NBA free agency begins on July 1. While the Detroit Pistons won’t be making any big-time splashes, they’ll have just enough room to add another player. Here’s a look at free-agent shooting guard Wayne Ellington.
When the clock strikes midnight on Saturday, the chaos that is NBA free agency will begin.
And it won’t be too eventful for the Detroit Pistons.
If they want to add a player, their best option would be to do so using the mid-level exception (MLE).
Free agents brought in on the MLE don’t count towards the salary cap. At the time of this post, the Pistons’ payroll for 2018-19 is just over $117.7 million.
Real GM predicts that next season’s salary cap will reach $101 million. Detroit is well over that projection, but they’re not in the luxury tax ($123 million) just yet. An MLE would, however, put the Pistons into that tax.
It all depends on whether or not Tom Gores is willing to spend the extra money. He did so last year, when Detroit used the MLE to sign Langston Galloway.
For the purpose of this piece, let’s say Gores is willing to do that again.
Free-agent target: Wayne Ellington
Miami Heat shooting guard Wayne Ellington is an unrestricted free agent come July 1. The 30-year-old posted a career-high in points (11.2) and minutes (26.5) per game last season. He also shot 41 percent from the floor, and 39 percent from beyond the arc.
According to Synergy, Ellington averaged 1.118 points per possession (PPP) on offense in 2017-18. That placed him in the 94th percentile when it came to overall offense.
About 87.7 percent of his possessions occurred in the half court. This style would fit well with a Pistons team that finished 21st in terms of pace last season.
As you can see in the video above, Ellington is an efficient, off-the-ball scorer. He cuts with purpose, and moves towards the open spot on the floor.
Roughly 20 percent of his shots came off of screens. He averaged 1.199 PPP in those situations last year, a higher average than 86 percent of the players in the NBA.
But most of his offense (34.2 percent) was generated through dribble hand-offs. Ellington ranked in the 81st percentile when it came to this play type, averaging 1.064 PPP.
Why he’d fit in Detroit
It’s in these situations where Ellington’s presence could make the biggest impact. Detroit averaged just 0.85 PPP on hand-offs last season, good enough for 25th in the league. These type of plays accounted for 10.9 percent of the Pistons’ total offense.
While dribble hand-offs aren’t their bread and butter, executing them successfully would surely diversify their attack. Especially now that Andre Drummond is operating outside of the paint.
Albeit a small sample size, Pistons coach Dwane Casey found success utilizing dribble hand-offs in Toronto last season. His Raptors finished with the sixth-highest PPP (0.967) in the NBA.
Now it’s important to note that hand-offs only accounted for 3.7 percent of Toronto’s total offense. But it proved to be a high-percentage play for Casey’s club.
Next: Grading the Pistons off-season up to this point
With the addition of Ellington, there’s a chance that Casey could replicate those numbers in Detroit.