07 and led to his averaging 20.2 points per game on 53.1 percent shooting last season, can’t regain that form.

But Rowell admitted that, outside of the precedent set by Jay Williams — the Chicago Bulls guard who mangled his left leg in a 2003 motorcycle crash after his rookie season and never returned to the NBA, eventually settling on a $3 million buyout on a deal that still owed him roughly $11 million) — the team is in “uncharted waters” if Ellis is no longer the dynamic slasher he once was.

“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. “We’ve asserted that. As far as how it gets done . . . Nobody wants that scenario to happen. If it happens, you’ve got to deal with it.”

With regards to the cash windfall, Rowell said the Warriors will be giving the $2.97 million back to current season-ticket holders who renew their seats for 2009-10: “The amount will be reflected in next year’s season-ticket holder pricing.”