Numbers Game: Bucks and Warriors make five-player trade - TSN

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Numbers Game: Bucks and Warriors make five-player trade - TSN Mar 14th 2012, 18:00 The Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors made a five-player swap that included an injury-prone centre and high-scoring shooting guard changing sides. Numbers Game breaks down the deal that sent Monta Ellis to Milwaukee and Andrew Bogut to Golden State. The Bucks Get: SG Monta Ellis, PF/C Ekpe Udoh and C Kwame Brown. Ellis, 26, has been one of the most prolific scoring guards in basketball over the last five seasons, averaging 22.6 points per game since the start of the 2007-2008 season. Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade are the only guards to have scored at a higher per-game rate in that time. Unfortunately, Ellis isn't quite so adept at the other end of the floor. He's undersized for a shooting guard and, paired with Brandon Jennings in the Bucks' backcourt, is ripe to be exposed at the defensive end by bigger and more physical guards. Just as interesting as the Bucks's defensive challenges with Ellis and Jennings (not unlike Golden State's challenges with Ellis and Stephen Curry) will be their ability to share the ball in the backcourt. Ellis is averaging 19.0 field goal attempts per game this season while Jennings is putting up a career-high 17.1 field goal attempts per game (19.4 per game in March). With Stephen Jackson taking 10.5 attempts per game to Golden State, there are going to be fewer touches to go around. Signed through next season, with a player option for 2013-2014, Ellis' contract pays him $11-million per season (salary info. per www.hoopshype.com). Udoh is a 24-year-old shot-blocker who is still developing his all-around game, but will have immediate value to the Bucks as a complement to Drew Gooden and Ersan Ilyasova in the Bucks' big rotation. With a limited offensive game, Udoh's presence as a shot blocker and help defender ought to be appreciated by defensive-minded coach Scott Skiles. Among players that have played last year and this year, Udoh ranks third in blocks per 48 minutes (3.9), behind only Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee. Udoh is on his entry-level deal, paying him just under $3.3-million this season and a little over $3.5-million next season, with a team option for nearly $4.5-million in 2013-2014. The first overall pick in the 2001 draft, Kwame Brown has been bouncing around the league, only once averaging more than 10.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, but his inclusion in this deal is for salary reasons. He's out for the season with a pectoral injury, but is on the books for $7-million. The Warriors Get: C Andrew Bogut and SF Stephen Jackson. Bogut, 27, is a talented big man, one of three players to average a double-double in points and rebounds with at least 2.0 blocks per game over the last five seasons (joining Dwight Howard and Yao Ming), but Bogut is out with a broken ankle and may not return this season, which is fine for the Warriors, but more on that in a moment. There's no denying that Bogut is talented and a legit 7-footer to man the post, but he has had a hard time staying healthy, missing 76 games over the last three seasons, before going down in the 12th game of this season. However, looking ahead to next season, Bogut offers real value to the Warriors as a big man who can finish around the rim (shooting 52.2% from the field for his career), as long as he manages to stay healthy. Bogut will be under contract for two more years, at cost of $27.35-million, after this season. Jackson is erratic, and the 33-year-old swingman has struggled this year in Milwaukee, shooting a career-low 35.7% from the field and averaging 10.5 points per game, but he's had success in Golden State in the past (averaging over 20.0 points per game in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009) and could be a useful rotation player for them. Making $9.26-million this year, Jackson is also under contract for next season, at a cost of $10.06-million. Jackson has been playing some shooting guard for the Bucks this season, so he may add size to the Warriors' rotation. Since Jackson won't take all of Ellis' minutes or shots, that means there should be a greater opportunity going forward for rookie Klay Thompson, who played more than 42 minutes Tuesday and has scored in double figures in five straight games. Now, the upshot to all of this, aside from changing each team's respective rotaton, is that Golden State's pick in this year's draft will go to the Utah Jazz unless it falls within the top seven picks. Currently, the pick is 10th, but with Bogut out and Ellis gone, there is the possibility that the Warriors will be able to play just poorly enough that they get to keep their pick and add another quality piece at the draft this year. Milwaukee, smelling a potential playoff berth this season now that they are tied with the New York Knicks for eighth in the Eastern Conference, gets immediate value for Bogut, an injured asset. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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