Rick Carlisle says Monta Ellis is fastest player in NBA. That seems high.

Who is the fastest player dribbling the ball end to end in the NBA?

These are the guys who are one-man fast breaks and can get your team points in transition, plus are quick in the half court

But who is the fastest? There is no easy metric for this; it’s a bit of an eyeball test. (There are a few numbers out of the draft combine, but it is incomplete and marks the guys at one time early in their career).

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Monta Ellis is the fastest, speaking with the Dallas Morning News.

Rick Carlisle has called newcomer Monta Ellis the fastest player in basketball, and Mark Cuban echoed that sentiment. “I never thought I’d see somebody make J.J. [Barea] look slow,” Cuban said. “Monta’s a blur. Monta truly is a one-man fast-break.”

Ellis is fast, but he’s not the fastest. This would be my Top 5 (a list that assumes everyone is healthy):

1. John Wall
2. Russell Westbrook
3. Derrick Rose
4. Ty Lawson
5. Monta Ellis

Honorable mention: Jrue Holiday, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Jennings, Tony Parker (very quick in the half court, not usually a one-man break), Jeff Teague, Nate Robinson.

I think a healthy Wall is flat out the fastest, but Westbrook wouldn’t be that far behind. To me they are the fastest, then it gets interesting (and I could be leaving guys off this list). Is Ellis faster than former backcourt mate Jennings? How fast is Bledsoe? I think we’ll see more of him having to be a one-man break this year than he was with the Clippers.

But that’s my list. Sorry Carlisle, we can agree to disagree on this. (Thanks to D.J. Foster for helping come up with that list.)

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