For most of this season, Wayne Ellington has been used nearly exclusively as a spot-up shooter. Before Kobe Bryant went down with a torn rotator cuff, 41.2 percent of Ellington’s shots were catch-and-shoot attempts. He didn’t even take a dribble before nearly half (48.1 percent) of his shots.
But since Ellington has filled Bryant’s role as the Lakers’ starting shooting guard, he has greatly altered his game, becoming the team’s top scoring option in the process.
Just 14.3 percent of Ellington’s attempts have been under the catch-and-shoot category since taking over the position four games ago. The first-year Laker is now averaging 3-6 dribbles (39.7 percent) much more often than zero dribbles (19.0 percent).
“Just being aggressive has really been working for me,” Ellington said at practice Friday. “In the past, I haven’t always had this much of an aggressive mindset. I’ve always been a player that stuck to my role and stuck to what the team needed me to do. Right now I’m getting an opportunity to show everything else that I work on and something other than my shooting ability.”
Wayne Ellington Shot Chart (Last Four Games)
Ellington’s aggression has reaped success, especially in his last two games, as he racked up a career-high 28 points against Washington on Tuesday, then followed up with 23 points in a double-overtime victory over Chicago Thursday.
Entering this week, Ellington had never even scored 18 points in back-to-back games during his six-year NBA career.
Said Ellington: “Before the Washington game, I was just kind of telling guys: ‘We’ve been getting off to slow starts. We’ve gotta come out aggressive, man. We’re coming out like we’re having an unbelievable season and just kind of being patient. We can’t wait. We’ve gotta attack.’”
Ellington’s aggression has seemed to rub off on his fellow Lakers, including rookie Jordan Clarkson, who has scored a career-high 18 points in both of his last two games.
“I just kind of play off of what Wayne does, and he kind of plays off what I do,” Clarkson said. “So we kind of complement each other. We’re just going out there, and we’re just playing, staying aggressive. We’re both hungry.”
Though Ellington is playing with previously unseen aggression, he is still, in a way, playing the role that the Lakers need from him. With leading scorers Bryant and Nick Young (ankle) out due to injury in L.A.’s last two games, Ellington has assumed the responsibility of powering the team’s offense.
Ellington has made the most of this window, displaying ballhandling and craftiness at the hoop that went largely unnoticed in his previous role as a catch-and-shoot specialist.
“This is an opportunity,” he said. “I’m just trying to take full advantage of it. I’m hungry. I’ve got a lot to prove. I know the type of player I’m capable of being, and I’m just thankful right now being able to show it.”