NBA: 30 best careers from players who skipped college

30 best careers from players who skipped college – 16. Monta Ellis

The state of Mississippi was a key player in the prep-to-pro generation, sending a pair of first-round picks straight from high school in Jonathan Bender and Travis Outlaw. Then Monta Ellis came around, a small but explosive guard who could score like few others. Like Bender and Outlaw, he initially committed to Mississippi State before later making the decision to jump straight to the NBA.

Most of the players who were drafted from high school were larger players, either big guards and wings (Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady) or, most commonly, big men. Ellis declaring for the draft was therefore somewhat surprising, and he did slide down the draft board to the 40th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft where the Golden State Warriors took a shot on him.

That shot was well rewarded. Most second-round picks don’t make it as rotation players, but Ellis soon established himself as an offensive force. By his second season, he was averaging 16.5 points per game and 20.2 by his third. He wasn’t the most efficient scorer, but he could do it in bunches, four times ranking in the league’s top 11 in points per game.

The Warriors were not particularly good with Ellis, which likely held him back from making an All-Star Game. He was in the mix, however, which made it difficult to choose a young Stephen Curry over Ellis. Yet when it became obvious the two could no longer coexist in the same backcourt, the Warriors shrewdly moved Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut, who went first overall in the same draft as Ellis.

He then bounced around the league, continuing to score and play questionable defense for the Bucks, the Dallas Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers. He made over $100 million over the course of his career, an impressive accomplishment for the guard from Mississippi.