This is not the way that Monta Ellis wanted to show the Warriors he is worth his new six-year, $66 million contract.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein was the first to report that the Warriors' new point guard has suffered a torn ankle ligament while training in his hometown of Jackson, Miss. Sources have told Stein that surgery is needed to repair a torn deltoid ligament, and the ankle will be immobilized for the first six weeks of recovery.
After receiving one of the biggest raises in NBA history, Ellis was supposed to be the center of the Warriors offense and as the team attempts to get back into the playoffs.
However, now the talented guard will be heading towards the operating room, and is facing a recovery time of up to four months. According to Stein, Ellis will have surgery in Alabama today after he told the team he injured the ankle working out last week.
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It is uncertain where the Warriors will go now to find a short-term replacement for Ellis. Marcus Williams, who was acquired from the New Jersey Nets this summer, could be the logical choice to take over for Ellis while he is out of action.
"Right now, we feel like we're going to let Marcus [Williams] handle the point," Warriors VP of basketball operations Chris Mullin said. "There will be a lot more discussion moving forward about that, but we feel like we'll come up with a lot of different scenarios between [coach Don Nelson] and I. The one thing we won't do is panic and do something just knee-jerk."
There are also reports that the Warriors are interested in free agent point guard Shaun Livingston, who is coming off a serious knee injury. The Warriors interest, according to Mullin, was initiated before Ellis was injured.
It has been a eventful off-season in Oakland. Star point guard Baron Davis went south to join the Clippers. The Warriors then signed Corey Maggette, formerly of the Clippers, to get some type of payback.
But the most important moves of the summer were when the Warriors re-signed restricted free agents Ellis and Andris Biedrins to big-money contracts.
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2 months ago
Damn, this sucks ass. We haven't made the playoffs in 14 of 15 seasons. Ellis is a young star with a bright future that might be slightly damaged by this injury. We've always had players that said they will work hard after we gave them money (Foyle, Dunleavy, Murphy, etc.) but none of them did work hard in the offseason. And now when we finally have a guy that is dedicated to the team and makes himself better by working hard in the offseason, gets injured and will miss a lot of the start of the season. This sucks like hell, I thought maybe we could have some sort of shot at the playoffs, but I guess now we're going to be in the lottery in a so called weak draft class. :(
from 2 months ago
totally agree with you. it is something that will definitely hurt the Warriors' chance of getting off to a hot start.
The only thing wrong with this comment is the extensive use of "we." Other than that, thanks for the comment.
2 months ago
This is horrible, luckily this was not supposed to be a playoff for the Dubs, and our draft pick will be much higher now. Still, if this affects Monta's speed once he comes back, this could be yet another manifestation of the Curse of Adonal Foyle.
from 2 months ago
can we add todd fuller and victor alexander to that curse list?
2 months ago
ouch. last year we saw what a difference losing a guy for just 6 or 7 games made...if Jackson played the fist few games last year the Warriors would have been in the playoffs instead of the Nuggets I think...and I slightly disagree with part of your premise; the Warriors HAD an outside shot at the playoffs but now...yeah, they are in trouble. sorry to hear that, wishing Ellis a speedy recovery. When they have their roster together and healthy, nobody is more fun to watch than the Warriors.
2 months ago
GOD DAMN!
Why does this have to happen? Stephon Marbury probably on the Warriors' radar now, to temporarily replace him?
He'll be out until November or December?
Damn shit!
Thanks a LOT for this report.
from 2 months ago
considering it's the end of august, it looks like december would be about right.
2 months ago
as a warriors season ticket holder, I'm more pissed then the warriors drafting patrick o'bryant.
from 2 months ago
more offensive....
todd fuller or o'bryant???
2 months ago
Frst off sorry to hear that they still wrangled you for tickets scott. I gave up the illusions that I should spend my hard earned money after this lovely implosion of an off season that we have had. But look on the bright side get in touch with me and I will pick up all the home games from you when they play the clippers. I just am waiting on my "We Believe" shirt in red, white, and blue to make it to my house. But on a serious note I have got some confirmed inside info and as usual I can't reveal how I got this because I don't want to loose my job, but this is going to b a lot worse than just a 3 month issue. Monta Ellis status report fromortho is going to say hi jumping ability is most likely never going to be the same when leading wih that leg. Also the report tha Mullin officially put out is B.S. he ddn't sprain an ankle he tore a ligament that's why he got surgery within 24 hrs it was very serious. So whydon't we get Mr. Livingston and see how great ligament injuries actually recover. All I have to say is that I truely believe we have a real curse or something now, its like this teamis allergic to success.
from 2 months ago
Yeah it's certainly is funny about what the Warriors put out. Stein did the same thing too. He said in one of the first sentences that it's a high ankle sprain and then the next sentence said it's a torn ligament. Regardless, like you said, it's a torn ligament and that's why surgery was done so quickly. How many people have you heard getting surgery for a sprain?
2 months ago
This is definitely horrible, Monta is my man crush, but at least we'll get a hopefully good glimpse of what Marcus Williams can do at the point. Ellis' injury should also free up playing time for Marco Belinelli as well as Watson and Morrow. The rookies could even get a few extra minutes even though they're forwards. Lets take the good with the bad and hope this can help the Dubs develop for the long run when they could actually win a championship not just earn a seventh or eighth seed. And the playoffs aren't totally out of the question this year. We've seen stranger things happen.
We Believe. Right?
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