Dallas Mavericks Need Monta Ellis as Much as He Needs Them
When the Dallas Mavericks and Monta Ellis found each other during the 2013 NBA offseason, the pairing appeared dramatically different depending on which side it was viewed from.
For Ellis, the Mavericks offered hope to reclaim a career that seemed destined to be defined by big, inefficient numbers compiled on bad teams. With two playoff appearances to show for his first eight seasons in the league, he had never graced the type of stage Dallas seemed capable of providing.
But the deal had a very different feel from the Mavericks' end.
Ellis was a walking consolation prize, several tiers removed from the likes of Deron Williams and Dwight Howard, two notable names Dallas had tried to pursue. The Mavs at least managed to secure Ellis at a reasonable rate ($25 million over three years, with a player option for the third season), but that seemed to be the highlight of the signing.
That was, of course, until Ellis actually suited up for Dallas.
The 6'3" scoring guard has been an unbelievable find for the Mavericks. He brings a little bit of everything to the offensive end of the floor, with the tools to serve either as a primary option or a complementary scorer.
"He's a guy who can carry a team. He can carry an offensive load," Tyson Chandler said, per Mavs.com's Earl K. Sneed. "... He can knock down a jump shot, he can finish at the rim, and he can also make plays. So, he's definitely a guy that you can run the offense through."
Ellis has always been a good numbers guy, but his statistics in Dallas are different. There is a substance behind the production. There is some major significance attached to these stats, too, like with his miraculous game-winner that pushed the Mavs clear of the pesky Milwaukee Bucks 107-105 on December 3.
"We wanted Monta to have the ball at the end, hit the shot and get out of here," coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after the win. "That's an All-Star. Flat out. ... Monta Ellis is having some kind of year."
And, not coincidentally, so are the Mavericks.
Dallas has been a wrecking ball at the offensive end. That's how a team ranked 13th in defensive efficiency can still own the league's second-highest net rating at plus-10.0 points per 100 possessions. It pays to average at a nightly output of 110.2 points on 47.8 percent shooting.
Obviously, those numbers extend well beyond Ellis' reach.
Dirk Nowitzki has continued to distance himself from Father Time by putting up 19.6 points on 48.5 percent shooting. Chandler Parsons is still working to carve out his jack-of-all-trades niche, but he's been good for 14.9 points a night nonetheless. The Mavs also have the ninth-highest scoring bench, per HoopsStats.com, thanks to the contributions of Devin Harris (8.9 points, 4.6 assists), Brandan Wright (9.4 points, 73.1 percent shooting) and J.J. Barea (8.1 points, 3.9 assists), among others.
The Mavericks could have a very good offense without Ellis. But he might be the key in promoting this attack from very good to great.
"He's a crunch-time player," Nowitzki said, per Sneed. "He wants the ball in big moments. ... It's no secret this year that he's really our go-to guy."
Ellis leads the Mavericks in points (20.7), assists (4.8) and steals (1.6). He creates scoring chances for others, and he's capable of finishing the ones he finds on his own. Less than 30 percent of his two-point field goals have come off assists, which highlights the potency of his off-the-dribble game.
He averages 10.4 drives per game, via NBA.com's player tracking data, which is the eighth most in the league. Of the seven players who drive more often than him, only two have a better field-goal percentage on those plays than Ellis' 48.2 percent conversion rate.
Ellis needed to land in a place like Dallas.
For one, he had to get to a place capable of putting better talent around him.
He served as mostly a one-man show during his six-plus seasons with the Golden State Warriors. The help he had then either didn't stick around (Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington) or fit awkwardly with his skill set (Stephen Curry).
His one-plus year stay with the Milwaukee Bucks featured the franchise pin all of its offensive responsibilities on Ellis and Brandon Jennings. That worked about as well as one could imagine.
Ellis isn't a typical No. 1 option. With his lack of size and struggles from the perimeter (career 31.9 percent from three), he's going to have a hard time with both consistency and efficiency.
But the Mavs are constructed in a way that allows them to take full advantage of his talent. Between Carlisle's offensive genius and Nowitzki's generational gifts, Dallas has at least two things to always keep an opposing defense off balance. If Parsons has it going or one of the Mavs' myriad shooters heats up, the defense has even more to try to stop.
Ellis is a tough cover on his own. He's currently on pace to have his eighth consecutive season averaging at least 18 points. Only four other players can make that claim: Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Ellis might not have the well-rounded game to match, but he's an elite scorer.
Getting to Dallas did a lot to improve his league-wide perception, as Yahoo Sports' Eric Freeman observed:
"Monta Ellis has rehabilitated his reputation since joining the Dallas Mavericks in the summer of 2013. A player previously known as a volume shooter with few contributions in other areas has benefited greatly from being surrounded by other quality scorers and now looks like a dangerous, acceptably efficient guard for the best offense in the NBA. Ellis is a lot more valuable now that no one considers him a first option.
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As a capable creator and willing passer, Ellis has emerged as an ideal backcourt partner for Nowitzki. With the Mavericks starting to take more precautions with their management of the 36-year-old, Ellis' ability to carry this offense in his absence is invaluable.
He transitions between scoring and distributing roles the way Jason Terry used to alongside Nowitzki. Only, Ellis packs a deeper bag of tricks than Terry ever had. And the value of Dallas' second scorer has never been higher with Nowitzki's playing time having dipped below 30 minutes a night for the first time since his rookie season.
Credit the Mavericks for emphasizing Ellis' strengths and minimizing the impact of his weaknesses. But credit Ellis, too, for maturing as a player and a teammate.
"I'm just picking my spots," he said, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. "... As long as we play as a team and share the ball, get defensive stops and get out and run, we'll be fine."
Well, the Mavericks should be much better than fine, actually. They have a legitimate chance to make a lengthy playoff run next spring.
And Ellis has as much to do with that as anyone.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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