The "Mississippi Bullet" is Monta Ellis's nickname, known only to a small percentage of people, and of course, with Ellis not playing in a few years, so should fewer and fewer people know him.
This summer, many veterans are looking to return to the league, and Ellis is the longest-running. The last time Ellis played was in the 16-17 season for the Pacers. Averaging 8.5 points per game is the lowest since the rookie season.
As a prolific and inefficient scorer, Ellis began to struggle more and more as his athletic ability began to decline. He's never been a good three-point shooter, so when he couldn't keep scoring, Ellis opted for a rapids retreat.
But Ellis still wants to play, especially this summer. Ellis, who will turn 36 in a month, has recently tried out the Rockets and Lone Rangers, and today it was rumored that the Lakers are also interested in the veteran.
Recently, Ellis was also photographed training in the Warriors' training gym, and Curry and Ellis' backcourt partner was also a memory of a generation, but the pair was not as harmonious as outsiders seemed.
In the 07-08 season, as the Black Eight Warriors roster gradually disintegrated, Ellis became the team's number two scorer. He averaged 20.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists that season, and the Warriors had 48 wins but only ninth in the West.
Next season, Ellis, who got some results and began to flutter, was banned by the Warriors for 30 games after being injured on a motorcycle off the court, but lied that the injury was caused by training, and the lie was exposed. While still averaging 19 points per game, it appears to have lost the Warriors' trust.
So in the 2009 draft, the Warriors selected Stephen Curry with the seventh pick, the warriors' greatest draft in history, which was an insult to Ellis at the time.
Only 24-year-old Ellis was still in the ascending stage of his career, but the Warriors chose another guard, and what the team needed most at that time was an interior line.
Ellis may be worried about Curry grabbing the ball, or maybe he has to defend a defender who is much taller than him in the second position, but Ellis does not like Curry.
On the media day before the start of the season, when asked about playing with Curry, Ellis replied bluntly: "We can't play together, we just can't." Management said we could, but we couldn't. ”
Therefore, at the beginning of his career, Curry was ostracized to a certain extent. But even so, Curry averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in his rookie season, shooting three-point percentages in his first year that Ellis had been unable to match throughout his career.
But from the data point of view alone, Ellis and Curry are not so incompatible. After Curry's arrival, Ellis reached the peak of his career. In the 2009-10 season, he averaged 25.5 points, 4 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, and even dominated the scoring top position at the beginning of the season.
Next season, he averaged 24.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, and his scoring ability is still outstanding. For two consecutive seasons, Ellis overpowered Curry, and it was during this period that Ellis famously uttered:
"Kobe Bryant came first in this league, James and I came second," and Ellis didn't have an All-Star at the time.
But curry could not hold back at this time, and the management knew that Ellis was hindering Curry's development. So in the 2011 draft, they again picked a defender, the wood-looking Klay Thompson.
In one game of Clay's rookie season, he shot too many three-pointers, and Ellis didn't like that. So on timeout, Ellis said to Clay: "You're throwing too many balls, passing, you're just a rookie. As a result, the next turn, Clay opened his hand to hit a three-point shot.
Thompson's arrival hastened Ellis's departure, and after playing for half a season, he was traded by the Warriors to the Bucks. The Splash Brothers of the Warriors were formally formed and embarked on the road to the dynasty.
Was Ellis wrong throughout the process? Not really. Unlike Curry, Ellis is not a natural leader, and he came to the rebellious Warriors at the beginning of his career, and he knew from the beginning that you can't be merciful to survive in the league.
Or even earlier, Ellis grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, where he lived in a region full of gangs and gunshots every day. Growing up in such an environment, you have to become selfish and tough, and only then can you survive.
Ellis's nickname, "Mississippi Bullet," partly because he was very fast, and partly because he grew up in a harsh environment, and Ellis was like a bullet flying out of Mississippi.
So from the moment he entered the league, Ellis was reluctant to pass the ball, and his vocation was always to shoot and score. His outstanding shooting talent and extremely fast first steps have given him a foothold in the league, and he does not want to be easily taken away from the boss position by others. So he opened his spikes like a hedgehog, which was his survival instinct.
Four years after leaving the league, Ellis wants to return to the league. Can this bullet from Mississippi still fly to Los Angeles?