<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">His gift is obvious. Monta Ellis looks like a special effect with a basketball in his hands. He's too quick to even be a blur on the radar. He can go to his right faster than a neo-conservative. He's the human DVD player; he can fast forward himself whenever he wants. Ellis makes you pay attention and your eyes are disbelieving since, after all, he does play for the Warriors and so there must be a catch to all this. See story below ADVERTISEMENT Maybe he's having just a good week. So you bait Ellis and it turns out to be the ultimate compliment: How does one defend against him? "Can't," said Ellis, who can move quickly through a complete thought as well. Two years ago Ellis was in high school in Jackson, Miss. A neophyte should be deferential, happy to be here, especially one who has been involved in more high school proms than NBA seasons. "(Allen) Iverson, how is anybody gonna stop him?" said Ellis, amplifying his earlier single-thought sentence with a definitive shout-out to his ability and his lofty perspective. He just put himself in the same sentence with the Philly star. It would seem to be too much, the kid too full of himself... Until you see him move. My, oh my, he does look like a special effect. Monday night Ellis twice left Phoenix star and reigning league MVP Steve Nash stumbling over his own feet trying to guard Ellis. In the fourth quarter Ellis left the ground, it seemed, somewhere near mid-court and soared for a total-air-sucking dunk that oozed Michael Jordan's bravado. "He (Leandro Barbosa) was bagging me," Ellis said. "He was waiting for a lob. He was trying to set me up for a charge. I knew he couldn't make it in time, so I took off." A fan didn't have to see Ellis at any other time in any other game to know only a special talent could pull off that shot, especially someone who would be a sophomore in college right now. With that quickness and solid jumper, Ellis has "Cornerstone of the Franchise" written across his forehead. His coach agrees. "I see Tony Parker in Monta," Don Nelson said of San Antonio's All-Star point guard. "He could be as tough to guard as Tony and that's saying something. The sky's the limit with Monta. An All-Star? Eventually. The game came too easy for him in high school and he picked up some bad habits. We're working on them." That would mean not going to his left all that often as well as throwing lazy passes, sometimes across court. That Ellis can be sloppy, well, it happens if you score 72 points in a game, which Ellis did in high school. Having noted that, that makes what Ellis has done all that more impressive. Opponents know he is going to drive to his right, they overplay that hand, and Ellis still drives around them. No wonder he thinks no one can guard him one-on-one. "It's not a problem keeping his confidence up," Nelson said. "He even talked me into letting him play post once and running a play off that." Nelson himself posted a smile when he said that. Nelson loves large egos as long as the talent matches the attitude. Of course all this only makes long-suffering Warriors fans nervous. They wonder: How is Golden State going to mess this up? Seems like in the last 15 years every megawatt star that came to the Warriors ended up leaving for a variety of reasons. The player became selfish or lazy or supercilious or disinterested or asked for too much money or tried to wring his coach's neck. No wonder this is the stunner: Ellis, at only 21, appears not only mature for his age but able and willing to understand greed and arrogance will keep him from his two intended goals. "I want to win a NBA championship and to be known as one of the few great players to have played the game," Ellis said. He saw drugs, poverty and violence growing up in Jackson. Ellis never knew his father growing up, felt he had to provide for his mother, who was a prison guard, and saw basketball as the way out of bleakness. "When I was in elementary school, I played with kids in the middle school," Ellis said. "When I was in middle school, I played against high school kids. When I was in high school I played against college kids. And after my junior year in high school I played against the pros." Ellis said he pushed himself intentionally, to force-feed his talent with experience, so he could arrive in the NBA sooner rather than later, help his mother now, not later. By the summer after his junior year at Lanier High School, Ellis had decided to turn pro. "Only my mother knew," he said. Many teenage phenoms have such grand plans. For most of them, that's as far as it goes, the dreams derailed by self-absorption, terrible work ethic or poor choices. "The only true friends I have are the ones I have known since I was in Pampers," Ellis said. "Everybody else is just jumping on the bandwagon. I know how to handle myself." Ellis said that last sentence in a Southern drawl so quiet and peaceful, I had to write it down twice to remind myself how serious he was. Flippant, dramatic, verbose and so full of self-love -- none of these characteristics apply to Ellis. He is as serious as an elbow to the face. No one on the Warriors is more dedicated. And no one on the Warriors had to bite his lip as often as Ellis did last season, when his dedication was never more tested. "Last year if I screwed up," Ellis said of coach Mike Montgomery, "I'd be back on the bench. Coach Nelson gives me the confidence to play. If I make a mistake, he tells me, 'Just make a better decision next time. Just go out there and play'. He makes me feel relaxed." And then Ellis said something that indicated he won't go down that path to self-destruction. "I catch on very quickly," Ellis said. Ellis is saying he is willing, he is able, he is here 24/7. He is saying he is the the gym rat. He wantw to be the leader. He wants it all on his shoulders. So the rookie who averaged 6.8 points a game and shot just 41 percent from the floor last season has blossomed under Nelson, averaging 18.7 points and hitting 51 percent of his shots. Ellis ranks second in points and second in field-goal percentage of all second-year players. Of the top 20 scorers among second-year NBA players, only Ellis and the Celtics' Ryan Gomes were second-round picks. The rest are first-round draft choices. Ellis has dropped 31 in each of the last two games and is the only Warrior to reach double figures in scoring in every game. Without much imagination it's easy to see Ellis and center-forward Andris Biedrins, 20, as the core talent for the Warriors' next 10 years. The future for the Warriors, finally, can be seen on the court. It no longer is couched in doubt, that Baron Davis may never be healthy enough, that Mike Dunleavy may never snap out of his funk, that Jason Richardson, while a magnificent talent, may never fit into the team concept. The Warriors now have their focus and it is stable, clear, defined, not a gray mass ever changing, ever confusing the team's direction. Whether it came to be by luck or skill, no matter. Golden State now has something to work with, made all the more absurdly delicious because Ellis is far from the finished product. "I always thought I should be here (in the NBA)," said Monta Ellis, his face expressionless, his tone without edge. Comfort was in his voice and my ears were disbelieving since, after all, he does play for the Warriors. So there must be a catch to all this. That's the truly good news. There doesn't seem to be. </div> http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dl...06/1010/SPORT01
