Monta Ellis was one of my favorite Warriors. He was electric, and he was a homegrown talent. And yet, when he was traded, it was not devastating, because it had to happen. He and Stephen Curry didn’t work together, and Curry was the keeper. Even though the trade has pretty much been a failure for the Warriors, it made them Curry’s team. It was addition by subtraction.
If only they could have coexisted
Nonetheless, I still love Monta. He was a lightning rod. Ellis was drafted by the Warriors in the second round (40th overall) in the 2005 NBA Draft. He was part of the memorable 2007 playoff team. Sadly, the team was quickly broken up, in part to get Monta more playing time. Losing Jason Richardson, the heart of that team, was something that took the Warriors several years to recover from. Then Baron Davis took the money and ran. In the midst of this, management and ownership was a disaster.
But now it was Monta’s team, and his numbers in 2009 and 2010 were insane. His moves were lightning fast, beautiful…
Sigh.
… and occasionally impossible (although this is post-Warriors, but whatever, it was a great shot).
But ownership was a joke, management was a mess, and while the fans loved Monta, the team did not seem to know what to do with him.
This Grantland article gives some background on Monta’s childhood and motivations. It is pretty interesting. It will also be interesting to see what Milwaukee does with Monta after the season; if he becomes a free agent, he could definitely have an impact somewhere. I would love to see him make his way to a good team–like the Spurs or Heat–that understood his game but had the veteran and coaching presence to reign him in and channel his abilities. He turns 28 in October. He might not have even reached the glorious part of his career yet.
And in some worlds, Monta remains a Warrior.
Snow DiMaggio 