Rick Carlisle didn't want to pin the Mavericks' poor play on a slumping Monta Ellis after Sunday's loss to the Phoenix Suns, but the enigmatic shooting guard's off-court attitude may be wearing thin in Dallas.
According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, "Folks in the Mavs organization have been fretting for weeks about the impact Ellis' moodiness has on the team's soul."
MacMahon goes on to write that Ellis also had trouble getting along with teammates in Golden State.
Ellis was perceived as a difficult player after high-scoring but ultimately unsuccessful stints with the Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks, but appeared to have shed that label with a strong season-and-a-half in Dallas.
He's struggled as of late, however, which likely makes dealing with his reported high-maintenance ways all the more difficult.
Over the last 11 games, Ellis is averaging 16.4 points per game on a pitiful 37 percent shooting, including 21.6 percent three-point shooting and sub-70-percent shooting from the free-throw line.
That kind of inefficiency can hijack an offense, particularly when it's coming from one of the team's primary ball handlers.
While there's no note of it in MacMahon's story, it's intriguing to wonder how much Rajon Rondo's arrival has affected Ellis and the rest of the team. The Mavs were scoring at a historic pace before trading for Rondo, with Ellis leading a pick-and-roll heavy system.
Ellis' role and the Mavs' offense as a whole has had to adjust to Rondo - a player with a difficult reputation of his own - with Eliss' Usage Rate falling slightly from 29.3 percent pre-Rondo to 27.6 percent post-Rondo.
The Mavs have lost seven of 12 to fall to seventh in the compact Western Conference standings.
