When Keon Ellis visited Barclays Center recently, he simply fell in behind Michael Porter Jr. rather than risk getting lost. A few months into his Brooklyn tenure, the 26-year-old guard is still sorting out the building\u2019s layout.<\/p>\n
On the court, however, the path has been less complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was lucky to pull up right behind Mike, so I just followed him,\u201d Ellis said Tuesday. \u201cBut yeah, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The adjustment has been smoother once he gets on the floor. Ellis started all four of Brooklyn\u2019s preseason games, an early sign that the Nets are willing to give him the kind of consistent opportunity he\u2019s lacked at times. The defensive-minded guard averaged eight points in 19.8 minutes, shooting 44% overall and 42.9% from 3-point range, including a 15-point night against the Washington Wizards before going scoreless on 0-for-7 in the finale against the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you\u2019re starting, the ball does just find you more,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s like I\u2019m out there and we\u2019re necessarily calling plays for me. I just think the opportunity is there. And, I mean, it\u2019s been there too at times in my career too, but we\u2019ll see what it looks like this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
That search for a more consistent role was central to why he chose the Nets.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to spread my wings a little bit here as well,\u201d Ellis said at Media Day. \u201cAnd so, I think that opportunity probably above all was kind of what stood out too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis also reunited with head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez, whom he knew from his stint with the Sacramento Kings. Fern\u00e1ndez can be hard to read sometimes, but Ellis has no doubt about his focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to tell with Jordi because he\u2019s not like an expressive guy,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI know he\u2019s excited just because that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, long summer. New guys, new team, new look. So, it\u2019ll be interesting and fun to put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consistency is what Ellis is chasing most. In 2024-25 with Sacramento, he shot 43.3% from 3-point range while averaging 8.3 points in 24.4 minutes. Last season, split between the Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers, those numbers fell to 6.7 points in 20.5 minutes and 36.3% from deep, and his starts dropped from 28 to 11. He\u2019s described that earlier stretch as more predictable.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that year, everything was just so consistent. You knew what was going to happen, when it was going to happen,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cIn the past year, obviously there were a lot of ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis believes a more stable role can help, even if starting versus coming off the bench isn\u2019t especially important to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you\u2019re out there, you just gotta make the most of it,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cBut I think the consistency of knowing where you\u2019re going to play, who you\u2019re going in the game with, the rhythm that you guys have\u2026 that all matters and it goes hand in hand with how the team plays, how one individual plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensively, Ellis knows exactly where he fits. He\u2019s a point-of-attack defender who takes pride in making life uncomfortable for opposing ball handlers, a responsibility he embraces as Brooklyn looks to apply more pressure on the perimeter.<\/p>\n
Life in New York has required a little more adjusting. Getting around is easier than it was in Sacramento, although the traffic hasn\u2019t exactly won him over. He\u2019s spent most of his time at home, but there\u2019s one part of his new surroundings he\u2019s eager to experience: the atmosphere inside Barclays Center.<\/p>\n
Brooklyn\u2019s lone preseason home game offered a taste of what awaits, and Ellis is looking forward to feeling that energy on a regular basis. Beyond that, Ellis isn\u2019t interested in complicating things. His approach is the same one that\u2019s carried him this far.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay by day, man. I go out there, just play hard, do the right things. I just let everything take care of itself,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously you want to play good\u2026 and I expect myself to do that. But I definitely want to play well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Keon Ellis visited Barclays Center recently, he simply fell in behind Michael Porter Jr. rather than risk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3353,98,100,99,62142,4475,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-379532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-barclays-center","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-keon-ellis","tag-nets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}