Jackson and Ellis air Golden State Warriors' inconvenient truths

The mic is his weapon. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

On Monday afternoon, the Golden State Warriors made history.

Before playing their first game, suiting up for an exhibition, or even holding an introductory practice, the Warriors became the first team ever to sabotage their season on media day.

Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis, Golden State’s two best players, announced to anyone who would listen Monday that the team’s current direction isn’t good enough for them.

The worst part of it all? They’re right.

The good news is that only one of the two is publicly requesting a trade.

Stephen Jackson didn’t deliver much in the way of news this week, given that he went public with his desire to be traded months ago. Jackson spoke about how the team has regressed since their 2007 playoff run, confirming that he doesn’t feel the Warriors are a contender.

That matches up with everything Warriors fans have witnessed over the past two years, highlighted by the departures of Baron Davis and Jason Richardson. The lone surprise was that Jackson was so willing to discuss how he hustled team president Robert Rowell last summer.

Rowell has been failing upward for years, and his first move upon ousting general manager Chris Mullin last year was to extend Jackson’s contract, hoping that Jackson was committed to becoming a leader in Golden State.

One year later, Jackson is reminding him why that was such a terrible idea, for the low, low price of $9 million per year.

For Jackson, there was no grand getaway, no ride off into the sunset. He pulled an inside job, robbed the bank, and now continues to work at the bank. Where else in the NBA could a player so freely discuss suckering his boss into a contract extension?

Ellis also signed an extension in the 2008 Summer of Free Money, just before breaking his ankle in a “moped” accident and wasting his initial chance to become the team’s go-to player.

Considering the incident essentially scrapped the entire 2008-09 season for the Warriors, Ellis would have been smart to arrive on Monday contrite, motivated, and ready to make up for a mistake that crippled the entire franchise.

Instead, he openly contradicted any plans by Don Nelson to play him alongside star rookie Stephen Curry, who has to be feeling like an overwhelmed pre-Frosh right now.

Like Jackson, there’s truth in Ellis’ statement – he and Curry may indeed be too small to co-exist on a winning team. But the most telling part of Ellis’ interview was his mention of Davis as the kind of guard he could be successful with.

The primary weakness in Ellis’ game is that he's too small to defend shooting guards, yet not talented enough to play point guard. He’s essentially a man without a position, which means he requires special treatment to perform to his potential.

One would assume that Ellis wouldn't want to call attention to this fact, but that lack of savvy and forethought does help explain why he hasn’t been able to cut it as the team’s quarterback.

Ellis is yet another young star who has grown unhappy in Oakland far too soon, as though he were following some kind of legacy handbook found in his locker, left behind by Warriors stars of yesteryear.

When Ellis is eventually dealt, he’ll no doubt leave that handbook behind for Curry and Anthony Randolph, who will someday need advice on how to escape from their East Bay detention center.

After all, it was only a year ago that Ellis was the young new face of the franchise, and Jackson couldn’t have been happier to be a Warrior.

Jackson and Ellis delivered some hard truths Monday, and when they leave to ply their trade elsewhere, there will be a new wave of Warriors to step in and start this ugly dance over again.

The issues which constantly encircle this team, and their propensity for becoming public, are no longer surprising. It's just the way the Warriors do business.

Turmoil is a way of life in Oakland, and the problems lie at the very root of the organization.

With no end in sight to Cohan and Rowell’s reign of terror, pretty soon the Warriors will be lucky just to make it through draft day without players requesting a trade.

The Oakland Sports Examiner.