Like I said in another diary, he scores the easiest 20 I've seen since Mr. Crew Cut.  Even easier than Jamison's.  He makes the game look easy.  Much like Rachel Ray makes having your own cooking show look damn easy. I wouldn't say he's a "keep no matter if he asks for max money" kinda guy, but if he's Cohan-affordable, I say eff it.

Best duo since...

I cannot say I see a big difference from last year's Monta, not that that's a bad thing.  He's still the fastest player on the court, can score whenever he wants to, as long as he's not going one-on-one with the game clock ticking down, and still brings me out of my seat on a nightly basis.  Oh, and he's learned that his leapers can earn him a few rebounds when he puts his mind to it.

But I have to disagree with the rosy picture you've painted.  His defense isn't where it needs to be, and though it will improve with experience, he needs to increase his effort too (offense comes to him naturally, defense not so much).  And his ball-handling isn't the only thing keeping him from becoming a point guard.  While he's starting to think like a point guard more and more, he has to keep himself under control and increase his awareness of where his teammates are on the court.

I hope we hang on to him.  Replacing Monta with a more conventional point guard would force the warriors into a more conventional style of play, and unless said new point guard arrives with a legit power forward, this team doesn't have the right players to win conventional games against good teams.

Heck, even if they did, I'll take warriorball Big Nellie-style any day of the week.  

But with his payday coming up, I really hope Mullin looks at the big picture of things.  Nobody wants to see Monta Ellis on another team.. but there are so many factors that go into that decision.  Look at the opportunity costs of keeping and paying Monta Ellis: not trading him at the deadline could have otherwise gotten us some talent at other positions in return; if we pay him something over or around $6mil, that's money we could've used under the luxury tax to pay someone else (TPE), his roster spot and his minutes, and his money take away from Azubuike (or whatever other SG).

There's so many things that come into play.  It's alot more complex than "Monta is improving and he's fun to watch so let's lock up Monta, and Cohan don't be a cheapskate".

To me, he is an essential piece of W basketball.  Maybe not in the waning minutes of the 4th yet, but there have been many games where in quarters 2 and 3 Monta was the main reason they were alive.  

Have you seen him improve his defensive pressure too?  He is getting a lot of steals against other bigs.  His perimeter defense leaves something to be desired, but I see him steadily progressing.

If the Warriors want to continue to play "warrior" basketball in the coming years, Monta needs to be a part of it.

Of course, Lee and Robinson are two of the New Yorker's fav players, but they hate Thomas anyway.

You call me ancient, I say "oldguysrule"

No way I ship him out now, unless its for Stoudamire, who I do not think is going anywhere.

Monta's midrange jumper has come up huge in the 4th quarter in several games now and its actually the most reliable late game shot the W's have.

Nothing better than "The City".

A recent observation is that he seems to be the ONLY Warrior with a pull-up and/or mid-range jumper.  Harington, Jax and Diddy all shoot a mid-range shot but it's always falling away.  Everyone else are spot-up 3-ballers.

Pay the man and let's watch him blossom into a cog in the Warriors dynasty-to-be.

Miles Davis a Warriors fan?