Monta Ellis Is a Shooting Guard by Position and Nature

If All-Star participants were selected based on their singular strengths rather than their cumulative skill, then Golden State guard Monta Ellis would be a shoe-in, as few have the ability to score the ball in the manner that he does.

Take his 5.5 assist average at face value if you choose, but lurking beneath his 6'3" frame are the instincts of a cold-blooded assassin, ready to strike at the dribble of the ball.

I'm not saying that his assist total isn't impressive, but it becomes even more so when you realize the propensity to be a distributor or playmaker doesn't exist in Ellis' DNA, and to see him in action makes this more evident.

Both Ellis and teammate Cory Maggette are afflicted with head-down disease, meaning that once they receive the ball, their sole purpose becomes finding the most efficient way to put it in the hoop.

Any assists they accumulate are borne more out of necessity than out of strategy, due to the singular nature of their games and their ability to capitalize off that talent.

Before Golden State fans decide to hang me in effigy, realize this is not an indictment of Ellis but more of an observation of a player who has learned to utilize his talent to its maximum benefit.

Ellis currently averages 26.1 points per game and shoots a more than respectable 46 percent from the field, while accounting for 4.2 rebounds to go along with those 5.5 assists.

He's not a good shooter from distance, converting only 30 percent of his attempts, but therein lies the beauty of Ellis's game, because he has learned to dominate the game from his position with no dependence on the three.

A guard his size would be expected to utilize the three as a weapon, but Ellis has learned to impact the game on powerful drives to the rim and consistently hitting his mid-range jump shot.

More importantly, Ellis has learned to coexist in the back court with rookie point guard Stephen Curry, and his confidence in Curry has allowed him to drop the charade of being a playmaker and concentrate on his specialty: scoring.

Ellis has been among the best scorers in the entire NBA in the past month and certainly one of the league's best performers, which brings me to another point.

There is a good chance that Ellis will be left off the All-Star roster, and that would be travesty of NBA justice. He deserves to be there just as much as anyone but is a victim to his own irony.

The fact he has been listed as a point guard pushes him off the roster because of players like Steve Nash, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams, all players who have performed admirably and are true point guards in every sense of the word. 

At Ellis' other position, you have Kobe Bryant and Brandon Roy, who are routinely considered two of the best three players in the NBA at their position and have done nothing to disavow that claim.

So that may leave Ellis, who has definitely been playing All-Star caliber basketball, out in the cold, and makes my contempt for the selection of Philadelphia's Allen Iverson grow by the minute.

A place can be found for Iverson, but not for Ellis who has confirmed his worthiness on the court rather than in the apparitions of past accomplishments?

A travesty of justice indeed, but one that could be corrected by the addition of Ellis as a reserve. However, that path unfortunately seems blocked also, because who would you remove in his stead?

Just another sad instance of a player possibly being excluded from an event that celebrates the players who excel at their tasks to the highest degree.