​LAS VEGAS — Brooklyn Nets guard Keon Ellis made the decision to sign with the Nets in free-agency because of how much the team pursued him along with the prior relationship with head coach Jordi Fernandez. Brooklyn is hoping that Ellis can provide the kind of long-range shooting and perimeter defense that has been attributed to him throughout his career and he explained how he can get back to that.”I think it’s just about the effort. I go out there and I just try to make it tough on guys. At the end of the day, you’re playing against the best players in the world. They’re gonna score, they’re gonna get to their spots,” Ellis said to the media this weekend while attending the Las Vegas Summer League. Regardless of Ellis’ playing time, he will be expected to provided the kind of play that Fernandez has seen from him in the past.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”You’re gonna have bad defensive games, you’re gonna have good defensive games. But I just think the mindset of every night just trying to do the right things, be in the right spots, and just attack the gameplan, I think that’ll help everyone accomplish the goal,” Ellis said. I’m not the greatest defender ever, but I think with team defense, everyone’s on the same page, that kinds of helps everyone a little bit better.”Ellis, 26, is coming off a 2025-26 NBA season in which he averaged 6.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game while shooting 44.0% from the field and 36.3% from behind the three-point line. Ellis split this past season between the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers, but he held the same role for both teams and he was a key piece of the Cavaliers making it to the second round of the playoffs.Time will tell how much of a factor Ellis will be in the rotation next season given that Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Demin will likely be the starting guards coming out of training camp. However, if Ellis can prove that his impact on the team is too great for him to play limited minutes, the Nets could be more interesting as a result. Either way, Ellis knows what he needs to do to be his best on the defensive end of the floor for Brooklyn.This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Keon Ellis discusses regaining prime defensive form in Brooklyn