Warriors Welcome Back Ellis

Monta Ellis is getting close to suiting up and actually playing a game for Golden State after he practiced fully and successfully on Tuesday. He didn't play vs. Sacramento as the Warriors lost another heart-breaker, 135-133. Putting Ellis back into the mix is going to be a welcome sight for sore eyed Warrior fans who have had to endure the likes of CJ Watson and DeMarcus Nelson running to point in Ellis' absence. This is still pretty much a lost season for the W's though, so expecting any sort of drastic change to how their season is going would not be accurate, even with Ellis in the mix. Now don't get me wrong the Warriors are a much better team with Ellis in there and it will show, but as they sit at 11-29 at the unofficial mid-way point in the season, making the playoffs in the tough Western Conference is not going to happen.

They aren't going to make any playoff noise this season, but with Ellis getting healthy, the Warriors brass and Nelly really need to figure out just what this team can do over the second half. The Warriors are going to be in position to possibly land a lottery pick and this time around they need to draft for their needs rather then taking who they think the best all-around player available is. Their drafting strategy has been horrific since Ellis and Biedrins had their names called a few years back, and that needs to change. I'm not ready to declare Anthony Randolph a bust quite yet, but he and Brandan Wright have underachieved mightily with Golden State. Marco Bellineli has put together some decent games as injuries forced him into the lineup, but he's still inconsistent and so far, in 3 NBA seasons, has not looked like a player that is ever going to be a successful starter in this league. Again, it's still early in these guys' careers and things could change, but the bad drafting and poor personal decisions that lead to the Warriors demise from the mid-90's until the addition of Baron Davis have resurfaced here in Oakland and the Warriors pathetic play has proven it.