Wally Ellenson has high hopes
Impressive new Manawatu¯ Jets guard Wally Ellenson has his eye on reaching the NBL playoffs.
The United States import led the scoring for the Jets in their season-opening 86-75 loss to the Super City Rangers last week and looks to be be a good buy by coach Tim Mctamney.
Ellenson, 24, has been in New Zealand only for a short while, but already has a goal for the season.
‘‘I just want to make the playoffs – that’s what I want to do with this team and that’s what the guys want to do,’’ the 1.98-metre guard said. ‘‘I know they got us behind [last week], but coach Mctamney’s a great coach.
‘‘He’s always on us, always on these young guys. We’ve got good enough players, it’s just finding the right things to do and I think we might be able to do that.’’
He said in the second and third quarter against the Rangers the Jets showed what they could do, so they had to keep working together.
A year ago New Zealand and the NBL were foreign to Ellenson, but he started looking at playing in the Kiwi league and got in touch with the Jets.
He said he had to read up about New Zealand and its culture, but was enjoying his stay so far.
‘‘I know we’re doing a lot of work here with coach Mctamney. We’ve got great guys here and it’s just finding everyone’s strengths and gelling together.
‘‘We’ve got a couple of steps to make with this team and I know we will.’’
Ellenson is from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, in the US, and went to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
At Marquette, Ellenson was a dual scholarship winner in basketball and track and field. He was an All American and an Olympic qualifier in high jump.
His personal best of 2.28m is only 2 centimetres shy of the New Zealand record.
After college he spent two years playing in Canada – one season with the Windsor Express and another with the St John’s Edge.
He then had a season in the NBA G League with Oklahoma City Blue, before spending two months in Argentina with Estudiantes Concordia.
Ellenson’s younger brother Henry is a forward in the NBA who has played for the Detroit Pistons and is now with the New York Knicks.
Ellenson will need to be on form again when the Jets host new Australian team the Southern Huskies at the Arena tomorrow night.
The Hobart-based Huskies are a new entity who eventually want to be included in the Australian NBL.
The Huskies haven’t played a game yet and not much is known about them, but they are expected to be a strong side.
The Jets will need to get over their shooting woes from last weekend if they want to be competitive.
Poor shooting at the start and the end of the game against the Rangers is what cost them.
‘‘We’ve got great guys here. It’s just finding everyone’s strengths.’’ Wally Ellenson