Miami Heat: Grading the Wayne Ellington trade; paired with a farewell letter

Farewell Letter to Wayne Ellington

This farewell letter idea came from my fiancé (Kelsi), who has been very adamant about her love for Ellington and his 3-point prowess over the past few seasons. I broke the news of Ellington being traded to Kelsi via a phone call on my way home from work, quickly hearing a, “NOOO!” And as I walked in and started dinner, Kelsi was at her computer writing away.

As dinner was cooking, Kelsi came over and dragged me to her computer and pointed toward her screen where I read this farewell letter to Wayne Ellington:

Dear Wayne,

I wanted to wish you goodbye from the unsung heroes of the basketball community, girlfriends, wives, and partners who are made to watch the NBA. At first, I was doing my boyfriend a favor by watching Heat games. Chipotle and scrolling through already viewed social media posts were the recipe each night with a dash of, “Woah, that was really cool,” for the quarterly dunk. However, Wayne…if I may, you brought the heat to the table. Somewhere between Hassan’s snap stories of his fish (tonnnaayy) and your underappreciated shots from the three-point line, I fell in love with the Heat and you, my friend (can I call you that..okay cool). After watching a full season and defending the Heat’s talent in casual conversations led to the following years of surprisingly watching pre-season basketball. I would cheer when Spo put you in and counsel his figure on the screen when he would take you out. While the real Heat fans know how special your game and smile were to our team, I often spent many nights backing and advocating for you to basketball fans who were standing in our kitchen with a best selling NBA jersey on or who were playing 2K on the couch and therefore were experts. While many of these men were still lost in the flames of the era where a pretty well-known individual decided to take his talents to the south beach, your talents deserved a confrontation between myself and a stranger. Wayne, thank you for what you have done for Heat Nation, it will pain me to see you sink threes and smile on another team, but I wish you and your golden arm all the best.

P.S. Once at a game in Washington D.C., I waved to you, and you waved back. Thanks.

Kelsi

So, you read it here first, Kelsi illuminates Heat readers about why Wayne Ellington is underrated and underappreciated by NBA fans and Heat fans alike. Furthermore, through reading this farewell letter several times, she is 100 percent correct.

Ellington has done a fantastic job helping build the, “Culture,” that we love to talk about in Miami, as well as Tyler Johnson (don’t worry, Johnson’s farewell letter is coming soon, probably from me). Stay informed on where Ellington decides to go once leaving the Suns, as Kelsi and I will apparently be watching this 3-point sniper non-stop for the remainder of his NBA career.