One Of The Finest Three Point Masters In The History Of NBA - Dale Ellis
One of the finest "catch and shoot" basketball players of all time, Dale Ellis dropped countless long distance bombs on opposing teams throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
When Dale Ellis came into the NBA in 1983 shooting from three point land was way less popular than it is now. The 3 point shot was introduced only a few years ago and it took some time for it to gain popularity. Dale Ellis was one of the first players who started using three ball as one of his main weapons.
Dale wasn't known as a sniper while playing for University of Tennessee but he always had the 3 point shot in his ammunition dump - he was just forced to play center as a boy because of his height. He played his first 3 seasons in Dallas and never averaged more than 10 points per game. In his 2nd and 3rd season he combined for 1175 points and 315 of them came from 3-point shots. In those two years only 3 players (World B Free, Bird and Hodges) hit more threes than Ellis.
In 1986 he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics and it turned out to be a career changing deal for him. He had suddenly converted into one of the league's top scorers as he averaged almost 25 PPG. It didn't come as a surprise that he additionally won the NBA Most Improved Player Prize that season. Notably, Seattle went all the way to the Western Conference Finals after missing playoffs the previous year.
Next season Ellis was one of three Seattle players who averaged more than 20 points (Ellis at 25.8 ppg, McDaniel at 21.4, and Chambers at 20.4). It was the first season when Dale hit more than 100 threes but still he proved that he has become a much more multifaceted scorer - barely 16% of his points came from threes. Sadly, SuperSonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
1988-1989 was probably his best season. He made his only All-Star game and won the 3-point competition. Only Micheal Jordan and Karl Malone averaged more points in 88-89 than Ellis (27.5 PPG). That season he made 162 3-pointers and had an outstanding 0.478 rate from behind the 3-point line. Sonics made it to the second round of the playoffs in 1989.
He played only 55 games in the next season and then he was traded to Milwaukee. Dale's playing time was significantly reduced there but it was still solid - close to 30 minutes per game. His minutes went up again when he was playing for the San Antonio Spurs from 1992 to 1994. Dale was a very effective scorer in San Antonio shooting almost 50% from the field but he wasn't getting any younger.
After these two seasons in San Antonio, when he was 34 years old, he signed with the Denver Nuggets. Many players end their careers once in their mid-30s but Ellis still managed to put together a string of 3 solid seasons in Denver. In 1996-1997 he averaged almost 17 points every night and that was his second best scoring season since he left Seattle in 1990. However, he didn't shot very well - 0.414 from the field. Dale surely fell in love with the three ball that season as he knocked down career record 192 3-pointers.
In the twilight of his career, Ellis returned to Seattle to play there for two seasons. Dale was just a couple of years removed from his 40th birthday but he was still good for 10 points night in and night out.
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