If you aren't familiar with Monta Ellis, he signed a 6 year, 66 million dollar deal last offseason to stay with the Warriors. As with most pro sports contracts, there were restrictions as to what he could do but that didn't seem to bother Ellis. Soon after he inked his deal, he broke the rules by riding a moped. Even worse, he hurt himself while riding said two-wheeler. Even worser, he then lied about the injury because he didn't want his contract voided. Now while I like Ellis, I can't say that he really seems like he uses the best judgment nor does he seem like the kind of guy who should be making demands (or threatening to make demands).

But there is that one thing: Monta Ellis is a damn good basketball player. In America, that seems to count for a lot. But how much should it matter to Golden State? This is a team that's missed the playoffs 14 out of the last 15 years. They have an ugly payroll. Yes, Ellis can play but he might actually mean more to them as a trade asset and a talent that could convince another team to take on some of the other bad contracts that the Warriors have.

While the ideal trade would be to package Ellis and Brandan Wright for a star like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire, I'm not sure those deals will go down. If the Suns and Raptors are rebuilding, they aren't going to want to waste big money on someone like Corey Maggette or Stephen Jackson (or, at least, they shouldn't). They could go after another big contract but is adding Elton Brand really a step in the right direction?

A possible deal could be with Houston for Tracy McGrady's expiring contract. They could use Ellis to dump Stephen Jackson and Jamal Crawford and possibly get back Carl Landy and Kyle Lowry (or Aaron Brooks). That would clear over 20 million from the Warriors ledger and allow them to go after some big name free agents in 2010.

There's always the Ellis for Josh Smith deal that seems like it makes sense for both teams (but doesn't help Golden State in the crazy dept.). If a salary dump is the desire, the Warriors could make a deal with Cleveland for Ben Wallace or one of their other expiring deals. Minnesota is also an option with Mike Miller's expiring deal and their draft picks.

For me, the bottom line is that, while Ellis is a very good player, he simply isn't good enough to put up with all of the nonsense. The Warriors are a team that desperately needs to instill a culture of sanity before they can even really consider trying to establish a culture of winning. While the PG's in this draft are a crap shoot, it's almost better to just start over, use Ellis to try to get rid of another contract or two, and move on.

Losing Monta might hurt but not as much as keeping the status quo.