Wayne Ellington (photo. North Carolina)

In the age of versatility, how much is an old-fashioned pure scorer worth?

That’s the question NBA teams will have to ask themselves when Wayne Ellington’s name pops up in the war room. The North Carolina junior would have been a Top-10 pick back in the days of Trajan Langdon (11th in ‘99), Jamal Crawford (8th in ‘00) and Dajuan Wagner (6th in ‘02), but in 2009, teams want their starting two-guard to be able to do everything: Play defense like Kobe, pass like Wade, handle and run the offense like B-Roy, ideally able to play PG or SF in a pinch. There are still All-Star caliber twos out there who strictly get buckets — Rip Hamilton, Kevin Martin, Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, etc. — but they mostly thrive when their team’s entire offense is designed for their skills, or as spot-up shooters.

Ellington is more K-Mart than Kobe, more Rip than Roy. Although his college numbers weren’t jaw-dropping — 15.8 ppg as a junior on 48% FG and 41% from three — consider he was playing at perennially-loaded UNC, where throughout history, nobody puts up crazy stats. (Ellington still stamped 36 points on Clemson as a sophomore, and 34 on Maryland this year.) In the meantime, more versatile guards like James Harden, Tyreke Evans, DeMar DeRozan, Gerald Henderson, Jrue Holiday and Chase Budinger have moved ahead of Ellington as NBA prospects.

Working in Ellington’s favor is that his combine results showed he’s actually a better athlete than he’s been given credit for. He hit 38 inches on the vertical (second-highest at the pre-draft camp); benched 185 pounds 13 times (better than Holiday, Earl Clark, Jordan Hill, Evans and DeRozan); and his sprint time was faster than Stephen Curry and DeRozan. Looking at those numbers, a team could believe that once he’s out of Carolina’s system — where all he had to do was score — Ellington could be more than one-dimensional.

Ellington is slotted to go anywhere from late-Lottery to 19th or 20th in the first round, and any team that needs an instant dose of offense could use him.

The Bobcats (#12) need some depth behind Raja Bell (whose contract expires in 2010), and they’re desperate for a reliable shooter who can be on the court in crunch-time. I’d never put it past Michael Jordan to take an ex-Tar Heel even if it’s higher than anyone thinks that player should go, but Larry Brown may want somebody who’s a better defender, i.e. Gerald Henderson. The Suns (#14) have a pair of quality SG’s in Jason Richardson and Leandro Barbosa, but J-Rich’s contract comes up next summer, and Ellington is a better outside shooter than both of them. But the Suns’ bigger need is a backup PG, so I think they’ll pass.

Ellington seems a perfect fit for the Pistons at #15 as Hamilton’s eventual successor, or with Chicago at #16 in case they lose Gordon to free agency. The fact that Philly (#17) is considering starting Jason Kapono at the two shows they could use Ellington — who also has the hometown thing with them — and Minnesota at #18 could also use another scorer. I don’t see Ellington falling any farther than that.

Do you think Ellington can be an impact player in the NBA?