Ellis And Jackson Need To Shut Up

Stephen Jackson of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors signed a new contract last year for $8.5 million a year through the 2012 season. That’s $34 million through 4-years. Monta Ellis signed in 2008 for 6-years and $67 million. But you wouldn’t know it by listening to the conversation at yesterday’s media day.

Or maybe it’s exactly the opposite. Maybe the greed is a little too apparent?

Enter the controversy over Warrior's newly drafted point guard Stephen Curry. In an outspoken show of defiance for any player, Ellis was quoted as saying yesterday that he can’t, or for the sake of this article, won’t play in the backcourt with Curry.

In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that both Ellis or Jackson were picked up out of high school. Diplomacy is not– nor has it ever been -- their game.

But there’s a certain amount of wonder in regards to the Machiavellian attitudes of the two. After all Jackson has brazenly stated – for which he was fined $25 thousand – that he wants out of his contract. And Ellis has not exactly been the shining star that the Warriors hoped for when they drafted him in 2005. He’s been off and on due to injury.

But perhaps the most infuriating part is the refusal to be a member of the team. Both players have said that the Warriors can’t win -- that the ownership doesn’t know what they’re doing. But isn’t it the players that control what happens on the court? Sure, the coach has fundamental amount of responsibility, but in this case the coach is Don Nelson, a fact which in and of itself puts the blame of a losing team back on Jackson and Ellis’ shoulders.

Add to the fact that Nelson is a selfless giver. He took a team that was in horrible shape and turned them into playoff winners in just one season. He didn’t have to. Neither did Nelson have to agree to work for free once his contract expires at the end of the 2011-2012 season. That’s the kind of coach he is. No money, no greed has ever been a factor.

In the end it’s about love of the game. Ellis and Jackson need to put up, shut up and play.