Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
North Carolina has new respect for Wayne Ellington.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The affection in North Carolina endures because of the 2009 NCAA championship Wayne Ellington helped deliver to the Tar Heels. But there also is a growing appreciation for the Miami Heat guard’s professional resume, as well.
In advance of Saturday night’s game against the Heat at the Spectrum Center, Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford pointed to Ellington as an example of still finding ways to grow nine seasons into his NBA career.
“In practice yesterday,” he said at Saturday morning’s shootaround, “I think it was Dwayne [Bacon] and Treveon [Graham], and I said, he’s a great example of a guy who stays with it. You can tell watching him, he knows what his game is.
“But in all aspects — he’s quicker, he’s stronger. But also his game, He’s always been a terrific shooter. He now, he plays at even a faster pace. When he was younger, if you left him alone, he was going to knock it down. If he made a cut off a pin-down, and you weren’t there, he knocked it down. Now, he’s sprinting into those shots.”
Ellington has trimmed his body fat significantly since signing with the Heat in the 2015 offseason.
“You can just tell from what he’s done,” Clifford said, “this guy must be a great worker — very professional, and he’s taken his strengths and made them even greater strengths. To this point, to me, he’s been one of the big stories in the East.
“With the injuries they’ve had, for them to continue to play that way, and you look at his role, you look at the box score, and he’s played 32 or 33 minutes.”
Clifford said Ellington has made himself into a teaching point.
“I think its a good testament to young players. There’s a lot of stories,” Clifford said. “What did he do? He worked, and he got a lot better.”
Ellington will be a free agent in the offseason, with the Hornets in need of shooting.
Spoelstra, too
A day after Heat coach Erik Spoelstra embraced the return of Clifford following a sabbatical to deal with headaches and what was diagnosed as sleep deprivation, the Hornets coach offered his own appreciation of Spoelstra.
“He maxes out his roster,” Clifford said. “I watch them play, and as much as anybody, they play every night. There’s purpose to what they do. And I think each guy has a role and they buy into their role.
“And they play their game. They’re on the attack. They’re on the attack. They are smart defensively. And they don’t give many possessions away. I guess simplistically, it’s, ‘Hard and smart,’ but in general, without being there every day, it’s maxing out what talent that they have.”
And Adebayo
Clifford also pointed to how the Heat have been boosted by the play of their first-round pick, offering the Heat a version of Hassan Whiteside Lite. “I would say [Bam] Adebayo has been a big piece for them,” he said. “They can play in a way defensively similar so they don’t have to change all their schemes and stuff when Whiteside is gone. And for a young guy, he has a live body. And he’s on the glass.”
Dual shutouts?
Clifford said he expects it to be competitive for the final All-Star berths in the Eastern Conference that coaches currently are voting on. That could have Charlotte’s Kemba Walker and Miami’s Goran Dragic on the outside looking in.
“You look at it, even this year, because the Isaiah Thomas injury maybe opens up a spot, because he’d be an All-Star if he was playing,” he said of the Cavaliers guard who only now is returning. “But you look at the quality of point guards in the East and so many guys are deserving and playing well.
“And then I think the other thing that happened is if you went back to the summer, you got two perennial All-Star type wing guys who left, in [Jimmy] Butler and [Paul] George, and you would think [it would open spots], but now there’s some wing guys —
[Bradley] Beal ,[ Victor] Oladipo — those guys have also made great cases to make the team, also.”