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| Dale Ellis |
Former Vols guard and All-Century Team member Dale Ellis will drop by for a live chat Thursday morning at 10:30.
Ellis, a 19-year NBA veteran, played for head coach Don DeVoe at UT from 1980-83, helping lead the Volunteers to three 20-win-seasons and the 1982 SEC Championship. That same season, Ellis earned first-team All-America honors and was the SEC Player of the Year after ranking second in the nation in field-goal percentage with a 65.4 percent accuracy rate.
Ellis repeated as a first-team All-America performer and the SEC Player of the Year in 1982-83, as he guided Tennessee to its school-record fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. That season, he became just the third Vol ever to reach the 2,000-point milestone.
At the time his collegiate career ended, Ellis ranked third in school history with 2,065 career points and owned the school records for single-season and career field-goal percentage (59.5 percent).
The Dallas Mavericks made Ellis the ninth overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, and he enjoyed a highly successful 19-year career in the league (the longest of any former Vol). One of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history, he led the league with a 46.4 3-point percentage in 1997-98 and also won the NBA Long Distance Shootout during the 1989 All-Star Weekend in Houston. In that same All-Star game, Ellis totaled 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting.
Ellis was selected as a member of the Tennessee Basketball All-Century Team last season and was honored, along with other members of that elite squad, during the Vols home win over Vanderbilt on Feb. 14, 2009. The Marietta, Ga., native now ranks sixth on Tennessee's all-time scoring chart, trailing only Allan Houston, Ernie Grunfeld, Tony White, Chris Lofton and Reggie Johnson.
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Drew Edwards: All right, we have Dale Ellis here and we're ready to begin. |
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| Ronald - Crossville: What have you been up to since retiring? |
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Dale Ellis: Golfing. I golf with my high school coach, and some other retired coaches in the Marietta area where I went to school.
I golf and play with my dogs. |
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| Brian, Bristol: How much were you honored to be named to UT's all century team? |
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Dale Ellis: It was a great honor. It was a great group of guys. Any occasion to come back to Knoxville is a treat for me. |
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| Tom Bentonville: Dale, you were and always will be, one of my favorite UT players. I wish you and yours much success in the future. Thanks for the awesome memories!!! |
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| Terrance - Birmingham: Do you see any similarities between Renaldo and his dad, other than the fact that they wear the same number? |
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Dale Ellis: They kind of look alike. Their games are totally different. I didn't think Orlando saw many shots he didn't like. Renaldo likes to put the ball in the air, which is not a bad thing. He's focusing on his scoring. |
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Dale Ellis: I guess they both have a shooter's mentality. That would be one similarity. |
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| Chris (Johnson City): Have you seen this year's Vols? If so, what do you think? |
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Dale Ellis: I like the team. It's a good group of guys. They seem to work together good. They have the same guys coming back from last year. I know Coach Pearl is expecting big things out of this team this year. I think the talent level is wonderful, and I think they're going to have a lot of success this year. |
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| Ray, Lenoir City: What do you think of Tyler Smith? Does he have NBA potential? |
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Dale Ellis: From what I've heard, he's the heart and soul of this team. He does a little bit of everything well. There's not one thing he doesn't do well. He has an opportunity to play pro ball. If he has a good year, he can get drafted. |
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Drew Edwards: Where does he need to improve most to get there? |
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Dale Ellis: I don't think I've seen him enough to know. He plays hard, he rebounds well. Maybe have more of a scorer's mentality. One thing he needs to do is recognize when he has opportunities to put the ball in the air, and take more shots. |
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| Kris (Alcoa): It's great to Don DeVoe back in town, do you think you we might see you at more games like we do him? |
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Dale Ellis: Absolutely. I jumped at the opportunity to come here this week. It's been a great experience to be around these guys, and I'd like to spend more time here. I'm close to home now. It's only a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. |
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| Randy -- Knoxville: Is Phil Jackson the best NBA coach, aside from Red Auerbach? |
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Dale Ellis: Absolutely. I would have loved to have had an opportunity to play for Phil. In my opinion, he's the best at it. |
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| Josh (memphis): I read today that you would like to get into coaching. At the NBA level, is coaching more about managing people or do they really get down to X's and O's? |
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Dale Ellis: I'm trying to get a feel for if I really want to get into coaching. Il ike to teach. I like to be around young players. I don't know if I want to get into coaching. If the opportunity arises, I'd be interested in it.
The NBA is about X's and O's and motivating players. |
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| Lance (Knoxville): You played against Bird and Magic. What was it like being on the same floor with those guys? |
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Dale Ellis: I was fortunate to play in the best era of basketball. I got a chance to see Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar up close. And Jordan was the best player to play the game. Some wonderful memories. |
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Dale Ellis: They brought out the best in me. I thought they were the best players ever. It's easy to get up for games against Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. You always knew the arena was going to be full. |
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| Ed (Cookeville): Why did you wear No. 3? Was it because you were so good at the long-range shot? |
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Dale Ellis: I wore 14 here. I have a twin brother that wore No. 14. I went into the NBA and was wearing 14. I got traded to Seattle and a player was wearing No. 14. I got a call asking what number I wanted to wear. My wife answered, and she told them No. 3. She knew it was my lucky number. I had no idea I was going to be wearing 3, but it's always been my lucky number. |
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| Darnell (Columbia, S.C.): Do you think colleges should move the 3-point line to NBA range? |
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Dale Ellis: I think that would be a wonderful idea. They have the shot clock. We didn't have that when I was in college. Whatever they can do to prepare guys for pro ball. And there's a few guys on this team with the potential to play pro ball. |
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| Charlie (Smyrna): What were your thoughts when you got drafted by expansion Dallas? Did you want to go to a more established team? |
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Dale Ellis: I was disappointed I slipped to No. 9. I was projected to go No. 3. The Rockets had the No. 1 and No. 3 pick. I thought for sure I'd play in Houston, but Ralph Sampson came out that year. Dallas was nice. They drafted me as a post-up player. I played 17 years of pro basketball and posted up maybe 10 times. I played with a lot of good players there, and Dick Motta was one of the best coaches in the game. |
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| Warren - Sweetwater: How much was your first NBA contract? |
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Dale Ellis: $1.2 million. A five-year deal. That's peanuts now. I'm upset with my mother. I was born too early. |
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| George - Knoxville: When did you first meet coach pearl and were you blown away by his personality? Go Vols!!!! |
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Dale Ellis: I came up for a golf tournament, a charity touranament. I can't recall how I got invited, but Pearl was there. I met him in the hotel lobby. He was recruiting. I was blown away completely. He's a great motivator. I would have loved to have played for him. I probably had more conversations with Bruce Pearl than I had with my college coach the entire time I was here. He's the kind of coach you want to win for. He's a motivator. |
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| Travis: Is there such a difference in talent level in the NBA where a team can only win between 11-20 games in a season? |
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Dale Ellis: I never followed the game of basketball. I grew up playing sandlot baseball, football, basketball. It was an all-day deal. If I was in front of the television, I'd rather watch a good movie than a sporting event. The regular season is kind of boring to me. I enjoy watching college basketball more. I watch the playoffs. That's a difficult question for me. I don't know who's weak and who's strong. |
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| Jeff: With Seattle being a sports town, did you make any friends with the Seahawks or Mariners players? |
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Dale Ellis: Yeah. Terry Taylor. A cornerback with the Seahawks is one of my very good friends. Ken Easley with the Seahawks. Dave Henderson. I played golf with Ken Griffey. I had an opportunity to meet a lot of athletes. |
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| Todd from Gallatin: Were you disappointed to sea the Sonics leave for Oklahoma? |
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Dale Ellis: I was surprised that happened. Surprised the league allowed that to happen. They went to a real small market. I don't know if they're drinking Starbucks coffee in Seattle. They stopped drinking his coffee. |
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| Lisa (Knoxville, Tn): What was your best college memory at UT? |
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Dale Ellis: At UT? That's so long ago. (laughs). I can't think of a best college memory. That's a tough one. Hitting the shot against VCU, my sophomore. Making that one shot that took us to the next level in the NCAA tournament gave me the confidence I needed to move forward in the game. |
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Dale Ellis: And of course the Kentucky games. All the Kentucky games were great. Howard Wood making a left-handed shot over Bowie. He got postered in that deal. |
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| Greg (Maryville): You played college ball in an era before the 3-point shot. How did you excel in the NBA from that distance? |
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Dale Ellis: I was a post-up player all my life. I was forced to play the center position many times. When we had pickup games, you could never find me in that post. I knew if I was going to play pro ball, I was going to have to put the ball in the basket from that distance. It was easy to make that transition. |
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| Wade Hanse (statesboro): I was at the game that the all century team was honored last year, and I left the arena with chill bumps becuase it was such an amazing moment. What was that moment like for you down on the floor being honored for you accomplishments? |
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Dale Ellis: It felt good just to be in front of the fans here in Knoxville again. On the court with Don DeVoe again. Don was a great motivator. Just being in the company of that talent. Bernard King, who I looked at as one of the great players of all time. To be honored alongside him was a treat. |
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Dale Ellis: And I got a chance to get into that great arena. That's a neat arena. |
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