My Sophomore Crush: Henry Ellenson is my dude

It’s summer — popsicles, beaches, campfires and summer love. As the heat rises, time slows and crushes develop. We’re leaning into that amorous mood this week at The Step Back, sharing our sophomore crushes. Last year may have given us an uninspiring rookie class, but we’re feeling pretty enamored with the future.

When I was a sophomore, I was frequently reminded to lower my standards. My sophomore crush is Henry Ellenson.

I can’t tell if that means I’ve taken that advice or not, but Ellenson is my dude. Full disclosure: Ellenson is for real my dude. He is among other dudes like Ray McCallum and Lorenzo Brown and Kevin Murphy, but he is the only dude of these dudes to qualify as a sophomore crush.

I’m going to take you back to the moment the infatuation began. It was March 25, 2017. The Grand Rapids Drive (yay!) were playing the Fort Wayne Hansbroughs (boo!). It was the best sporting event I had ever seen live.

My girlfriend was there. We were wearing our Drive jerseys. She had mozzarella sticks, and I had chili cheese fries. The final moments were a type of heroics I can’t really describe. I can, however, put in a video because the internet is great. Maybe just skip to the end bit, because that’s what made me stand around in empty stands repeating “I don’t want to leave.”

Fort Wayne Mad Ants @ Grand Rapids Drive 2017/3/25

GAME ARCHIVE: Ramon Harris knocked down a buzz-beating floater to propel the Detroit Pistons-affiliate Grand Rapids Drive to a 99-97 victory against Stephan Hicks (25 points) & the Indiana Pacers-affiliate Fort Wayne Mad Ants (3/25/2017)

Posted by NBA G League on Saturday, March 25, 2017

Ellenson was not on fire that game, but he was key in making Tyler Hansbrough freak out a bit. Anyone who makes Hansbrough angry is by default an excellent person. It was that day I decided that the Grand Rapids Drive were my favorite professional basketball team, and that I would follow a core of Ray McCallum, Lorenzo Brown, and Henry Ellenson into the D-League equivalent of hell sponsored by Gatorade.

Unfortunately, Ellenson will be playing on a different team this year: The Detroit Pistons Now Actually In Detroit. This is at best a lateral move, but we’ll see how it goes.

Henry Ellenson didn’t have a ton to show for his time there for most of the season. In the first 78 games, he played a total of 57 minutes. That’s less than LeBron plays in one game. (It’s true. I checked.) His best showing was going 2-for-2 from 3 against Indiana in December. He played five minutes.

But let’s talk about the last four games of the season instead. With playoff hopes dead, and team chemistry closer to being team biology where you have to cut open a dead frog, Ellenson got his chance. He averaged 22 minutes and put up a double-double against Houston. He also went 1-of-8 from 3-point range that game, but nobody’s perfect.

That’s the issue with Ellenson that stands out most to me: his shooting. On the Pistons he was 35.9 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from three. That’s decidedly ungood. He was slightly better with the Drive going 41.8 percent from the floor and 32.8 percent from 3, but he was putting up 5.5 shots from long range every game. It’d be fantastic to have a 7-footer knocking it down from deep while getting the nine boards he was averaging in the D-League, but he’s not there yet.

He’s not really anywhere. Nothing stands out from his stats. It’s possible he never really turns into a solid rotation player. It depends on what he can improve and what from the G-League he can translate.

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But I never loved him for his stats or potential. Seeing him next to Boban on the bench when the Pistons played Toronto made me smile. They looked like best friends. That made me happy. His role in putting together the paradigm shifting sports experience against Hansbrough and the Hapless Hoosiers will have me caping for him forever.

I don’t know how crushes work. I just know this is the one I have.