What Keon Ellis learned in his rookie season

It didn’t take Keon Ellis long after joining the Sacramento Kings to experience the high expectations and minimally accepted margin of error that comes with being in the NBA.

“Summer league my first year, we were at practice and I ended up getting a corner three wide-open and I missed,” Ellis told The Kings Herald. “Leandro Barbosa was behind me and he said, ‘My man, you gotta make that. If you don’t make that you can’t play.’ I didn’t think anything of it in the moment, I just thought I missed and it was cool, but he was like, ‘You’re wide open, you got to make that.’ If you would’ve seen his face, he was dead serious. He was not joking at all.”

Ellis shot 37.1 percent from three throughout his two seasons at Alabama prior to being undrafted and joining the Kings on a two-way deal. Typically, converting at that rate would be applauded, but the stakes are higher than they were in college, especially as a player who is asked to fill a specific role and looking to find his way in year one.

The 6’6” wing embraced the attention to detail and constructive criticism provided to him throughout the season. “I appreciate (Barbosa) for telling me that,” Ellis said. He went on to convert 41.8 percent of his 153 attempted triples with Stockton during the G-League showcase and regular season.

While with Stockton, his role went beyond knocking down open triples. He would pressure opposing ball-handlers full court, remain consistently active with his hands to force deflections, sprint the floor on both ends, attack closeouts, and also had the opportunity to expand his game as a playmaker after tallying just seven more assists (59) than turnovers (52) in his senior year in college.

“At Bama, (Coach Nate) Oats’s big thing was one-handed passes,” Ellis said. “Being able to pass with your right and your left on the move. So, I kind of was working on that my time there and then this past year was my first time really displaying it in games just because I had the ball in my hands more. I’m coming off ball screens and now I’m able to make passes to the big, the corner, the opposite corner, the wing. Now I’m able to show that and actually get the reps of doing it in-game. That made things a little more comfortable for me.”

With Stockton, his assist-to-turnover rate nearly doubled from his collegiate days recording 128 assists compared to 66 turnovers. He’s the type of player and person that is willing and able to adapt to what is being asked of him. If the coaching staff wants him to play point guard, he feels comfortable enough to do that. If asked to defend bigger wings and function off the ball offensively, Ellis will do everything in his power to fulfill and excel in that role.

“I spent a lot of time with Malik (Monk), Chimezie (Metu), (Harrison Barnes), (Alex) Len, Richaun (Holmes), then when PJ (Dozier) came on at the end of the year we started talking a lot more. Now me and Kessler (Edwards) are cool, we’re close. Me and (Matthew Dellavedova) had a couple of good talks. I picked the brains of a majority of the team as the year went on actually.”

Sacramento’s close-knit roster had a multitude of benefits for everyone involved, and plenty of coaches were beneficial to Ellis’s adjustment to the league as well. While with Stockton, he primarily worked with James Clark but spent plenty of time with Will Scott and Jimmy Alapag as well.

Ellis shared some of the various lessons he learned with The Kings Herald. Stockton head coach Bobby Jackson emphasized the importance of hard work. “He was big on working hard. He was a believer of you’re not going to work harder than him. He believes you get in what you put out,” Ellis said. “You’ve got to work. In order to make this thing work you’ve got to work. That’s what I will always remember him telling us, it’s just all about the amount of work you put in.”

Sacramento head coach Mike Brown highlighted the importance of having a next play mentality, no matter what occurred on the possession prior. “That’s something that I liked about him because that’s just how I am anyways,” Ellis said. “Things are going to happen, the game isn’t perfect, but it’s all about the next play.”

When called up to Sacramento, the two-way guard was primarily assigned to Lindsey Harding, which allowed him to form a good relationship on and off the court with his soon-to-be Stockton head coach for the 2023-24 season. “It doesn’t have to be just basketball with her. She’s cool to talk about whatever,” Ellis said. “She could also be like a personality coach as well on that side.”

Ellis is excited about the opportunity to play for Coach Harding in his sophomore season and was complimentary of her coaching style. “What she brings to the table is she’s not just going to snap on you,” Ellis said. “If you mess up a read or if you mess up a defensive assignment, I don’t think she would snap on you. I think she would pick us up if we’re ever down. She could be that person and get us back going.”

The combination of valuable insight and perspective that was available to Ellis was a luxury that he seemed to have capitalized on and continues to do so throughout this offseason. He’s been in the gym with a handful of Sacramento and Stockton personnel throughout the summer.

“Dutch (Gaitley) has been in the gym. He’s the one that kind of orchestrates the workouts, Coach Jimmy, Lindsey was there for a good amount. Coach Luke (Loucks) was there until (De’Aaron) Fox went out of town,” Ellis told The Kings Herald. “For the players, it’s been me, Kessler, Colby (Jones), Jalen (Slawson), (Jordan) Ford, Keegan (Murray), Fox, and Davion (Mitchell).”

From group drills to games of three-on-three or one-on-one, there is tremendous value in these sessions for all involved. Ellis said he likes “getting a little piece of everybody” in one-on-ones, but particularly enjoys matching up with Murray, Fox, and Mitchell.

“For Keegan, he’s bigger than me, so it’s good to guard someone who is probably a three/four just to mix it in. Then with Davion and Fox, they’re both good point guards. They’re both quick, fast, and you’re not experiencing that every day,” Ellis said. “Some teams don’t have fast guys like that so I like to get out there and test my defensive ability and try to make them better as well. Those three for sure.”

Murray was drawn away for USA Select Team duties, Mitchell has spent time overseas and back at Baylor, and Fox recently made his way to Europe, but that’s an impressive and significant amount of players working as a group in the offseason when they are far from obligated to be doing so.

As an individual, Ellis said he’s “trying to work on things that I can probably use while down in Stockton… really just adding more things to my game and even if when I get in the game it’s condensed down that’s cool too but you can always have that in your back pocket as well.

The Alabama product is also hoping to add more strength prior to year two with a strong desire to improve on the defensive end. Learning from his teammate who earned the nickname ‘Off-Night’ for his defensive impact is certainly one way to do that.

“Me and Davion have different styles,” Ellis told The Kings Herald. “He’s very quick with his feet and I’m very active with my hands so that’s kind of how we differentiate on the defensive end, but I would love to have a quicker first step on the defensive end and, I work on it in the ones, but trying to chest up, wall up on drives.”

As for the offensive side of the ball, Ellis hopes to grow as an off-the-dribble shooter and playmaker, but also continue to build on the high-caliber three-point shooting he displayed in year one. “I would love to be a sharp, sharpshooter. One of those guys that you look at like, ‘He’s a guy that we need to run off the three point line,’” Ellis said. “I’m pretty sure I was that this year for teams like, “Listen, we’re not letting him shoot threes,’ but I would still just love to improve on that as well. You make shots you can play in this game a long time and I already play defense, so that would definitely be something I would like to improve on as well.”

If Ellis continue to emphasize the details, give 100 percent at all given moments, and utilize the resources available to him in the form of facilities, coaches and teammates it will be interesting to monitor how he progresses heading into his second season.

He’s a strong believe in not trying to fix something that isn’t broken, so he plans to approach his upcoming season similarly to his first. “It’ll pretty much be the same for me, because it worked. I’m a big fan of if it’s working just rock with it, so it probably won’t be too many changes for me, but now going into year two I just know how things go,” Ellis told The Kings Herald. “It’s good to have that first year under your belt so you know what to expect and you know what’s expected of you and how things are going to go.”

As a two-way player, he may spend a majority of his time with Lindsey Harding in Stockton, but he’s bound to get some opportunities with Sacramento’s main club at some point with the potential to make a defensive impact if he can continue to knock down the shots Leandro Barbosa made clear were a necessity early on.