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The Miami Heat are a refreshing fit for Wayne Ellington

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Wayne Ellington has endured a somewhat frustrating career to this point, but the Miami Heat may finally give him the stable situation he needs.

Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

As the 2015-16 NBA regular season came to a conclusion, Wayne Ellington had officially completed his seventh season as a pro. For many, the response is likely to be “Wayne who?”. And you couldn’t blame them.

For all his travails to this point, nothing compares to what he experienced during his stint with the Lakers. Early that season, his father, Wayne Sr, was shot and murdered. To his credit, Ellington missed just one week of play before returning to action. Recently, he penned an amazing tribute to his late father in The Players’ Tribune.

Ellington has been bouncing from team to team ever since he was chosen as the 28th pick of the 2009 NBA draft. For the most part, he has been stuck in losing situations. His teams have won 26 games or fewer on six separate occasions. Mike Conley and Ricky Rubio represent the only true point guards he has shared the court with. His court time with those two, however, was scarce.

For the most part, he has been surrounded by either shoot-first point guards or sub-standard coaching. All of this in complete contrast to his amazing college environment.

North Carolina

Ellington entered college as the eighth ranked recruit, and the top shooting guard, in the nation.

The North Carolina Tar Heels won the race for his services, where he was to learn under legendary coach Roy Williams. For three seasons he shared the backcourt with dynamic point guard Ty Lawson. Their partnership culminated in leading the Tar Heels to the 2009 NCAA championship, with Ellington being named the Final Four’s most outstanding player.

Draft Express gave a great description of Ellington’s prospects upon leaving college, stating that “Wayne Ellington had a unique opportunity to play on a college team that is as similar to an NBA team in terms of role dispersal and talent as you’ll find in the NCAA”.

This refers to him sharing the court with three fellow 2009 NBA draftees Lawson, Tyler Hansborough and Danny Green, as well as future NBA players Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller.

This clearly demonstrated two things: First, Ellington could co-exist with fellow elite players in a winning environment. Secondly, his Final Four performance showed his ability to deliver in clutch situations.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Ellington was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Their situation was the complete antithesis of his three seasons spent at North Carolina. In Ellington’s rookie season they finished with a 15-67 record, the second-worst record in the league.

They had one of the worst coaches in the league in Kurt Rambis. They also had an historically bad general manager in David Kahn. That summer, Kahn used two lottery picks on point guards–and somehow passed over Stephen Curry. Coming from such an elite winning environment, this must’ve been some shock to the system for Ellington.

Furthermore, the Wolves completely lacked a veteran presence in their locker room. It was a collection of young up-and-comers and handy bench players. They did have some exceptionally talented players. Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams all have immense talent. However, with Luke Ridnour as essentially the elder statesman of the team, the environment of their locker room remained a question mark.

Over his first two seasons in Minnesota under Rambis, Ellington started just nine games. Rambis managed to outdo himself in Ellington’s second season as a pro, leading the Timberwolves to the worst record in the league.

The next season, Ellington’s third and final season in Minnesota, he started just five games under new coach Rick Adelman. In his time with the Timberwolves, Ellington competed with the likes of Corey Brewer, Damian Wilkins, Ridnour and Martell Webster for playing time.

Granted, all these players have talent. However, considering the Timberwolves’ record during his time there, it was disappointing Ellington was unable to be afforded more opportunity. He averaged 18.7 minutes per game, but the team clearly never embraced him.

Memphis and Dallas

Memphis Grizzlies

Over the next four seasons of his career, Ellington played with five different teams. During this period of time, he encountered just two winning situations. The Memphis Grizzlies represented his first contending team.

All-NBA defender Tony Allen and combo-guard Jerryd Bayless would be the main hurdles on his way for playing time. Further, playing on a team that competed in the Western Conference finals meant it was going to be tough to crack the rotation quickly.

His best performance with the Grizzlies was a 26-point performance that included six from seven from the three-point line. Ellington’s reward for this game was playing five minutes the following game.

Clearly, Memphis and head coach Lionel Hollins were not going to provide him consistent playing time. He would be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers after just 40 games.

In his 40 appearances for the Grizzlies, there were just five games where Ellington had nine field goal attempts or more. In those games, he averaged 14.9 points on 55 percent shooting. The above video highlights one of these games, ironically against the Miami Heat.

Dallas Mavericks

The other winning experience was in Dallas. Ellington signed as a free agent with the Mavericks for the 2013-14 season. Although head coach Rick Carlisle was optimistic for his prospects in the pre-season, opportunities again were scarce.

Without doubt, this was the most frustrating playing experience of his career. He would play in just 45 games and average just 8.7 minutes in those games. Monta Ellis, Vince Carter and newcomer Jae Crowder were the main obstacles in his way.

However, Ellington remained the consummate professional during his solo season in Dallas. This was echoed by Carlisle during his time with the Mavericks. Amongst his praise, Carlisle noted, “There hasn’t been one time all year where he has complained or dropped his head.”

Further, veteran teammate and eight-time all-star Vince Carter added similar sentiments. “He’s always been a great shooter and very solid defensively. It’s a luxury to have somebody like that….he’s a professional player.” These sentiments clearly speak volumes about Ellington.

Byron Scott

Cleveland

His greatest opportunities have both come under the same head coach, Byron Scott.

First, Ellington played half a season under Scott with the Cleveland Cavaliers to finish the 2012-13 season. Traded there mid-season, Ellington played a career-high 25.9 minutes per game and averaged 10.4 points per game. Amongst his 38 games for the Cavaliers, there would be 16 games where he had 10 or more field goals attempts. he would average 13.9 points on 44.1 percent shooting.

However, there are some factors that must be taken into account. Ellington shared backcourt duties with second-year point guard Kyrie Irving and rookie Dion Waiters. They represent two shoot-first guards who love to go one and one. Secondly, the Cavaliers were a mess as a team. They compiled a 24-58 record, which resulted in coach Scott’s firing at seasons end.

Los Angeles

Ellington signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2014-15 season, just as the team hired Scott.

For the season, he averaged 10 points per game in 25.8  minutes per game. This included 36 starts from 65 games. Ellington played 32 games where he attempted 10 or more field goals. In these games, he averaged 13.3 points on 40 percent shooting and 35.8 percent on three-pointers. (This was also the season during which Ellington’s father was killed.)

Although Kobe Bryant missed a large chunk of the season due to injury, the remaining guards weren’t very compatible. Jeremy Lin, Nick Young and rookie Jordan Clarkson filled a large portion season as his partners in charge. All are essentially score-first guards. This was never going to be fully conducive to Ellington’s talents.

Furthermore, the Lakers experienced a horrible 21-61 season. Overall, Ellington was more than serviceable during his one season in Los Angeles considering the dreadful circumstances.

Brooklyn

Terrible Coaching

Ellington played 76 games for the Brooklyn Nets this past season. This included a career-high 41 starts. He played 22 games in which he attempted 10 or more field goals. In these games, he averaged 12.3 points and shot 38.2 percent from three-point range.

The Nets, however, posted a terrible 21-61 record. His second stint under head coach Lionel Hollins saw Hollins replaced mid-season. It’s fair to say that Ellington will not look back fondly on his Hollins experience.

Whilst playing under Hollins in Memphis, as noted earlier, his season-high 26 points was rewarded with five minutes of playing time the following game.

Earlier during the season, Ellington hit on 7 of 11 three-pointers for 25 points, only to receive 11 minutes the following game. The same happened again in Brooklyn. Following a season-high 26 points, Ellington played just 17 minutes the following game against Orlando.

In his seventh season, you couldn’t blame Ellington if he lost patience with such incompetent coaching.

Back-court teammates

Accompanying the dreadful coaching were his backcourt teammates. Jarrett Jack, Donald Sloan and Shane Larkin handled the point guard duties for the majority of the season. Larkin and Sloan played large chunks of the season due to the sustained absence of Jack.

To this point, Larkin has been a back-up in his three-year career, whereas Sloan will play in China this coming season. Again, not a great situation for Ellington.

Miami

At the end of this past season, Ellington wasted no time when the free-agency period commenced. He agreed to a two-year, $12 million contract with the Heat. The second year of the contract is a team option. His reaction on Instagram: “I’m super excited to be a part of a first class organisation! Lets get to work and make it a great season!!!”

Considering the path he had traveled in first seven seasons, no one can blame him for his elation at signing with the Heat.

Will he fit in?

The question now is: how is he going to fit with a new-look Heat? With the departure of Dwyane Wade, naturally opportunities have arisen. The Heat further added to their backcourt depth by signing free-agent guard Dion Waiters. Adding these two to the returning Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson means there will be no shortage of backcourt depth.

Whilst Dragic will be the starting point guard, the remainder of the rotation remains a question. One area of Ellington’s game that has never really been fully utilized is his ball handling.

Upon entering college, his brief scouting report on TheRivals150, stated, “he has the talent to morph into a pro point guard”. He is still just 28 years of age. And whilst Richardson showed great progress as a rookie, and Johnson clearly has plenty of upside, they’re not point guards. Neither is Ellington. But it would be interesting to see how he could handle small samples at the point.

If given the chance, playing alongside Dragic should be terrific for Ellington. Dragic has many similarities to his college teammate, Ty Lawson. Quick, penetrating, aggressive and can set-up teammates efficiently.

With a team including Hassan Whiteside in the middle and potentially, Chris Bosh, its seems like a good fit for his skill set.

His teammates, however, are just one part of the attraction. It’s also the environment. The Heat have established an identity and culture that is the envy of most of the league. To this point in his career, Ellington has confronted one bad situation after another. This will hopefully be a dose of fresh air.

Overdue luck

Ellington is definitely due for some good fortune. And if you believe in omens, Miami could be his ideal landing spot. His highest scoring game in college came against the University of Miami. Also, he has twice in his NBA career hit seven three-point field goals in a game. Both against, yes, the Miami Heat.

Ellington is known as a strong locker room presence and a good teammate. From an on-court perspective, a player of his clear professionalism and character deserves a first-class environment. And the Miami Heat are the embodiment of such traits.

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