OAKLAND, CA - DECEMBER 03: Stephen Curry #30 and Monta Ellis #8 of the Golden State Warriors look on near the end of the game against the Houston Rockets during an NBA game at Oracle Arena on December 3, 2009 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
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Things are changing in Golden State -- from the new owners coming in next month to the new team logo. Soon enough there will be changes in styles of play and how the team is run.
Monta Ellis is changing, too. He’s maturing.
That comes off in a fantastic bit of reporting and writing by Sam Amick at FanHouse, who had a sit-down with Ellis about the past and where he goes from here.
That starts with mending his relationship with Stephen Curry. Those two could be one of the most dynamic backcourts in the NBA, but at media day last year -- usually the last day anyone says anything actually interesting -- Ellis said he didn’t think he and Curry would work together as a unit.
Even his wife called him out on that one.
“She told me as soon as I said it that it was wrong,” Ellis said of the Curry comments. “I didn’t let her know at the time that she was right, but she always told me, ‘You and Steph can do it. Y’all can do it. Just play together and don’t let the outside world destroy y’all because you can win if they put pieces around you.’”
He says now that he didn’t come to that realization until mid-March, when lingering back soreness and a bout with the flu forced him to miss 16 of the final 32 games and gave him ample time for introspection...
“A month before the season was over with, I really had to sit back and blame myself in a sense because I’m that leader; I’m that one who everybody feeds off of,” Ellis said. “Everything that went on last year (regarding Curry) shouldn’t have gone on. I blame myself...
“Like I told him this summer, we can do it. We did it last year. I see now that I have to play the two (shooting guard). I have to play the bigger guards, and I’m cool with that. I can do that. Let’s just put our games together, get everybody else around us on the same page and play basketball.”
There’s a lot of things that need to change to turn the Warriors franchise around. Getting Curry and Ellis on the same page is just one of them. But the fact it is happening is symbolic of all the other changes going on there.