I’m up early today, watching the replay of last night’s Hawks vs. Nuggets overtime thriller. I missed the game, but kept up with things via the game threads, Twitter, and various live box scores. Perusing the interwebs I ran across some interesting news, like how Carmelo Anthony is at odds with his coach and how he may have told a friend he prefers to be traded away from the team he hand picked, just a season ago. Things are not always greener … Oh and the always “in the know” Jeff Morton informed me early yesterday that the Bucks and Warriors made a big swap or a big for little swap.

Update: Melo is denying that he told anyone he wants out of New York and his coach Mike D'Antoni or now former coach has resigned today.

No matter what side of the fence you are on involving the Melo man, you have to be shaking your head at the drama going on in New York right now. We're closing in on 24 hours until the trade deadline and the New York Post story leaking this morning about Melo preferring to be traded before the deadline is pretty laughable and somewhat head scratching.

Anthony's agent, Leon Rose, also called the story, "laughable", but for different reasons. He's attempting to do as much damage control as he can. Knicks fans on SB Nation's site, Posting and Toasting, don't know what to think. Some are certainly not happy with Melo, while others see the article are totally made up. Yet, the seeds have been planted. What is going on in New York? If you don't play nice with the media, will they just not stop until they run you out of town? Melo has stormed out, like he did at times in Denver, before talking to the media after some tough games, but recently made a reappearance after doing so … some say after being persuaded to do so. What a mess.

In actual trade news …

The Bucks and Warriors completed the following deal:

Milwaukee Bucks get:
Monta Ellis
Ekpe Udoh
Kwame Brown (or Brown’s expiring contract since he’s out for the season)

Golden State Warriors get:
Andrew Bogut
Stephen Jackson

This is a pretty bizarre deal as both teams gave up a lot to get a lot. Bogut, when healthy, has proved to be a valuable center who averages 12 points and 9 rebounds over his career … Nene like numbers there. The problem though is that Bogut has only played in 82 games one time in seven seasons and has only played in 70+ games in two seasons. Bogut is currently out with a nasty ankle injury (has only appeared in 12 games this season), but could be coming back towards the end of this year.

Stephen Jackson has turned into a malcontent over the last few seasons and the 33 year-old guard can still score a little, but he may not be worth the headaches. Rumors in Milwaukee were that he was a bad influence on Brandon Jennings and was telling the youngster to get out of town when his deal was up and to grab as much money as he can in his next deal.

As for the Bucks … they get one of the most dynamic scorers in the league in Monta Ellis, who is in his seventh season at just 26 years old. Ellis is averaging 21.9 points per game this season and gives the Bucks a much needed exciting player, but the team had to trade its best big man to acquire him. The Bogut injuries make the deal easier to swallow as a Milwaukee fan, but Ekpe Udoh could be a decent pickup for the Bucks. Udoh is only 24 years old and averages 5.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in about 21 minutes per game this season.

The biggest impact players in this trade are Bogut and Ellis and I'd have to say that with Bogut's injury history, the Bucks got the better end of this deal. I thought Ellis would bring back greater value as the Warriors failed to get a young guy back in this deal and took on the Jackson contract that has one more year on it for the 2012-13 season for $10 million.

Ellis was rumored to be involved in a crazy three team deal that may have landed him in Orlando, to play alongside Dwight Howard, but that his gone now. The Warriors might be looking to move Jackson, again, if they can find a taker, but that could prove difficult.

It's good to see some movement on the trade front, expect things to really heat up throughout the day!

Nate_Timmons on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Nate_Timmons
ntimmons73@yahoo.com