James Ennis “one and done” year in the NBL won’t be forgotten by the Perth Wildcats faithful and with Ennis failing to nail an NBA contract at the start of the season there were even calls within the media for Perth to try and re-sign the NBA veteran for the 2021-22 season.
Ennis however remained in the US in the hopes of signing with a team should a need arise and the Brooklyn Nets made the call this week and offered the swingman a 10-day contract to help cover the loss of multiple players due to COVID-19.
The NBA has postponed the Nets’ next two games because of the COVID-19 surge that has decimated Brooklyn’s roster. The Nets currently have 10 players in the league’s health and safety protocols, including stars Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
The 31-year old Ennis made his Nets debut yesterday against the Orlando Magic playing 13 minutes and finishing with 3 points. The NBA has now postponed the Nets’ next two games against the Denver Nuggets and Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.
Ennis (198 cm and 97 kg) has appeared in 388 career games (140 starts) across seven seasons with Orlando, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Miami, recording averages of 6.7 points on 45.7 per cent shooting from the field, 36.0 per cent shooting from 3-point range and 79.7 per cent shooting from the free-throw line, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 20.5 minutes per game.
Ennis, who originally selected by Atlanta with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft before his rights were traded to Miami on draft night. After beginning his collegiate career at Oxnard College (2009-10) and Ventura College (2010-11), the California native enrolled at Long Beach State University (2011-13), where he was named Big West Player of the Year and earned Honorable Mention All-America honours by the Associated Press in his final season with the 49ers before entering the NBA Draft.
Ennis spent the 2013-14 season in the NBL in Western Australia and debuted with 25 points and 4 rebounds. The then 23-year-old had a number of big games including his 33 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steal against Cairns in November and the 32 point, 8 rebounds and 5 assists effort he had against the Taipans in their next match-up. Fans and legends of the game like Andrew Gaze both started to suggest Ennis was one of the greatest talents to play in the NBL.
“I thought he was phenomenal when he came here. Only one year, but in that year he won a title and, to me, he had the skillset that — if he had of played a long career here — he could rival some of the all time greats” said Andrew Gaze to Fox Sports.
At seasons end, Ennis surprisingly was overlooked as NBL MVP, that award going instead to Illawarra’s Rotnei Clark, which led to Ennis being so disappointed he threw his All-NBL first team award into the nearby Yarra River.
The snub perhaps fired up Ennis to find another level of play and in the Grand Final series, his 30 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists in game one ensured he would prove to everyone that he was the best player in the competition whether he owned an MVP trophy or not.
Immediately after winning the NBL title Ennis returned to the US and was rewarded with a contract to play for the Miami Heat.