Comments on: K-Mart or Mississippi Bullet?

By: Kiki

Kiki — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:48:59 +0000

For those who thinks that Monta is the better rebounder than Martin, there really is no basis in that. If you base it on the number then Monta’s rebounding number is only slightly better than Kevin’s, 4.8/game to 4.6/game. However, rebounding number is only meaningful when you take into account the number of available rebounds. What I mean is that the Warrior play a much more fast paced basketball than the Kings, which in turn generates more miss shots (aka rebounds). To simplfy matters, if Monta played for the King his number would be roughly 4.0/game, or if Kevin played for the Warriors his number would be roughly 5.4/game. (I did some math with my own formulas, I can share if anyone wants).
For those who think that Monta will develop as a PG, news flash he’s not. His assist and turnover numbers are both down from last year; what it means is that hedoes not direct the offense as much as last year. What it means is the Warrior coaching staff realizes that last year was the best PG Monta would ever be.
Monta and Kevin are both very efficient SG. Kevin scores 23.3/game on 15FGA/game, while Monta scores 19.8/game on 14.6FGA/game. Kevin shoots a 44.8% from the field, whereas Monta shoots 53.4%. How is it possible that Kevin scores more? Because Kevin is an infinitely better 3 point shooter and one of the best at drawing fouls. Kevin’s free throw attempts has been getting better year by year, from 3.1 to 7.1 to 9.3.
The question is: will Monta will ever be as good in these aspects? Probable, yes. Most likely, not. Monta’s 3-point attemps has been decreasing each year. His best three point shooting year was his first year. That usually does not bode well. Monta gets to the freethrow line a little better this year than last year (an increase from 4.7 FTA/game to 5.3 FTA/game). But most people would address that increase as a product of Monta being more of a SG this year than last year.
Monta’s upside is his age and his versaitility as a combo guard. As a combo guard, he’s an average PG and a scary good SG. His downside is his height (don’t give me the Allen Iverson argument because Iverson can be a scary good PG if he chooses so). The Warriors fast pace basketball masks a lot of that problem. He should stay with the Warriors next year, otherwise he’ll just be another scoring-frenzy undersized backup shooting guard like Ben Gordon, Barbosa or Jason Terry.

By: richard jenkins

richard jenkins — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:21:56 +0000

would be nice to see them play together..

By: EL

EL — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:50:41 +0000

monta without question-

two things going for him- upside and peer respect. an up and coming rookie pg from the east coast was quoted a response to a question- “who do you want to be like in the nba?” his response- “i want to be like monta.”

the facts are the following and people forget:

-monta is a restricted free agent
-gsw can match any offer regardless of the cap
-you can thank agent zero for this rule when it was his time.
-agent zero was quoted to state- gsw needs to keep him here. he is the future for the warriors.

the warriors tried to sign agent zero with a reduced one year salary with the promise for long term thereafter, but we all know how that turned out. rashard lewis did the one year scenario with the sonics and did not enjoy his stay with them. you know where he is now. with the tremendous upside with monta and anyone with market leverage like that knows they need to maximize market value to grab the brass ring.

in reference to the top heading of “mississippi bullet,” the local radio station for gsw did a topic on monta’s call sign- the best one i heard was “M8E”

By: jl88

jl88 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:43:02 +0000

are you really having a name recognition arguement??

By: larry d

larry d — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:32:42 +0000

monte,hands down. he,s faster,quicker,quicker jumper,faster hands and i believe in the next few yrs.will become a better defensive player.like a baron davis. larry d

By: JustPuked

JustPuked — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:14:27 +0000

The primary scoring option on the Kings is Artest. Do you even watch the Kings? Teams have been keying on Monta for the last three months. Check his scoring average over that time. How would Monta do with getting MULTIPLE plays called for him like Kevin gets on the Kings? Outstanding. How would Kevin Martin do with having to make his own offense as Monta habitually does on the Warriors? Huge drop off. Talk about missing the point.

Name recognition isn’t completely silly. The players you named are referred to as simply Nash, CP and Kidd. Everyone knows to whom you are referring. K-Mart? Not so much. If you’re game is that good, people figure out a quick way to refer to you and your game. Thus, name recognition. Martin doesn’t even have that. You’d expect more from an SG that’s supposed to be better than Monta.

By: Duuuuuuude

Duuuuuuude — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:19:57 +0000

Truthfully this team is in the same pos Don Nelson had it in the first time, can reach the 8th spot, but without an in the paint force, it will never win big. All the teams that give the Warriors troubles have one big guy inside, someone that can dominate in the paint. the Guy I would love to see them try to get if they can is Elton Brand,(he can opt out just like Baron) while he is not a defensive force, (He can rebound not a real shot Blocker, but can score in the paint) that would the best compliment to the type of team they have. The Warriors get blamed for not playng defense, but they do play passing lanes, and they can play man on man, but their defensive rotations are terrible. Brand can play the uptempo game, and he used to destroy the W’s down low. they need a post game when the games get slow

By: Duuuuuuude

Duuuuuuude — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:03:10 +0000

Monta is going to be a star. the person I would worry about is Baron Davis, who has a history of getting tempermental when his contract is up, and it is up at the end of the yr. I can See the W’s doing a sign and trade with him. Baron has a history of injury, this yr he has been healthy, but with Andris, and Monta in place already playing well, then Branden Wright, and veterans like Stephen Jackson and Harrington, if the Warriors could find that one big man that would be an offensive and defensive force, I can see the W’s dealing.

By: Derek

Derek — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:03:38 +0000

It’s gonna take money to resign Monta thereforethe Warriors need to pay whatever happens to be the going rate.

As for Biedrens, he’s a good player, but it would be very unwise to over spend on him. His game is very limited and he’s not much of a diffence maker. He generally only plays 25 mins per game and is a in the top 10 centers in the league (not close to dominant).
I believe 5-7 million a yr is fair compensation for him, anything more is ridiculous.

Baron Davis, has been a great Warrior, but I’d take Gilbert Arenas over him any day. If the two guys cost the same, pay Gilbert.

By: manhattanproj

manhattanproj — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:47:09 +0000

i dont want to beat a dead horse here. like i said before, i think you guys are missing the point.

just switch places. put monta in kings and put kevin martin in the w’s. and ask, can kevin martin do what monta is doing now? certainly, if not more.

and can monta do what kevin martin is doing now? not so sure.

ellis has it much easier than kevin martin. it takes more to do what martin is doing now than what ellis is doing.

for those simple-minded guys like Le, i’ll spell it out for you. it’s more than just the numbers and shooting %age. you have to look at the team and surrounding players and how the defense is playing them.

look at who the kings have, kevin martin plays against a defensive scheme that zones in on him night in and night out. he’s the primary scoring option for his team. sometimes, 2nd to artest. but that is all. on one else on the kings team require much defensive attention.

now, look at who the w’s have beside ellis. baron davis, stephen jackson, and sometimes al harrington. ellis is at best, the 3rd option. defense doesnt schemes and zones in on ellis every game. if they do, they’ll get burned by davis or jackson. it makes life alot easier for ellis.

and if height wasnt an issue, why is the w’s trying to develop ellis as PG rather than a SG? so obviously, it is an issue. it wouldn’t be if ellis is stronger but that’s not the case. so ellis doesnt have the size or the strength to make it as a 2 guard. at least martin has the size.

and really, the point about the name is just plain SILLY. how many guys do you know named monta and how many do you know named kevin? really first name basis? so i guess steve nash, chris paul, jason kidd arent studs because no one in the league calls them by their first name?