Where’s Keon Ellis’s Best Fit?
For the sake of argument, let’s say that the 10 teams trying to complete a trade for Ellis are the Raptors, Knicks, Timberwolves, Lakers, Thunder, Celtics, Nuggets, Cavs, Warriors and Hawks. Given Ellis’s top tools, the 3-ball and his point-of-attack defense, evaluating how well those teams perform in those areas could shed light on how motivated they’d be to trade for him.
With that in mind, three of them –Toronto, Los Angeles, and Cleveland –rank in the bottom-half of the league in 3-point percentage. Four of them –L.A., Denver, New York and Atlanta –are in the bottom-half of the league in defensive rating, the Cavaliers firmly in the middle of the pack at 15th. Only two of them, the Lakers and Cavs, are having significant trouble in both areas.
This could be why Ellis’s name has consistently been brought up in trade rumors linking him to California’s favorite son. LeBron James‘s history of maximizing the value of catch-and-shoot wings certainly makes him an intriguing addition. Speaking of James, his former team is a legitimate option.
