A Young Star, Overshadowed

How much have people talked about players like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Andrew Bynum? They are all good players in their own aspect, but another player in this 2005 draft class is being overshadowed by Paul, Williams, and Bynum; a player by the name of Monta Ellis.

In last season’s rookie/sophomore game, Monta Ellis played fantastic. He came of off the bench to score 28 points of many lobs from Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Raymond Felton.

Monta Ellis was the winner of the “Most Improved Player” award last season, just barely beating Kings forward Kevin Martin. Many people said Martin was robbed and critics were saying that Marin deserved it more than Ellis did. After Monta’s bad performance in the playoffs, more and more people questioned him and his skill.

What many people didn’t realize was that it was Monta’s first playoff appearance ever and the first for the Golden State franchise in over a decade. No one on that team had much playoff experience, so Monta had to learn the hard way by going out their and working hard. Monta did just that, but the butterflies in his stomach made him shooting a horrid 39 percent from the field and only scoring 8 points a game, half the amount that he averaged during the regular season.

Ellis was determined to work hard in the off season and in training camp to make sure nothing like that will ever happen again. Ellis primarily worked on quickness and mid range shooting in the off season. He also had more time to relax and be able to take his mind of off what had happened in the postseason. Nonetheless, Monta was proud as was the rest of the franchise for finally making it to the playoffs. Ellis was a vocal point of the team that got them into the playoffs.

During the preseason, Monta was running full speed in a game and crashed into a fellow Warrior teammate and had a severe concussion for a few days. When Monta was first hit, he did not even move for a few minutes and just stayed on the floor unconscious. After the injury, Monta was skeptical about the beginning of the season. He started off very slow. Ellis admitted it himself that he was not ready to attack the basket again, and was scared. Whenever he touched the ball he would think of that accident he had during the preseason and would not want to attack the basket. He would settle for long range jumpshots and have a low field goal percentage from the field. Critics continued to hate on Ellis in the media and in Warrior articles.

After a while, Monta had a talk with one of the Warriors coaches. They told him to be aggressive and attack the basket. The chances of getting another injury like that would be slim. After the Warriors 0-6 start, Captain Stephen Jackson came back from suspension and helped raise the spirits of the team, especially young Monta’s.

Monta seemed to be getting to the basket a lot easier and raising his averages all across the board. He was one of the 9 guards that shot 60 percent from the field for a whole month; joining greats like Steve Nash and current Warriors shooting coach, Sidney Moncrief.

If you don’t think that is amazing then get this: ever since the first of February, Monta Ellis has had the second most field goals made in the whole league by a guard, trailing only one other player, a man by the name of Kobe Bryant. Monta has made more field goals than players like Tracy Mcgrady, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, and even his own teammate, Baron Davis.

Ellis is a very discipline player as well. Monta has never had a technical foul in his high school or NBA career thus far.

Now how many times have you heard anyone on ESPN say a good thing about Monta Ellis? He hasn’t been praised to the amount that he currently deserves, being overshadowed by other players in his draft class. Get ready for another star player emerging soon, Monta Ellis is emerging fast; after all he is the “one man fastbreak”.

 

He's overshadowed by those players because they are all better than him.

 

But he still is under the radar.

 

If he's so "under the radar", he wouldnt've won the MIP now would he? Obviously people know and appreciate him, thus voting for him to win the award. Just because he isn't talked about as much as Deron Williams and Chris Paul doesn't make him overshadowed. You have got to understand, Chris Paul is dropping 37 and 10 every other day, and Deron Williams gets 15 assists every other night (obviously these are exaggerations). Monta does score the occasional +30, but as does Deron and Chris. Scoring isn't the only thing. Monta doesn't bring as much as the other goodies on a nightly basis as the other two, hence he's less talked about.

 

Monta's potential is high...I'd say enough to put him in the category of Chris Paul, et al.

He isn't there yet. He's a work in progress and it's actually been really enjoyable watching him develop his game.

 

I don't see Monta ever averaging 11.3 apg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Mar 19 2008, 12:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't see Monta ever averaging 11.3 apg.</div>

I don't either. But I do see Monta taking over a game and hitting clutch shots.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kensaku @ Mar 19 2008, 12:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Mar 19 2008, 12:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't see Monta ever averaging 11.3 apg.</div>

I don't either. But I do see Monta taking over a game and hitting clutch shots.
</div>

Well, Deron Williams and Chris Paul both average a bunch of assists, AND they also take over games and hit clutch shots.

 

Monta isn't his team's leader, and he doesn't have to single-handedly run his team.

So at this point, I would not put him in the same class as Chris Paul and Deron Williams.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Mar 19 2008, 01:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Monta isn't his team's leader, and he doesn't have to single-handedly run his team.

So at this point, I would not put him in the same class as Chris Paul and Deron Williams.</div>

What are you talking about? Best point guard or most improved player? I doubt Monta will ever be BPG. Monta has improved his game so much that he could win MIP again this year and he's more a combo guard.

 

I hear Monta Ellis get talked about a lot, it's just that he's got a long ways to go to catch up to guys like Paul and Williams. I mean who makes the team better in terms of point guards? Ellis ain't there yet. His role is more like Kevin Martin's which is to score the ball, not run the team full time.

Then, Andrew Bynum, well... nba combo guards and swingmen are a dime a dozen. Big men who are any good are so very rare. For Bynum to come out of nowhere like this is something special because he's larger than Greg Oden, has good hands, and is so young and averaging some impressive numbers. If he keeps improving he could be a very special player because of his size. He might even be bigger than Dwight Howard, just not as athletic.

 

I'm just saying for him to shoot over 60 percent in a month as a guard is impressive, yet they don't even talk about it on Sportscenter or on NBA fastbreak.

 

They probably do, just not on a nightly basis, so you might have missed it when they did. Like, Dirk shot 50/40/90 last year, and I think I heard them talk about it once or twice. Besides, there's so much going on in the NBA right now, like the Shaq and Kidd trades that there really isn't much time for anything else.

 

I think generally that sportscasters are looking at clutchness, ability to move the ball, not necessarily fg %. That's why so much is focussed on Baron and Jax a lot of times or guys like Roy, Paul, Lebron, ect... Ellis does get a few sports highlights, though. Announcers bring up Ellis' statistics and talk about him being perhaps the quickest and highest leaping small guard who can finish plays. Still, a lot of folks thinks he is an Barbosa clone rather than future franchise player. I think... time will tell about the franchise player part, but he is a dominant quickness type of player that can shoot very well off the dribble and finish extremely well for his amount of weight.

 

Ellis is overhyped if anything.. And I'm a huge fan of the guy.

From a stats perspective, Martin probably did deserve the MIP award last year, though it was fairly close and Ellis was a more than fair choice.

The amount of attention Ellis gets is pretty ridiculous considering he's fairly one dimensional. I honestly doubt he would put up nearly as good numbers on a different team (unlike players like Paul and Williams)

That said, I think he's one of the most exciting players in the NBA and could be a top tier scorer in the league once Baron hangs up his sneakers

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tradebark @ Mar 23 2008, 04:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The amount of attention Ellis gets is pretty ridiculous considering he's fairly one dimensional. I honestly doubt he would put up nearly as good numbers on a different team (unlike players like Paul and Williams)</div>

By "fairly one dimensional" do you mean a mid range jump shooter, his dribble drive, ability to finish at the rim, or his ability to deflect and start fast breaks on defense?

As for him vs Martin, I'd take Ellis any day of the week over Martin and I think Martin is a very skilled player. Anyway, the award is not the Best young talent award, it's the "Most improved Player" which you can even argue that Monta is one of the more improved players this season. He's grown to be a more confident player, and he can actually handle and distribute this year. I'd say he's 1 season away from stardom and 2 or 3 away from superstardom.

 

Right now, I think that Monta is better than Martin, and if the award was between the two of them this year, Monta would get it hands down. Last year is a different story. I think last year, Martin deserved it more. This year, Monta has improved even more while I think Martin has digressed a little.

 

Monta is an offensive juggernaut that can't cover anyone 1 on 1.. He just gambles for steals.. which happens to look good in the Warriors system but it makes him very much one dimensional

 

Monta is a great addition to the W's; for a 2nd round pick too. But he's not in Williams' or Paul's class simply because he does not make those around him better like the other two. Martin is a scorer but he's not a one man fast break like Ellis nor can he create his shoot with the shot clock winding down like Monta's doing these days.

Monta goes after rebounds in traffic and is doing a better job passing and getting assists and limiting the TOs.

The defense is horrible though. How he lets Anthony Johnson, the big version too, get to the rim for a layup is mind boggling. Steals does not mean good D. The W's get away with that type of D because they are so good on offense. Its just too bad that they cannot expend the same amount of focus and energy on man to man D and rebounding that they do on gambling for steals.