interesting [blockquote]Monta Ellis Golden State's offense is 23rd in points per possession, even after a hot streak over the team's last few games. Stephen Curry, one of the best shooters alive, needed a breakout game against Dallas on Monday to crack 40 percent from the floor. Looking at Klay Thompson's numbers will turn you to stone. David Lee is shooting 44 percent. Is it possible Golden State misses Ellis, allegedly one of the league's most irresponsible chuckers? Maybe. Ellis has probably always been a bit underrated as an offensive player. His shooting percentages have rarely veered into Antoine Walker/Allen Iverson territory, he generates a decent number of foul shots, he doesn't turn over the ball much, and he's a very good passer. Ellis has always generated a higher-than-expected number of assists that lead to shots right at the rim, and data-tracking cameras installed in 13 NBA arenas (including Golden State and Milwaukee) have consistently found that Ellis's teammates shoot a shockingly high percentage off passes from Ellis. That said, Curry (in a limited sample size) generally shot a bit better and played about as efficiently with Ellis on the bench, per NBA.com. Milwaukee is hoping Brandon Jennings's shooting will tick up now that he can split the creative burden with Ellis. That didn't happen last season in a very limited sample, but it is happening so far this season in an even more limited sample; Jennings is 8-of-25 from the floor without Monta and an almost-decent 49-of-112 (44 percent) with Monta. But this is where we get to defense. Ellis's defensive fundamentals are awful, and his teams have hemorrhaged points whenever he has been on the floor. That has continued in Milwaukee. It may be that Ellis is a more valuable offensive player than we thought, but is such a poor defender as to nullify that value.[/blockquote] i posited something similar a few years back in a blog post, which i link below. It got a lot of posts back in the day so even though the language is a bit technical (perhaps overbearingly so ^^), give it a look-see. http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2010/7/12/1565145/efficiency-vs-production