What he has done

Ellington entered the league after being selected 28^th overall in the 2009 draft really carrying really only one transferable skill with to the NBA, which was his ability to shoot. During his rookie year, Ellington got off to a rough start in terms of 3-point shooting. Shooting only 24.6% (14-57) from threes in the first three months of the season. Then from January 1 he went on to shoot 47.6% (50-105) for the remainder of his rookie season. He finished his rookie season shooting 39.5% from threes, but only shot 34% from mid-range (16-23 ft.). So he was quickly labeled a “spot-up 3-point shooter”.

This past season was sort of the same story for Ellington in comparison to his rookie season as he again shot well from the beyond the arc. He shot 39.7% from threes, but more importantly improved his mid-range game a bit by shooting 40% from mid-range, which is right around league-average (39.6%) for two-guards. Granted it was one season that he shot around league-average from mid-range, it still remains to be seen whether he can maintain or improve on this area of his game. He took 35% of his shot from mid-range and 31% from 3-point range this past season. Meaning two-thirds of his shot attempts were from 16 feet and beyond. Every other shot inside of 16 feet was close to a disaster as he was one of the worst shooters among guards at shots taken at the rim, only shooting 48.4% (league-average for guards is 61.8%). This caused a drop in his overall true-shooting percentage, which fell below league average at 48.8%. The year prior, Ellington had posted a TS% of 52.7% (2009-10 league-average was 54.1%).

At the start of last season Ellington was not receiving many minutes, but it had been reported that he was continuously practicing hard and waiting for his opportunity as the season went on. He recognized his ball-handling was shaky at best and continued to work on improving it. It showed a little bit at times last season, as he was able to separate from defenders by using a quick crossover dribble and step-back jumper.

Conclusion

For the being a late-1^st round pick, Ellington has proven to be worth it, in the sense that many teams rarely find players who can contribute toward the end of the first round. Although Ellington is most definitely and will most likely remain a “one-trick pony” he gives the Wolves what appears to be a good locker room teammate who can provide some dependable 3-point shooting. His mid-range game is still a work in progress, as is the rest of his game in some regards. He is a player who is often time overmatched on defense due to his size, but makes up for with his solid basketball IQ. As seen in his statistical splits Ellington should only play about 10-25 minutes a game if he does play, meaning he is career benchwarmer or role player. If he continues to stick around the Wolves, he could end up being an Anthony Peeler-Fred Hoiberg type of shooting guard who comes in off the bench and hits a couple of 3-point shots a game.

(This will be an ongoing series throughout the summer, called Who Are You?, which will focus on each player on the Wolves and give a brief breakdown of their worth to the team)

What he has done

Last summer David Kahn was heavily scrutinized by just about every media member with a voice after he signed Darko Milicic to a 4-year $20 million dollar contract (only $16 million guaranteed). In previous seasons Darko had been and still is highly regarded as a “bust.” Kahn made a shrewd trade at the 2010 trade deadline by dealing Brian Cardinal to the Knicks in exchange for little-used expiring Milicic; so essentially a free two month rental for the remainder of the 2009-10 season. The out of shape Darko showed somewhat of a pulse towards the end of the 2009-10 season showing that he still had a place in the league.

Kahn then signed him to a new four-year contract the following offseason that was viewed by many as ridiculous and undeserved. Four million dollars a year is not that much considering some of the contracts other players around the league receive. Players like: DeSagana Diop ($6.5 M), Brendan Haywood ($6.9 M), Andris Biedrins ($9 M), and Drew Gooden ($5.8 M). An argument that can be against Kahn’s signing of Darko would be: who was Kahn competing with to sign him? There could not have been too many team out there salivating over the opportunity to sign Darko. But Kahn signed him to a fresh new contract and expected him to start and be a key cog of the 2010-11 team.

So what did Dark do last season? He did have a nice 5-game stretch in late November where he averaged 18 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.6 apg, 4.2 bpg, and shot 59% from the field. Otherwise he was viewed as widely inconsistent, but not all due on his part. He was in the top-10 among center in usage rate (19.7%) which was caused by Kurt Rambis’ constant desire to feed Darko the ball on the block and run the triangle offense through him. Milicic saw his usage rate increase by 8.4% as his career average prior to last season was 18.1%. The league average for centers that played 20-plus minutes per game was 17.9%. So last season Darko was practically force-fed the ball and put in a situation that was “foreign” to him…see what I did there. Feeding the ball to Darko at such a high rate caused opposing defense to key on him and his weaknesses on offense, specifically turnover. Help side defenders routinely would come around and steal the ball from Darko in the post, which ultimately led his 19.4% turnover rate (second-worst among centers). He saw a 22% increase in his turnover rate from his previous career average of 15.9%. Too add to the pain, he ranked in the bottom-5 among center in TS% with 48.2%, which is right on par with his career average. He also ranked bottom-5 in rebounding rate (11.9%) and Player Efficiency Rating (12.22). However, contrary to popular belief Darko surprisingly shot 63% from the restricted area (shots at the rim) last season. The league average for centers though was 66%, so he was still below average in that department.

One area that Darko excelled at in terms of the rest of his body of work was blocks. He averaged two blocks per game, which ranked for fifth best in the league. He also ranked third in the league in block percentage with 6.3%, behind leaders Javale McGee and Serge Ibaka.

Below is a chart of players who have had a TS% below 50%, block percentage greater than 6%, two or more blocks per game, and a usage rate greater than 19% in a season:

(click to enlarge)

Conclusion

It only took one year to test Kahn’s hypothesis and figure out that Darko is not the long-term solution at center for the Wolves. He was in sort of the same boat as Luke Ridnour was this past season, in that he was asked to do too much last season and it often times showed on the court. Darko would have been better received if Rambis had decided not to give the ball to him every time down the floor setting him up for failure. His flaws were exposed by Rambis. If Darko would have just been asked to play defense and block shots, while setting screens and seldom touch the ball on offense, the hate may have been less intensive. Long-term Darko should be viewed a serviceable backup center who can play defense, but should rarely touch the ball on offense.

 (This will be an ongoing series throughout the summer, called Who Are You?, which will focus on each player on the Wolves and give a brief breakdown of their worth to the team)

What he has done

This past season Anthony Tolliver was a hard-working rebounder who was probably the team’s best defender. The 6’9” forward showed his versatility as a defender, guarding small forwards, power forwards, and even some centers at times. Most of Tolliver’s ability to play defense comes from his great work ethic and his general understanding of how to play defense. Desire is a big part of the defensive equation, and Tolliver seems to realize that. Working hard at trying to prevent the guy across from you from scoring is half the battle most of time and Tolliver was successful in this regard the past season.

He also brought some versatility on the offense end of the floor with his long-range shooting. Tolliver posted a 3P% of 40.9% this past year, which would have put him third in 3P% among power forwards  (if he had qualified). His ability to make the three and play some defense made him a tolerable backup for Kevin Love last season.

Conclusion

Not much was written above, well because there is not much to say about Tolliver, he is what he is. If the Wolves want to go places in the future it may be wise to find an upgrade to Tolliver. He is nice player to have on roster, a good locker-room guy who is scrappy on the court. On a better team Tolliver probably would not see the floor much if at all. He is a Matt Bonner-esque player, a poor man’s Ryan Anderson if you will, which is not saying much. All in all, I am fine with letting Tolliver hang around, just cut him loose from the rotation and relegate him to the end of the bench.

(This will be an ongoing series throughout the summer, called Who Are You?, which will focus on each player on the Wolves and give a brief breakdown of their worth to the team)