OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 8:04 p.m. ET Oct. 14, 2008

Sean Deveney

Basically, what the Golden State Warriors in suspending guard Monta Ellis for 30 games was to say this: For every game you're out, we're not paying you.

The suspension will put Ellis back in the team's good graces after Dec. 17. That is just about the time Ellis should be finished with his rehab from late August ankle surgery, which was required after an accident with a moped. By the time the calendar flips to the new year, Ellis should be both healthy and officially forgiven. We will then all get back to the expected excitement around the talented youths the Warriors have collected on their roster — Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph as the headliners.

But the tussle over Ellis' punishment should raise a red flag over the direction the Warriors will take in the future. There are three questions of varying immediacy and significance that still linger.

1. The immediate question: Who is going to be the point guard here? If it is really C.J. Watson, as coach Don Nelson has been indicating for nearly two weeks, then the obvious issue is whether Watson is ready for the job. He seems to be more of a scorer — he averaged 26.4 points in the NBDL last year — than a pure point man, which is not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as he is replacing a scoring point guard (Ellis) who is replacing a scoring point guard (Baron Davis).

But Watson is hardly the only option, and with Nelson's penchant for deck-shuffling, the smart money is that Watson won't be the starter by mid-November. A trimmed-down Marcus Williams, expected to be the starter in Ellis' absence, is still a factor, as is ex-Duke guard DeMarcus Nelson.

And there's this, as shooting guard Corey Maggette told SN: "Look out for Jack. He is a passer. He can play the 1. I would not mind seeing him trying it." That would be Stephen Jackson, slated for small-forward duty. Don't rule out a Nellie experiment with Jackson as the point guard.

2. The mid-range question: What about Nellie? At 68, Nelson likes to say he is old enough that he doesn't buy green bananas. He hemmed and hawed about returning to the Warriors two years ago, and did so after the team restructured his contract. He hemmed and hawed again about whether he'd come back for this season after the team picked up his option last spring.

So, what about next season?

Nelson is without a contract, and he deserves some credit for melding Golden State's wave of youngsters with the team's veterans. Ellis is the perfect example. Nelson is not going to be Ellis' coach for the rest of his career, but it would be nice if he could continue to help Ellis make the transition from youthful end-of-the-bench practice wonder to full-fledged star. That would require Nellie to stay with the Warriors not only this year, but next year, too.

Does Nelson want to be coaching at age 70, though? Maybe. Both he and the organization are in "wait-and-see" mode. The question is, how badly does Nelson want to reach the NBA's record for coaching wins — he is currently 52 wins behind Lenny Wilkens (1,332), and Ellis' injury has pretty much ensured that Nelson has no chance at catching Wilkens this year.

3. The long-range question: Who's steering this ship? If you want to know why it took the Warriors so long to decide how to punish Ellis, then you only needed to hear team president Robert Rowell's news conference Saturday about the suspension. Throughout the summer, rumors have bounced around that there was increasing head-butting in the Warriors' front office, especially when it came to Rowell and general manager Chris Mullin — who, like Nelson, is in the last year of his contract.

Mullin did not want to come down hard on Ellis for what was a pretty minor contract violation. The guy was riding a moped, after all, not wrestling alligators or playing flag football with a live hand grenade. So, imagine Mullin's surprise when, as NBA sources told me, some in the Warriors camp were pushing for a one-year suspension or, even, a voiding of Ellis' new $66 million contract altogether.

As Rowell said at his news conference: "Chris Mullin made it perfectly clear to both (team owner Chris) Cohan and myself that he didn't think this was a big deal at the beginning. And we happen to think it's a very big deal. We happen to think that it's a big deal for our fans, it's a big deal for our season ticket-holders, it's a big deal for our business partners, it's a big deal for the Warriors organization."

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We don't need anonymous NBA sources to tell us there was a strenuous difference of opinion on this — Rowell pretty much said it straightaway. Doesn't sound like Rowell and Mullin will be teammates in the three-legged race at the next Warriors company picnic.

Internal strife is hardly anything new in the front offices of NBA franchises and, often, the very successful ones are among the most fractious. But this is a big moment for the Warriors. They've got a future to plan. Jackson is eligible for an extension, and it could happen in the next couple of weeks. Al Harrington continues to be a trade target. The Warriors could have a coach to hire at the end of the year and, chances are, they'll have another lottery pick in store (which could well mean a trade as the team moves from collecting assets to trying to win now).

The absence of Ellis has obvious consequences in terms of who's going to be on the court. But it also brings to the forefront much bigger issues and makes clear that the organization needs to get itself on the same page.

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