Don’t Blame Monta Ellis For Larry Bird’s Mistakes Building the Indiana Pacers

Larry Bird tried rebuilding the Indiana Pacers on the fly this offseason, and it shows in a team that has left Monta Ellis the odd man out.

When Monta Ellis went down with his groin injury on Sunday, there was a mild celebration on social media among some Indiana Pacers fans. Finally, coach Nate McMillan would have to put Glenn Robinson III in the starting lineup, and we’d see what he could do with a healthy group of starters around him.

Through 72 minutes of basketball, the results are looking good for GR3 to keep his spot. Maybe the stagnation of Indiana’s offense has ended — they posted an 111.8 offensive rating against the Hornets. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands like Ellis does, and creates some breathing room for the rest of the starters with his shooting.

Maybe it is Ellis’ time to start coming off the bench.

But this whole situation isn’t Monta Ellis’ fault.

This is Larry Bird’s fault.

I see a bad moon rising

Anyone paying attention to the Indiana Pacers this offseason knew a backcourt of Monta and Jeff Teague was liable to have defensive issues and one of the two would have to step back to accommodate the other on offense.

Ellis stepped back, Teague stepped forward, but Indiana’s offense ended up pretty average while the defense has suffered.

While Indiana is better with Ellis on the court than not, he is left without a role on offense and is still a defensive liability like he always was. Monta is at his best when he has it all — I mean the ball — in his hands. He rightly is deferring to Teague and posting the lowest usage rate of his career, but he isn’t scoring that as much because he isn’t the type of player who scores away from the ball.

Larry Bird built a team on the fly and it shows in the end product, one that strands Ellis where he is now.

The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks summed up the Pacers’ problem nicely.

"It’s as if the Pacers’ personnel decisions over the past two years were made with a flow chart that included only one question: can this guy get buckets? If yes, acquire him. If no, who cares. In an era when ball movement is as important as ever, the Pacers’ roster consists almost entirely of one-on-one players."

Ellis’ skill set is the least adaptable to this current configuration of starters. He doesn’t distribute like Teague does, he can’t do it all like Paul George, he can’t hit 3-pointers like Thaddeus Young, nor does he have the defensive impact of Myles Turner.

Monta was brought to get buckets by attacking the rim and kicking the ball out, something that worked well when he was paired with George Hill last season. Ellis can still drive to the basket and find teammates, but that skill isn’t as needed with the other starters on the floor. Now he is in the same position as Hill was, but can’t play defense or stretch the floor like Hill did.

Finding a place for Monta Ellis

The same question remains for Larry Bird: What the hell?

The Pacers signed Ellis and then for better or worse put him in a lineup that took away all the things that made him a good player. Last year Monta was a positive on both sides of the ball according to ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus — ranking 116th. But this season in that same stat he has dropped down to 408th in the league as he isn’t making the same impact on either side of the ball.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

Ellis may be 31 years-old now, but one year doesn’t explain that sort of fall. He is still liable for his limitations as a player, but Bird put him in a lineup that minimizes his strengths and maximizes his weaknesses. Ellis holds responsibility for getting torched by Klay Thompson and scoring zero points against his old team but those two games didn’t tell us anything new as much as they highlighted his flaws.

Combine that with an up-and-coming Robinson, and it is the right scenario for Ellis to find himself looking at his playing time being cut.

There is an often misattributed quote that goes “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” For better or worse, Ellis is the same player he has always been. The problem is now, he’s being asked to do something he isn’t capable of.

If there is blame to be put somewhere, I would put less on Ellis for being himself and more on Bird for building a team that can’t use him properly. Hopefully, if the Pacers start playing him off the bench, Ellis can do something like he did in the one game where he did this season.

This looks like the right move, even if it took McMillan’s hand being forced for it to happen.

Next: Who Should Be the Indiana Pacers Starting Shooting Guard?

Monta Ellis still has value — don’t confuse that with a bad fit — but it is now McMillan’s job to find Ellis a role where he isn’t dragging down the Indiana Pacers.