<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LAS VEGAS - Looking at Warriors point guard Monta Ellis, you can tell he's hardly removed from high school. His lanky build -- he's 6-foot-3 and probably gets up to 180 pounds with ankle weights on -- suggests he's got plenty of growing to do. He doesn't have a whisker visible to the naked eye, leaving remnants of acne exposed, and he wears a wide-eyed expression. Get Ellis on the court, however, and he's a grown man. His skills mask his inexperience; his audacity compensates for his physical immaturity. "He's fearless out there," Warriors summer league coach Mario Elie said. After four summer league games, there is no doubt Ellis can play. At 19 years old, he was the best player on the Warriors summer league team. He is averaging a team-best 16 points after scoring 20 in Thursday's 108-89 loss to the Boston Celtics at Cox Pavilion. He's talented enough to play both guard positions, though at this stage he's better as a shooting guard than point guard. He started off at shooting guard and moved over to point guard, a product of Elie's growing trust in Ellis. He's impressed the coaching staff with his willingness to learn and work. He won the respect of his opponents with his tenacity. On more than a few occasions, he roused the crowd with his athleticism. "He's just a heady player," Warriors special assistant Mitch Richmond said. "He knows how to play both ends. He can get his own shot and he can create for his teammates. And he defends. And he will try to bang on you." Some NBA experts have expressed surprise at how well Ellis plays defensively. The effort he exerts on that end of the court is obvious. In the opener against Portland, he matched up against Portland's 6-foot-7 swingman Martell Webster and point guard Sebastian Telfair -- and had some success defending both. He likes to play the passing lanes but also takes pride in getting into his man. But where he's most developed is on offense. He's got the skill set and mindset of a natural scorer. He can shoot the NBA 3-pointers like he's been doing it for years. He's always in attack mode, and with those long strides doesn't take long to get to the basket, where he can drop in a floater, scoop it off the glass with either hand or dunk it. "He's a terrific player," Phoenix Suns assistant coach Alvin Gentry said. "You can't cut anybody's chest open to look at his heart, but he shoots the ball well, he tries defensively and he seems to be unselfish." "He's talented and really athletic," Telfair said. "He shoots the ball well and finds people well. He's more athletic than a lot of point guards in this league." Though he doesn't have a contract yet, it would be shocking if Ellis doesn't make a team. Assuming he does, the question becomes what to do with him. One school of thought is to take advantage of the new minor league and send him down to the NBDL. There he can get the necessary game experience he needs.</div> Source
Pietrus + Ellis probably would have been a hardcore summer league backcourt. Anyway, this Ellis guy definitely has a high ceiling for a combo guard. Part Chauncey/Part Stevie Francis.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Pietrus + Ellis probably would have been a hardcore summer league backcourt. Anyway, this Ellis guy definitely has a high ceiling for a combo guard. Part Chauncey/Part Stevie Francis.</div> I defenitly see that in Ellis. I think that with Baron with Baron being here for a while, Ellis will bail on us eventually and go to another team and blossom. Hoever I could easily see the Warriorsr commiting to J-Rich or Pietrus, Dunleavy Murphy being gone and Biedrins starting, I could very easily see, Baron at SG, Ellis at PG for his size, J-Rich or Pietrus at SF, Diogu PF, Biedrins C, I think that lineup would be an insane balance of offense and defense because according to that dude Upsidedown knows, Ellis is a great defender, Pietrus of J-Rich leaves is an excellent lockdown Bowen type of guy, Baron is a good defender, Diogu is great on D, and Biedrins when he doesn't foul is a good defender. That would be a sick lineup. That would also be a good bench unit any day
Let's temper the enthusiasm a little here. Remember, it's only summer league. Foyle is still better than Biedrins, Murphy is still better than Diogu, and Baron and Richardson are still definitely better than Ellis. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with Ellis' play and I think he's got a bright future, but there's definitely gonig to be a transition period for him. This is how the league works: a player has a skill, the defense finds a way to shut him down, so the player has to develop a new skill, the defense shuts that down too. This has to go on until the player has enough in his arsenal that the defense can't take everything away. There's no better example of this than Richardson. Ellis has a lot of offensive skills already, but lets see if he can do it against NBA competition. If he can't he's got to show the same heart and desire that Richardson has shown develop. Diogu and Taft (if he gets the chance) are going to have to go through the same process as well.
he seems to be quite a scorer especially since he averaged around 40ppg in HS. Hope he becomes a great NBA player.
I wonder if the kid is still growing... He may end up being the 4th 2 guard on this team (Fisher's more of a 2 than a 1). If so, and he turns out to be something special in a couple of season J-Rich and his bargain contract may be on it's way out.
It's doubtful, though not unheard of, that he'll grow a half-inch or so. More realistically, though, he'll stay the same height and use quickness and athleticism to make up for his lack of height. Playing the passing lanes and harassing your man. Earl Boykins is a good example of this, he can bother bigger players so he isn't a liability on the floor despite his height. Of course, he's a lot stronger than Ellis is at the moment, which helps a lot as well if you are playing agressively. At 6'3" he'll have enough size to guard even the offguards if he's good enough. As noted, he'll need to bulk up since the play at the offguard position has been getting more and more physical.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">Let's temper the enthusiasm a little here. Remember, it's only summer league. Foyle is still better than Biedrins, Murphy is still better than Diogu, and Baron and Richardson are still definitely better than Ellis. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with Ellis' play and I think he's got a bright future, but there's definitely gonig to be a transition period for him. This is how the league works: a player has a skill, the defense finds a way to shut him down, so the player has to develop a new skill, the defense shuts that down too. This has to go on until the player has enough in his arsenal that the defense can't take everything away. There's no better example of this than Richardson. Ellis has a lot of offensive skills already, but lets see if he can do it against NBA competition. If he can't he's got to show the same heart and desire that Richardson has shown develop. Diogu and Taft (if he gets the chance) are going to have to go through the same process as well.</div> I know, just a thought for a bench lineup or something
I don't think Ellis will ever be a PG, since he never was taught to be PG. It's very hard to teach a kid to give up the ball and provide a chance to other teammates, when he shot most of times, and probably can make things happen most of times as well. Anyway, nice summer for Ellis as well. One thing is for sure, he never met a shot he doesn't like, since he took the most shot attempts by far. For 2nd rounder from high school graduatee, you can't do that without having a gut and enough arrogance, both needed to be a successful pro. 15.8 pts / 3 reb / 2.6 ast / 37% fg / 63% ft. So far, he can be an instant scoring option for this club, providing that he can actually make the basketball...
i think that you guys might have gotton a steal with ellis at the late second round. i think he's future and your team's future looks bright.
