Frank Vogel has said all offseason how big of an acquisition he thinks Monta Ellis is for the Indiana Pacers. Despite losing his starting frontcourt of the past few years Vogel still has an immense amount of confidence in his team this season mostly because of Ellis. The Pacers signed him very early on in free agency this year on a four year $44 million deal and they reportedly were not scared away by the fact that he had offseason knee surgery, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
The operation Ellis reportedly underwent was not widely reported and as a matter of fact almost no media knew about it until this story was written about Ellis' upbringing. The surgery was minor as Buckner calls it and it was just to clean things up after 11 years of "wear and tear" on his legs.
Ellis reportedly underwent the surgery before free agency started but that didn't stop the Pacers for going hard after him and Vogel's pitch to him was hard to turn down.
"Paul George is going to be back near strength, or at full strength. You're the guy that's going to make his transition to the power forward position work. This is not something we would even want to do without somebody of your caliber scoring the basketball and the speed you have," said Vogel.
Ellis has not missed any time this preseason due to the offseason surgery and he has looked good. He is currently dealing with an upper respiratory infection that held him out of the final preseason game but he is expected to be back for Indiana's season opener. The 30 year old guard was expected to play some point guard this season as the Pacers lack a true backup point guard but Joseph Young will likely take that role and now Ellis will stay at shooting guard and be one of the Pacers primary scorers alongside George.
Ellis is now entering his 11th season in the league and he has been a borderline All-Star for years now but this could be the year he finally breaks through. The Pacers expect to play at a very fast pace which could mean big numbers for Ellis and Vogel clearly thinks he is a huge part of this team so he won't struggle for opportunities.
Ellis has career averages of 19.3 points and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 45 percent from the field.
