Is Monta Ellis the future

After some decent regular season stats but horrible playoff ones I think it's fair to assume that for Monta Ellis to join the top tier of NBA Guards he must have a make or break year. We all know what happenned last season. In the regular seasoon he just flat excelled beyond anyones expectaions not only just raising his 3ppg to 16.5 but winnning the most improved player award edging out Kevin Martin of the Sacramento Kings who as much as it pains me to say it was robbed. A couple of game winning shots most notably against the New Jersey Nets and suddenly we started to believe he was the second coming of Gilbert Arenas.
None of this in the playoffs though?

But then the playoffs came. This was suppossed to be his coming out party where he showed he can produce in crunch time. I'm not sure whether it was a combination of a national audience or the fact that the p. The pressure got to him but Ellis played scared. His poor performances and 0 for 5 against Dallas in game 4 or on court mistakes weren't what caught the eye most it was his body reaction. Every time TNT cut to the Warriors bench he had a towel wiped accross his face with the I don't want to be there attidude. It was incredibly disaapointing and a long way away from the Monta Ellis we saw in the regular season. Of course the usual excuses were made by the fans, media, and the Coaches but against the Jazz a rough and physical team Ellis was really exposed. In game 3 for example Ellis was missing shots, turning the ball over and doing all the stuff no player wants to ever do. Had it not been for Baron Davis and his individualisitc play at Guard all Warrior fans would have sit up and taken notice at. Part of this is attributed to the freedom Ellis was allowed in Nellieball and regular season. Nelson from observation isn't a control freak so he allows his players to do whatever they want but when it comes to the playoffs in a close game no coach allows that. Monta couldn't live with that and played scared.

Another part of it is his maturity level. Part of the reason for his low draft standing was character issues and rumours which have been vehemntly denied were the Warriors were looking to trade him for a Draft pick because of his maturity level. Now after this season Monta will obviously want a new healthy contract. Question is how much. Barbossa of the Phoenix Suns got 5 years at 33 Million and Devin Harris of Dallas got 5 years 42 million. Monta will want a deal closer to Devin assuming because it's more money.

So really even though you can't judge a player of Monta Ellis' calibre after one or two playoff series the weaknessess were set out for everyone to see. The next Gilbert Arenas definetly not.

Monta Ellis mix right here .