I love Ellis. He's not very vocal or experienced as an all-around basketball player like a Kirk Hinrich or a Chris Paul would be, but considering Ellis' age and what he was able to accomplish so far, he's amazing. Ellis is probably like the first high school to nba small guard that mattered (Telfair is probably a bust, Louis Williams isn't that good compared to most nba guards). I believe he will be a good scoring point guard and his ball protection will be better with the added strength. He's got some playmaking skills going inside to Biedrins, he just needs to work on his pass accuracy and his overall court vision. If he starts those basics of passing and ballhandling, he will be a real point guard. I'm that sure of it. He's also got some really nice potential to be clutch with the way he handles pressure and how he manages to finish plays like smaller-sized Kobe Bryant would. I would be scared of Ellis tendency to turn the ball over, but I'm sure coaches are really working hard with this guy to get him familiar and comfortable running plays. I worry in the beginning he will look like how scouts saw him in high school all-star games. He was too much of a tremendous scorer to be a pass first guy, and whenever he made passes he would go for style over substance.
Good call CR2. I'm glad Ellis is "doggedly" working on his ball-handling because when he commits to improving some part of his game he usually starts showing improvement pretty quickly. Ellis was a good ball handler for a SG but lacking a little if you're moving him to PG. He'll need to have a tight handle to go up against the ball-hawk PGs and full court presses that teams will throw at him. That will be a big key in him limiting his turnovers. Ellis was showing some nice vision at the end of last season. Mostly assists coming off of penetration where he made a nifty dish to the big man under the rim or outside to an open 3 pt shooter. He proved to have a pretty good rapport with Biedrins on the pick and roll (who doesn't though? Beans is a monster on the P&R). To be honest I'm glad they're doing this now. Ellis as a career 6'3 SG would limit his success. Get him to convert to PG when hes still young and you could have a terrorizing, dominant PG for the rest of his career. There will be bumps along the way and he'll never be a Steve Nash/Chris Paul type but look at what Greg Popovic did with Tony Parker and Larry Brown did with Chauncey Billups. Those guys are great floor generals and very efficient but they were natural SGs coming into the league. Imagine Monta getting his floor general skills on their level in addition to his dominating scoring, speed, height, and insane FG%.
Run, I can't wait. If this guy can prove to be as effective as a Billups/Parker or a Nick Van Exel/Jason Terry/Mo Williams/Gilbert Arenas/Marbury/young Steve Francis I will be happy. We just can't have a Dajaun Wagner/Keyon Dooling on our hands. But those are two extremes. Ellis definitely has some chemistry with Andris Biedrins and that is the target you want to hit for inside presence. He could probably even feed Turiaf who is supposed to be decent offensively. Maybe Wright could heat up too. We need plenty of guys with good hands who can flush it in or go for the simple layup. That is high % ball right there inside, delivered by0 a guard who can do dribble penetration with the ability to pull up and sink a 20 footer with consistency. Fisher couldn't do even that. Mags is also a guy who can pull up or drive all the way, and he potentially gives our team at least 2-3 assists a game which is great. Sjax could give 4-5 assists a game. Ellis can probably match or beat all those assist numbers. If Wright or Randolph see some action they could probably add to the pass numbers. Biedrins is also an excellent passer. I wish they would get him involved more so he can make plays.
