Monta Ellis Looking to Squash Beef With Stephen Curry

Monta tells FanHouse that he will work to make the rocky partnership with Curry work better this coming season: “Juanika Ellis, who he credits as his unofficial life counselor. She tells him what he needs to hear, even if it’s not what he wants to hear. And she’s been doing it, Ellis said, for most of the four years that they have been together — including the day  after media day 2009. ‘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.’ Ellis — who is owed $44 million over the final four seasons of his contract and averaged a team and career-high 25.5 points-per-game in 2009-10 — was slow to agree with her. 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.’ Ellis said he made amends with Curry this summer, attempting to clear up whatever residue remained from their inauspicious start. Curry has certainly met him halfway in attempt to fix the relationship that so many saw as broken, even attending Ellis’ wedding in late July when the only other current teammate present was Devean George.”