Keys to the Wolf Den: Wayne Ellington Compared to Randy Foye

Wayne Ellington is starting to play better and has become a key component to the Wolves offense off the bench.

As a rookie, Wayne Ellington has made very veteran type decisions, and at a few points in his rookie campaign, often known for his three-point shooting went through a slide of missing five or more three-pointers over the course of a few games.

But in his last 10 games, particularly his last five, Wayne Ellington has been seeing more consistent minutes and has been putting up numbers. But it's the way he's doing it that impresses me.

Wayne Ellington can hit a mid-range shot with great efficiency, and in his last five games, Wayne Ellington is shooting 50 percent (6-12) from the three-point range and 54 percent from the field.

That being said, remembering Randy Foye in his rookie season, Wolves fans were assuming that Foye was a legitimate scorer, but as Foye grew older and his scoring was more depended on, his efficiency dropped, and despite averaging 16 PPG last season, he shot 40% from the field.

Randy Foye stands at 6'4'', and Wayne Ellington stands at 6'5''. Randy Foye is a combo guard, and Wayne Ellington is an off-guard. A brief description:

• Combo Guard: A guard known for his scoring and distributing, often not having one extraordinary skill, but having a lot of great skills. The prototypical perfect combo guard: Deron Williams (Does everything extraordinary).
  
• Off-Guard: A guard that does not need the ball in his hands to be effective. A true shooter/slasher that develops an uncanny chemistry with a dominant ball handler. Underrated in other skills most times. The prototypical perfect off-guard: Ray Allen

There are many variations of every position in the NBA, and despite Ellington and Foye both playing the 2-guard, their games differ variously.

Wayne Ellington is always on the move without the ball, but has shown that he can handle the ball and create his own shot, and it can be just as effective as him catching and shooting.

"It takes a little adjustment from college to pros, just like from high school to college," Ellington said. "But it's continuing to get better. I'm continuing to learn more things, and the game's slowing down for me."

Randy Foye is a great combo guard, but when it comes to volume and being able to withstand defenses specifically created for himself, it appears that he cracks under pressure.

Wayne Ellington enters a situation that differs huge from his situation in college where he and the Tar Heels won the NCAA championship. Instead of having an "All-Star" cast of college players around him, the comparison greatly differs in respect to both levels of basketball.

Wayne Ellington went through a stretch of ball games where he was putting up numbers, but soon after, defenses started to collapse on him, and yet again went through a stretch of games where he couldn't knock down a shot.

Judging from the quote up above, he's adjusting very well, picking his spots and knocking down shots.

While Foye is the superior player now, is it crazy to think that Wayne will be the better pro?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Randy Foye's and Mike Millers numbers have been filled. Foye averaged 16 on 40 percent shooting and Mike Miller averaged 9 PPG on 48 percent shooting. Flynn replaces Foye for 14 PPG on 44 percent shooting and even matching his four assists, and Mike Miller is replaced by Brewer.