Ratto: Bad moves by Ellis, but Warriors shouldn’t fine him
A moped. Monta Ellis put $66 million on a moped. Of course he did.
Ellis blew up his ankle and will be lost to America’s Favorite Ninth-Place Team for between two and four months, depending on whose diagnosis you believe. He did it while being what kids always believe themselves to be – bulletproof.
And while we get that Ellis was precluded in his contract from riding a moped and didn’t want to blow his deal completely, the lie and the subsequent delay in revealing that lie made the whole incident look sinister, as though the moped story itself might just be a lie too.
We do, however, know this. The Warriors aren’t going to do anything to Ellis unless they are as stupid as they are cheap. And by that we mean that if they try to fine him, it will be saving money they don’t need to teach a lesson already learned, and to alienate the new centerpiece of the franchise. If owner Chris Cohan and top aide Bobby Rowell need the cash returned that badly, they’ve got financial problems that pretty much eliminate them from running a pro basketball team.
sfgate.com
9/25/08
