Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors.

Kobe. LeBron. Monta.

Which of these names does not belong?

Or does the name Monta Ellis belong on a list of NBA superstars?

Monta has been in the NBA for five years and has spent the last two leading the league in a number of categories. But he still isn't recognized as being one of the NBA’s elite.

So, what is a superstar exactly?

Webster defines it as this: Superstar - a star (as in sports or the movies) who is considered extremely talented, has great public appeal, and can usually command a high salary.

Extreme talent: Ellis has it. He was talented enough to get to the NBA out of high school (shout out to Lanier). He’s the second-leading scorer in the league this season with 27.1 points per game. He was the sixth-highest scorer at the end of last season, averaging 25.5 points per game. He’s No. 4 in steals per game with 2.7, and he finished at No. 2 last season with 2.23. He played 41.1 minutes per game last season, leading the league, and is playing 40.1 this season, good for No. 6.

Ok, sure it’s easy to be among league leaders in scoring and minutes and steals (oh my!) when you play for the fastest-paced team in the league. But this season, early as it is, Ellis is 15th in the league in efficiency with a rating of 23.9 (just behind Dwyane Wade).

Great public appeal: check. Monta is part of the quickest backcourt in the league and it most definitely appeals to the public.  The Warriors’ average attendance has dropped below 18,000 just twice since the 2005 season, when Ellis first arrived in Golden State.

High salary: $11 million a year.

But talent, public appeal and Benjamin piles alone do not an NBA superstar make.

A superstar should be a leader: Kobe, LeBron, Melo, the Durantula -- all superstars, all leaders.

But Monta made it more than clear in an interview with Tim Kawakami two years ago that the Warriors were not his team and he had no intentions of taking responsibility for any team successes or failures. And last year he complained that his team could not win if he and Stephen Curry played together. And then there was that whole mo-ped thing.

Leaders don’t do stuff like that.

But Monta is married now. Isn’t that at all relevant here?

No?

Then maybe his play will give us a clue as to whether he is up to the task of leading the Ws nowadays.

Monta scored 46 points and shot 75 percent (18-24) from the field in the Warriors’ season opener against the Rockets. The next game, Monta scored just 15 points and had 11 assists.  

"I saw in the beginning of the game that it wasn't my game so I tried to do other things to get my team involved," he said.

And Monta's 22 points against the Knicks helped get the Warriors their sixth win just two days after he was diagnosed with a lower back strain.

That’s the stuff leaders do.

That’s also the stuff that has helped Golden State get off to their best start in 16 years. The Warriors (6-2) are above .500 through eight games for the first time since the '06-07 season, when they were 5-3. And their win in the season opener this year was the first since 2005.

That brings us to probably the most important key to NBA stardom: A superstar’s team must win.

The main reason Monta isn’t considered a superstar is because the Warriors haven't traditionally won very much.

Since winning 48 games and missing the playoffs in the '07-08 season, Golden State has gone 55-109 (excluding this year).

But things are different in Golden State these days. They’re winning. And if they continue to do so, “Kobe, LeBron, Monta” may one day sound perfectly natural.

To reach writer Kamille Turnquest-Simmons, click here.

Sign up for Neon Tommy's weekly e-mail newsletter.