Monta Ellis Seemingly Makes Bold Claim About Steph Curry, Warriors' Nba Titles

Monta Ellis seemingly makes bold claim about Steph Curry, Warriors' NBA titles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former Warriors guard Monta Ellis was announced Friday as the general manager of Alcorn State men’s basketball.

Though he was selected by Golden State in the second round of the 2005 NBA Draft without having played in college, Ellis now has the opportunity to give back to an HBCU near his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.

But that’s not why Ellis has raised the collective eyebrows of Dub Nation.

Instead, it’s for an interesting statement Ellis made to ESPN in a story announcing his new role. The 2006-07 NBA Most Improved Player discussed how his Warriors teams, though less talented and not nearly as successful, helped set the stage for Golden State’s dynasty led by Steph Curry.

“That’s what I dealt with. And people know that,” Ellis told ESPN’s Myron Medcalf. “Real people that know basketball and all that, they know that. They know the team that I was dealt with.

“If you switched me and Steph out with the team that won the championships, it’d be the same thing. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad, and that’s cool. It put me in a position to make money for me and my family. I ran with that.”

It certainly is a bold statement from Ellis, who played for the Warriors from 2005 until being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks midway through the 2011-12 NBA season — in part to allow Golden State to build around Curry.

Ellis was a talented player in his own right; he averaged 19.6 points and 4.4 assists on 46.5-percent shooting during his time in the Bay. And Ellis wasn’t surrounded by as much talent, especially once Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson departed from Golden State.

That being said, most of Dub Nation would agree Ellis wasn’t quite in the same realm as Curry.

And though we never truly will know if the Warriors would have won four titles — or perhaps more — had Curry been traded instead of Ellis, there probably aren’t many regrets from fans or the organization.

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