But the quirky 46-year-old Aussie is serious, thanks to an encyclopedic knowledge of players dating back to the late 1980s and an old-fashioned philosophical approach to the game shaped while traveling to 40 countries. I also had the chops. Ellis may not be in the “SportsCenter” top 10. Bounce he passes, backdoor he cuts, under the rim he rewards the finish with his signature catchphrase “Very He unleashed a solid play. Three-point His thoughts on how contestants set up his ruck of the ball led to Golden State Warriors star Stephen his private shooting session with Curry.
Ellis surprised colleagues and listeners in October. big resignation, announced his abrupt departure from Athletic’s flagship NBA podcast, “No Dunks,” but couldn’t line up another job in sports media. Ellis concluded that many aspects of the NBA’s grind turned sour. After taping more than 2,500 of his shows over the past 11 years, he regularly feels his seasons are too long, his load management is crazy, and many superstars are losing touch with the average fan. was
“Anthony Davis can only play two weeks at a time,” Ellis said by phone from Europe last week. “James Harden wanted to pay homage to him for giving back $7 million in free agency. Kevin Durant said he would fire everyone in Brooklyn. Maybe it’s a matter of age.When you were a kid, you looked up to these guys as heroes.Now you look at them and think, “What’s wrong with this guy?” No NBA season has the same spark. ”
Ellis burned out in the NBA, but basketball remained a driving force in his life. He set up a pick-up game in Barcelona over the summer, posted about it on social media, and was inundated with invitations to play in direct messages from Portugal to Pakistan. Sometimes Ellis nurtured new dreams.
What if he could accept every Instagrammer’s offer? Why not document it on video or on social media? Thus began Ellis’ self-financed ’20 cities, 20 countries, 20 games’ global basketball tour. In recent weeks, he’s bounced around Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Greece, eschewing glitzy indoor gyms everywhere for outdoor courts.
“I don’t know if I can turn this into a career, but I would like to know,” he said. I wasn’t going to come over and ask if I wanted to do it, the only way was to break clean and dive head first.
When Ellis explained his admittedly unfinished plans to his longtime podcast partners, they were supportive, but surprised and a little skeptical about how the project could be sustained financially. Co-host of “No Dunks,” his JE Skeets have long called Ellis “international” for a circular life journey from Melbourne suburb Sunbury to London in his 20s to Toronto in his 20s. He was called a mysterious mystery man. In his 30s, he moved to Atlanta, where he now lives. Given that background and the story of Ellis, who has played pickups in Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, and Peru over the years, it’s easy to see why some fans imagine him to be basketball’s answer to Anthony Bourdain. Skeets understood.
“A midlife crisis? Instead of buying a Corvette, you’re traveling the world to play basketball,” Skeets said. “But after some thought, I realized that this is Lee Ellis. He takes his chances in life. He wants to travel the world and play with his pickups. Many can’t do that. It’s ridiculous.”
With Ellis’ official tour announcement attracting hundreds of new invitees from Nepal, Sierra Leone, and everywhere in between, he quickly set to work on a potential itinerary. It remains to be seen how long he can keep moving.
In addition to juggling the responsibilities of husband and father, he acts as his travel agent, location scout, booking manager, event planner, public relations chief, content creator, video editor, and of course, shooting guard. . He enlists the help of a photographer and relies on connections and tips from his 29,000 Instagram followers, but he’s mostly a one-man his band. Ellis hopes to attract sponsors, turn them into a series of streaming his services, and attract sponsors, but his main focus is to anticipate his lifelong regrets.
“I’m not afraid to fail on this project,” he said. “I wish I could have done this, but 10 years from now, I’m more afraid of doing the same job. Traveling is the best life experience. You can say I did something.”
There have already been some notable successes. Ellis said she went to a five-hour raucous barbecue dinner with Sasha Doncic, the father of Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, and her son, former NBA star Dragee, who died tragically in 1993. I met Biselka Petrovic to visit the museum dedicated to Mpetrovich. The Croatian forward Rudes, who spent his three seasons in the NBA from 2014 to 2017, served his children a cup of tea brewed with leaves grown on his family’s farm. Offered a tour of the era house.
Ellis compiled a cultural catalog in the process. His 5-on-5 game on full court, which he was accustomed to at Atlanta’s Underwood Hills Park, has given way to a pass-and-move style in the Balkans, where 3-on-3 games are the norm. At 5-foot-11, Ellis has had to adapt to a faster game, and recent opponents have likened him to Warriors star Klay Thompson, thanks to his trusty jumper. During the summer’s intense mixed-gender match in Barcelona, he noted that women were often just as physical in the paint as men. In Germany, he marveled at sturdy metal rims and wire mesh that would hold up for decades regardless of the weather. In Belgrade, he took advantage of a spongy court surface that puts less strain on the knees than typical concrete.
After months of working in a quarantined home office during the coronavirus pandemic, Ellis’ life suddenly turned into a series of chance encounters with fellow pickup enthusiasts and his loyal fans. Serbian basketball coach Boszko Šković said he was ‘heartbroken’ when Ellis left ‘No Dunks’ and was so excited to meet his favorite podcaster in Belgrade that he decided to wait a few days. Škovic introduced Ellis to the court inside the Kalemegdan Fortress and gave her new sneakers for running. That night, the Hoopers exchanged stories about Serbian basketball history and his NBA experiences with Ellis.
In a series of text messages, Skovic said, “Lee approached me and gave me such a warm, welcoming, heartfelt hug.” In some possessions, he felt like he was one of us and we were his friends. was a man.”
Ellis isn’t running away from real life in Atlanta, noting that his wife gave her plenty of blessings before he got serious about touring. He spends six to 12 months turning his travel act into a viable business before thinking about a more conventional job to pay his mortgage.
Either way, he’s enjoying his first long vacation after working non-stop for nearly 30 years. Someone else might worry if LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers make it to the playoffs, or if the Brooklyn Nets should trade Durant. With a vintage Allen Iverson sweatband within reach, Ellis has one more game to play and one more stamp to add to his passport.
“Most everywhere I go, I can’t speak the language of the people on the court. But basketball brings us together. You can go from stranger to teammate in two seconds. Very quickly.” There’s a certain understanding and chemistry that comes in. When you make the right plays and passes and hit the winners of the game, it creates a bond and it feels great.It’s basketball at its purest.”
