The last time that Wayne Ellington played more than ten minutes in a game was December 12th. Over a month and a half ago. In the four games before this one, he was a healthy DNP. I don’t normally pretend to think that I know more than NBA coaches, since they’re the ones that watch all the film and interact with the players daily, but in this case, I think it’s safe to wonder what the HELL Erik Spoelstra was thinking with his rotations.
I mean, this is the guy who set the Heat franchise’s single-season record for threes made. And it’s not like that was ancient history. That was LAST SEASON. A guy who is extremely reliable at three-pointers even when coming off screens and shooting on the run, and he was just straight up getting DNP’s like he’s some G-League scrub who couldn’t throw a golf ball into the Atlantic Ocean from five feet away. Sure, he’s not as good as last season, but there’s something called “getting into a rhythm” that Ellington has not had a chance to do at all since November. The worst part is, it’s not even like some good player was taking all the shooting guard minutes. It was RODNEY MCGRUDER. Now, McGruder is an okay player, and he was actually good at the beginning of the season, but he’s no Wayne Ellington.
While all this was happening, Ellington didn’t make a peep to the media. Sitting there on the bench, game after game, watching the Heat’s stagnant offense struggle without him, watching his shooting-challenged teammates brick up three pointers like they’re professional stonemasons, supporting those same teammates, it was all so unnecessary. Meanwhile, Dion Waiters, a player just coming off of an injury who isn’t a good player even when uninjured, went public with his dissatisfaction. If anybody should have been dissatisfied, it should have been Ellington.
If this game doesn’t reverse the course on Ellington’s minutes and he goes back to DNP’s, that would seriously be a firable offense for Coach Spo. I’m not even joking. I’m mad right now.