What kind of impact can Henry Ellenson make on the Detroit Pistons during his rookie year? We’ll explore that, along with his background, strengths, weaknesses, and how he projects long-term with the Pistons.
Background
Ellenson is one of four siblings–all of whom are excellent athletes.
His brother Wally played basketball and ran track at the University of Minnesota before joining Marquette University. His brother Ellwood plays basketball at Bemidji State. Sister Ella is a highly recruited high school basketball player who will play division I basketball somewhere soon. Henry’s dad played college basketball at Marquette and Wisconsin, before playing professionally over seas. Mother Holly played basketball at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire as a combo guard/foward.
Needless to say, basketball is in the Ellenson’s blood.
At Rice Lake high school, Henry excelled, eventually earning McDonald’s all-american honors in 2015.
Despite being heavily recruited by NBA factories like Kentucky and Michigan State, Ellenson chose to stay home and play at the university of Marquette where he averaged 17 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks.
At the NBA combine, Ellenson measured 6’11.5″ in shoes with a 7’2.25″ wingspan. He was one of six players at the NBA combine with a standing reach over 9 feet.
Welcome to Motown @henryellenson13https://t.co/wjv4AK7bQt
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) June 24, 2016
High school highlights
Oh, and there was also that time he played Jimmy Butler one-on-one.
Next: Strengths
Strengths
Ellenson oozes versatility on the offensive end.
Despite being a seven footer, Ellenson is an excellent ball handler, passer, and shooter. He’s also a terrific rebounder which should translate to the NBA from day one.
One of the areas Ellenson is special is after he grabs a rebound.
During his freshman season at Marquette, he did a good job getting his teammates easy buckets by making precision outlet passes across the length of the floor. If the defense took the outlet pass away, Ellenson quickly adjusted, bringing the ball up the court himself. Often times, that gave Ellenson a mismatch in transition where he made quick work of defenses as he slashed to the lane for lay-ups, where he can finish with either hand effectively. (See below).
Ellenson’s ability to get his teammates easy buckets will be welcomed in Detroit, particularly on their second unit which was the worst scoring unit in the NBA last season.
Not only will Ellenson be able to help the bench score easy points in transition, but his ability to play in the low post in one-on-one situations will be huge when teams are able to recover in transition. Hook shots, fadeaways, backing down and finishing at the rim with contact–Ellenson can do it all.
With another player who can get points on his own on the roster, the Pistons will finally be able to let Marcus Morris and Tobias Harris get some rest instead of playing with the reserves.
Next: Weaknesses
Weaknesses
While a good shooter for a seven footer–at 19 years old no less–Ellenson shot just 28.9% (30-104) from three. That’s an area he will have to be more proficient at to really open up lanes for his driving ability.
Not only does Ellenson have room to grow offensively, but he’s also known to have some break downs on the defensive side of the ball.
The good news is that his breakdowns seem to be more awareness issues than ability issues. That said, he’s not an exceptional athlete by any measure and his lack lateral quickness could hurt him when guarding on the perimeter.
Some worry about his explosiveness too, but his length and size more than makes up for his lack of exposition–he’ll still be able to rebound effectively as long as his technique remains sound and he’ll still be able to get shots off as long as he uses his body and dribbling ability.
While Ellenson is a down to earth dude and a mature player overall, he did have a tendency to take too many jumpers. That, along with some risky passes lead him to have more turnovers (2.4) than assists (1.8) per game.
The skills are there for Ellenson, they just need to be refined.
Next: Rookie Impact
Rookie/long-term impact
This is really all that matters. Can he impact the team now? What can he contribute long-term?
Development is tricky. Players all grow at their own pace. In football, they always say you know what you have in year three. Most of the time that applies to basketball too, so I can’t say definitively who Ellenson will be as a player long-term but I can make an educated guess.
Let’s start with his rookie impact first.
Ellenson may start out in the eight man rotation, but that greatly depends on how much the Pistons get in free agency at the position. If the Pistons land Al Horford, for example, does Ellenson get minutes? Probably, but not enough to blow anyone’s mind statistically, and the minutes would be sporadic at best.
On the other hand, what if the Pistons use their money in free agency to sure up the backup point guard position? That would leave little to upgrade power forward.
Right now I don’t see how the Pistons could sway Horford from the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks can offer more money. Sure I could make the case for the Pistons being better with Horford than the Hawks, but I haven’t heard that he dislikes playing for the Hawks either and that’s a big factor. (Then again he does have ties to Michigan having grown up there).
Most likely scenario–at this point–is that the Pistons use Ellenson as their primary backup at power forward.
In that role, it’s easy to see him averaging 8-10 points per game and grabbing five to six rebounds.
Long-term, Ellenson is the perfect compliment to Andre Drummond. I think he could be an all-star caliber player somewhere down the road. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Ellenson replicate his college stats–17 points and 10 rebounds–or more somewhere down the line.