LAS VEGAS -- Henry Ellenson is a true Summer League veteran, which isn’t exactly ideal for the Detroit Pistons forward and former Marquette standout. Xavier standout J. P. Macura received his first taste of professional life with jobs in hand. Marcus Derrickson faced both players during BIG EAST days. Now the former Georgetown star hopes he joins them to start his post-college journey.
Ellenson arrived in the NBA with impressive credentials for a one-year collegiate player. Freshmen don’t receive first-team All-BIG EAST honors every year. The 6-10 forward pulled off the feat in the 2015-16 season in conjunction with being selected BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. The Pistons selected him 18th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. Life was good. It still is. That exciting new car smell just isn’t wafting over the Motor City anymore.
The Pistons wore out the path between Detroit and their G-League franchise in Grand Rapids by frequently sending Ellenson back and forth during his rookie season. The trips were less frequent in his sophomore campaign. The playing time was not. He averaged 8.9 minutes in 38 games, which was double the amount of contests he played on the NBA level the prior season.
That’s why Henry Ellenson was back at the two gyms on the UNLV campus in July, again. He wasn’t the only 2016 first-round pick returning for the third time, but there weren’t many.
Ellenson, the first BIG EAST freshman named first-team all-conference since Carmelo Anthony in 2002-03, took advantage of the playing time in Las Vegas and the chance to be his team’s focal point.
“The coaches are just giving me confidence after every game,” said Ellenson, who averaged 15.7 points and 7.2 rebounds in six games. “They talk to me about different plays. They drew up plays to have me bring (the ball) up (the court). They’re trusting me to make decisions. It’s been great.”
Minutes won’t be easy to find next season. Detroit acquired Blake Griffin midway through the 2017-18 campaign. Ellenson isn’t competing with the perennial All-Star power forward. He just needs to find that BIG EAST form.
“Trying to do things I haven’t done in a while,” he said of the plan in Summer League. “Try to take over a game. Try to attack, do some different things at the rim. Just continue to get back into that rhythm of playing because it has been a while. Get (back) to the way I know how to play.”
Derrickson played the way he finished his three-year career at Georgetown. For those that didn’t catch much of the Hoyas during their first season under coach Patrick Ewing, just know that’s a good thing.
The 6-7 forward received second-team All-BIG EAST honors after a strong junior campaign that saw him average 15.9 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 46.5 percent on 3-pointers and 86.3 from the free throw line. However, that production and stretch-4 potential didn’t lead any of the 30 NBA teams to select the Bowie, Maryland, native in the two-round draft. His play in Las Vegas may have one of those squads, if not the very best one, signing him to a two-way contract.
Derrickson, a big man with an easy smile, led the Golden State Warriors’ entry with 14.0 points per game. With a nod toward advice given him by Ewing, he finished second in rebounding (4.8) to Jordan Bell, the lone member of the NBA championship team playing in Vegas.
“Just play the game. Slow it down. You don’t need to be in a rush,” Derrickson said of the message from the Georgetown coach and Basketball Hall of Fame center. “Just rebound, play the game.”
His impressive summer began in the earlier Sacramento Summer League and didn’t dry up in the desert. He scored 23 points in 21 minutes against the Rockets and closed with another 18 against the Mavericks.
Derrickson, who dropped 20 pounds from his listed 250 pounds, also picked up sage hoops advice from during his stint with the reigning champs.
“Share the game. Make winning plays. [Golden State] is the best team in the world, so they expect that much from us in the summer league, too,” Derrickson said. “Be disciplined, making the extra passes, playing with your teammates, playing defense.”
Macura, a standout on Xavier’s 29-win team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, landed a coveted two-way contract with the Charlotte Hornets days before Summer League commenced. The first impression offered up by the wing guard jived with the one during his four seasons with the Musketeers: Aggressive defensive pest who just knows how to make winning plays.
The 2016 BIG EAST Sixth Man of the Year also sank an impressive 60 percent of his field goal attempts for the Hornets. His all-court play and energetic style fit Derrickson’s description of his approach in Las Vegas.
“Just being the best all-around player. Don’t limit yourself. Just go out there and play basketball with love from when you were a little kid, AAU days. That’s all it is,” he said.