Curry vs. Monta debate... again

“You can also tell that Monta doesn’t respect Curry as the PG of the team and takes the ball up court almost every time they are on the court together and tries to run the offense.”

Where is the evidence for this? Other than the convenient, one-size-fits-all, “Monta is a lying crybaby prima dona” BS getting bandied about in the media by outsiders looking in?

Maybe they don’t work as a backcourt, but I highly doubt it has to do with either of their attitudes’ or their ability to score a boatload of points together. More likely, it is because neither one is a particularly good defender, and they are both undersized for their positions.

The problem Nellie had with Crawford was that when Crawford and Monta were on the court together, it wasn’t good. Apart they were fine.

In deference to developing Monta, they benched Crawford the rest of the way. Crawford traded to Atlanta has been flourishing.

Now, Monta and Curry together seem to be OK – but just OK. When it’s just Curry, the team has looked markedly better.

What is the constant here?

I’m still amazed OJ Mayo isn’t in a W’s uniform right now…

I completely agree with this post. You can just tell from Monta’s body language. it seems very obvious. Monta just seems to want his — do you ever see him celebrate with the rest of the team? Never. What a douche. He should be ecstatic to have Curry on his team. But he is JEALOUS. If he wasn’t he would understand that his IQ (what’s the difference between BBALL IQ and IQ? Either you’re smart and you get it or you don’t) is not as high as Curry’s level. You cannot WIN by spinning into three defenders and expecting a foul call — that’s not how you play basketball. You WIN by guile if you don’t have size and by making smart passes. You DO NOT win by walking the ball upcourt at a snail’s pace WHEN we are clearly built to run. You do not win by pretending to look for an open player, dribbling a few times and shooting a mid-range — no one wants to see that more than a few times per game (three at most?). Isn’t this just obvious stuff? Isn’t it painfully clear? Why do Ellis and Maggette not understand this? Are they dense as hell? When they are NOT on the court for extended periods, the dubs play better — case in the point the 17-point comeback when Ellis was OUT! Monta’s defensive strategy is to get the steal ALWAYS and that translates into more steals but also more losses. Sure he had a steal to win the game, but how many points did he give up with his matador defense prior to that steal? Also have to say that Maggette and Eliss pregame routine/ritual is some of the lamest, LEAST INSPIRING crap I’ve ever seen a pro athlete do. GROW THE EF UP. Stephen Curry is getting comparisons to NASH, he was at least invited to the ALL-STAR weekend, so was Morrow — the rest of the league gets it! I have to say its really too bad because Ellis with no doubt extremely talented, but it takes more than just talent at this level.

So he feels like it is his team to lead regardless if it actually works. When he played with Baron, he was a young 2nd and 3rd year guard playing with a top 5 PG. Steph is a rookie and Monta feels like he needs to take some lumps before he is handed the team. But my main point is that because Monta is paid as the franchise player he needs to carry us there regardless if it is actually the best direction for the team to go in. I believe the Warriors see the gem they have in Steph and that Monta, although he is an unbelievable talent, can be replaced by another scoring 2 guard.

Curry -

Pros: Shoots 3’s very well and his FG % isn’t that bad either. He’s a pretty good passer and his ball handling is good for a PG. What’s good about him is that he’s headstrong. Doesn’t overreact to calls and is very mature, especially for a rookie. Also, he’s been trying to get his teammates involved lately, which is a good thing and his steals are always a plus.

Cons: He’s still developing since he’s still a rookie. Also, learning how to play the game and handling the minutes (seems tired lately with the heavy minutes). His 1 hand passing hurts the team here and there (half the times it gets deflected). Curry is also pretty foul prone too.

I like Curry though, he’s transitioning into a PG and is playing well these last couple of months, has more pros than cons.

Ellis -

Pros: He’s one of the league’s leading scorers, has a good mid range jump shot, and can slash to the rim easily. His passing ability seems a bit better. Decent defender while a good pick pocketer

Cons: – Shooting efficiency went down, taking a lot of shots, getting to the line but shooting a poor % (ft’s have never been Monta’s strength, even with the 07-08 version). Not even going to go in depth with his A/TO ratio and his ball handling is disappointing.

Overall, I still like Monta. I think that he was a better player before the whole tattoos and moped incident. He’s currently the best player on this team, weather Curry is the better PG or not.

I like your post, but some things I have to disagree with.

You can also tell that Monta doesn’t respect Curry as the PG of the team and takes the ball up court almost every time they are on the court together and tries to run the offense.

We can’t really just assume that Monta would play better playing off the ball. I know that he had a lot of success doing so when we had Baron Davis, but Curry is no Baron. Baron was a veteran and played like one. Better passer and play maker than Curry, but he’s just a rookie so we’ll see. Part of the reason why Monta had much success in 07-08 is because he rarely took 3’s and took less shots. Of course when you take a bunch of shots on a daily basis (especially bad ones) you’re bound to miss some. The strongest part of his game is finishing at the rim (to me, he does less now) and his mid range jump shots. Chemistry is definitely a big part too. Monta felt comfortable playing alongside Baron and they had a strong connection.

On another note, I feel that Curry and Monta have chemistry with other players. Dunno if anyone noticed, but Curry often finds Turiaf in the paint a lot (I like to call that the Curriaf connection) along with Monta and Biedrins (no idea what to call this). Curry is becoming the better PG than Monta (if not, already is) but got to give Monta some credit, he does find open guys at times.

Get over it… Curry is no Monta. They are completely different players and at times Curry has looked very good without Monta there, but he has looked bad at times too. Im sorry but everyone that knocks monta for his efficiency cannot be overly impressed by curry’s numbers the last two games.

People need to relax. We have not have a healthy team all season. Not saying we would be a fantastic team, but Kelena, Bell, Randolph, Wright, Beidrins and Turiaf (from the season start) would have had a decent size impact on our record and competitiveness in this league.

Monta is not to Blame and Curry is a good young player. I am not writing this duo off just yet as I have seen great improvement from curry and Monta will always score no matter if he is at the 1 or the 2.

Agree that there may be only small gains from a production standpoint (Jordan put up better stats in the years before the championships). For many though (Nowitzki, McGrady, Joe Johnson, Billups, Gerald Wallace, Redd, KG, Ray Allen), their production increased significantly after year 5.

Not only looking at production/stats, but from a “better basketball player” standpoint, encompassing more “game intelligence”, picking up the nuances of the league, how to win, perfecting your strengths, most players’ games continue to improve well into their late 20s.

LeBron is no where near his ceiling yet (scary), and to think that players like Monta (or Bynum, Bogut (same draft as Monta), Rudy Gay, Rondo, Aldridge (the year after)) aren’t still developing and improving seems foolish.