His is still the last name heard when lineups are announced, he is still the last of the Golden State Warriors to step onto the basketball court, and his annual salary remains a gaudy $11 million.
Monta Ellis continues to get the trappings of star treatment from his employers, who market the veteran shooting guard as such.
Yet in the fourth quarter of their most recent game, which the Warriors lost in the final seconds, Ellis was on the bench watching backup guard Nate Robinson dominate the ball – and, moreover, watching rookie Klay Thompson finish the game at shooting guard.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson offered an explanation, saying he made the call because Ellis wasn’t feeling well.
When I asked Monta if he was OK, as he drifted out of the locker room after the game, he said he was. Granted, this may have been jock-speak, refusal to acknowledge illness.
Either way, though, it his becoming evident Ellis is dispensable.
Insofar as this was not the first time we’ve seen Ellis take a seat for Thompson during crucial moments, it feels as if the Warriors are closing a chapter of their history. As if the team’s brain trust has decided Ellis represents the past, available in trade, to be replaced by Thompson, a 2011 lottery pick who lately has made appreciable progress.
And, yes, the long-term aspirations of the Warriors are best served by moving Ellis – for his sake as well as theirs.
He is their best player, knows he’s their best player. The Warriors know it, too.
They also realize they cannot compete for a championship if Monta, yet to be named to an All-Star team, is considered the best player on the roster.
General manager Larry Riley insists he and assistant Bob Myers are exploring all options in an attempt to acquire a legitimate big man. Names keep surfacing, a Dwight Howard here, a Chris Kaman there. Riley and Myers will keep at it. They must.
For as long as he remains a Warrior, and the team struggles, Ellis will be on the market. Management all but concedes he might have to go, and Monta lives with the possibility. He’s 26 years old, a proven scorer and one of the league’s five most exciting shooting guards, all of which should make him desirable to a contender in search of backcourt scoring.
That Ellis is only 6-foot-3 and has become accustomed to the privileges of being the top dog on his team gives potential trade partners cause to pause.
Meanwhile, Jackson and Riley have to figure out how to present the emerging reality to the team’s second-most tenured player.
How do they keep Monta engaged, show him the respect he has earned, while carefully shifting their allegiance to Thompson?
How does Jackson achieve symmetry between the two while simultaneously trying to make good on co-owner Joe Lacob’s vow to make the playoffs this season?
Thompson clearly stands to be part of the future – unless the Warriors absolutely have to include him in a trade package that would deliver an All-Star big man. Even then, they would grit their teeth while trading him. He’s smart and confident, with a pristine jump shot. He’s 4 inches taller than Ellis, four years younger and, not to be dismissed, considerably cheaper.
Without that impact trade, the Warriors, as currently constituted, will not get anywhere near the playoffs.
They could not get past Portland on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena, despite the Trail Blazers being without their best player, power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
“It would have been nice to win all three,” Riley says of the home games this week. “But now we’re going to find out if we’re really making progress, whether we have any chance of going anywhere.”
With the Warriors (11-15) backing into the toughest stretch of their season – nine games in nine cities, over 18 days, beginning Friday at Oklahoma City – the truth will be revealed. They embark on this stretch in 12th place in the 15-team Western Conference.
They are, to be sure, creeping toward the March 15 trade deadline in their usual predicament, with more losses than wins, needing a big man who can make a difference and earnestly working the phones in hopes of finding one.
With Ellis continuing to start and play most of the minutes at shooting guard, even as Thompson asserts himself.
With Riley and Myers knowing they have four weeks to work some magic, otherwise the franchise faces yet another empty April.
