Warriors Have Begun Monta Ellis’ All-Star Campaign

Monta‘s team — which hasn’t had an All-Star in quite some time — is pushing hard for him to play in the mid-season classic. FanHouse reports: “A banner on the wall makes note of every Warrior to have been selected for the NBA All-Star Game, an impressive collection that includes Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond and Rick Barry. But the list comes to an end with the 1997 designation of Latrell Sprewell. The Warriors have by far the longest NBA drought for not having a player make an All-Star team. Tied for second longest are Milwaukee, with Michael Redd the last one, and Sacramento, with Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic the most recent, not having had an All-Star since 2004. ‘Without question, we want to update the banner,’ said Smart, Golden State’s coach. Well, the Warriors have a strong candidate. That would be guard Monta Ellis, third in the NBA in scoring with a 25.4 average. Then again, that’s hardly a guarantee Ellis will make it. Despite being on his way to a season in which he would average 25.5 points, Ellis wasn’t selected for the 2010 All-Star Game in Dallas, even though NBA commissioner David Stern named three injury replacements for West guards. ‘Every time somebody got hurt, we thought he’d be that next guy,’ said Warriors guard Stephen Curry. ‘But our record was so bad last year… We’re a better team this year and he’s a better player this year than he was last year.’ But Golden State, which went 26-56 last year during an injury-riddled campaign, isn’t a lot better. At 13-20, the Warriors are on pace for 32 wins, and that could make it tough next month to break the Curse of Sprewell.”