Early Camp Breakout Star: Ebanks

MagicMamba88 · Post #1 » by **MagicMamba88** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:30 am

As the team is integrating five new players into the roster from last season, the breakout star in the early going seems to be second-round draft pick Devin Ebanks, selected No. 43 out of West Virginia, who is in camp on a partially guaranteed contract.

He received a stamp of approval from the offensive maestro Bryant on his scoring ability: "I think Ebanks has shown a lot of promise in terms of versatility in terms of the things he can do offensively," Bryant said.

Former Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest on his skill at disrupting the other team's offense, as well: "Devin is a really good defender, people are going to be surprised when they see how he can play defense," Artest said.

Jackson got in on the praise, as well: "Ebanks was very active, very active and it looks like he can be a pretty good defender too."

Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5619218

Some additional Phil comments:

On the second day of training camp, Jackson had kind words for Blake and other Lakers newcomers, including veterans Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff and rookies Derrick Caracter and Devin Ebanks.

"Every one of them has a part of their game that's a reason we brought them here," Jackson said.

"Caracter's a tremedous offensive rebounder, and he's a real physical force in there."

"Matt showed some speed and quickness."

"Theo made some jump shots and blocked some shots out there."

"Steve Blake had a big influence on our practice today, just organizing his team."

Link: http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2010/09/first-mild-injury-of-lakers-exhibition-season-blake-sprains-ankle.html

Post #2 » by **Slava** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:33 am

Lovely. Can't wait to see the guys in action.

Sedale Threatt · Post #3 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:15 am

I generally don't like getting excited about any rookie, let alone a second-round pick. But the more I read about this guy, the more I like him. Just the other day, I was talking to an assistant at the local school in San Antonio, and he said Devin was awesome during his workout with the Spurs. This guy's got a pretty good eye for talent, so I was definitely pleased to hear that. Can't wait to see if he can earn any minutes.

MagicMamba88 · Post #4 » by **MagicMamba88** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:30 am

LA Times interviews

Kobe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJQbymnOLmg

Gasol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UAhK4poUGY

Phil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqBOmiPX3cE

Pablo Escobar · Post #5 » by **Pablo Escobar** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 2:23 am

Ebanks is going to become a good player he has Kobe and Artest to help him become a great defender and Kobe will also help him become a better offensive player not bad learning from a guy that dropped 81 lool

Dr Aki · Post #6 » by **Dr Aki** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:06 am

i dont know how ebanks will have a more professional and diverse brand of wing players to model his game off of

Post #7 » by **crazyeights** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:33 am

Aki wrote:i dont know how ebanks will have a more professional and diverse brand of wing players to model his game off of

Exactly. Was just going to say, if you are a young wing coming into the league and eager to learn we've got some amazing vets who can teach the game both ways.

The ball's in Ebanks' court.

laduane1 · Post #8 » by **laduane1** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:12 am

Only one besides Ebanks to stop him will be Phil.

tugs · Post #9 » by **tugs** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:29 am

crazyeights wrote:
Aki wrote:i dont know how ebanks will have a more professional and diverse brand of wing players to model his game off of

Exactly. Was just going to say, if you are a young wing coming into the league and eager to learn we've got some amazing vets who can teach the game both ways.

The ball's in Ebanks' court.

man, i envy this dude. Artest and Kobe teaching you D? wow... just wow... who needs Melo when you have Ebanks. :wink:

Mass Rig · Post #10 » by **Mass Rig** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:30 pm

They see us and the bar goes up :>

lol at the Gasols. Hello everybody from a Lakers' fan just landed on planet RealGM!

Venomspain · Post #11 » by **Venomspain** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 2:33 pm

Man ebanks is looking great hope he can get some playing time during the season love his talent. Kobe and Artest teaching you is epic nothing better than that nice vets to teach you some things.

Post #12 » by **Kilroy** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:42 pm

Love the ringing endorsement from Phil:

'That other little rookie we have... Uh, Uh Devin... Uhhhhh Ebanks! Yeah that's the ticket...' :lol:

Methinks perhapse "Breakout Star..." is a bit premature. :lol:

desertlakerfan · Post #13 » by **desertlakerfan** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:24 pm

Ebanks with his first rookie mistake.

Being the only guy wearing a long sleeve undershirt during training camp practice, what's he thinking!

Gek · Post #14 » by **Gek** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:46 pm

desertlakerfan wrote:Ebanks with his first rookie mistake.

Being the only guy wearing a long sleeve undershirt during training camp practice, what's he thinking!

That's a common thing among high school and college players that completely goes away in the NBA.

lakersfanatic · Post #15 » by **lakersfanatic** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:31 pm

hehe rookie mistake i guess.

Glad to hear that everyone is meshing in nicely. Lets see how preseason comes up with... Hopefully phil has the heart to give these guys more minutes and see how they can perform...

DEEP3CL · Post #16 » by **DEEP3CL** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:58 pm

Devin is going to be forever compared to Trevor just because of his frame, but what he does better tna Trev is defend one on one. Trev was a "take risk" type defender who stalked the passing lanes. Dev is actually up in your grill and is every bit as athletic as Trev.

I'm not worried about his O, it's not like he has the light to pull anyway. If he gets any burn it will be for defending only.

iamworthy · Post #17 » by **iamworthy** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:39 am

Okay so Ill be the Jerk today..... Its hard for me to get excited about someone who is going to see ZERO time. Just sayin...

Pablo Escobar · Post #18 » by **Pablo Escobar** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 1:12 am

iamworthy wrote:Okay so Ill be the Jerk today..... Its hard for me to get excited about someone who is going to see ZERO time. Just sayin...

lol cmon Worthy have some faith in Ebanks :lol:

iamworthy · Post #19 » by **iamworthy** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:19 am

KB24_ILLMATIC wrote:
iamworthy wrote:Okay so Ill be the Jerk today..... Its hard for me to get excited about someone who is going to see ZERO time. Just sayin...

lol cmon Worthy have some faith in Ebanks

Its not that I dont have faith in him, there are just no minutes on this team for him at the present time.

iamworthy · Post #20 » by **iamworthy** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:29 am

Blake's Ankle OK, Understanding of Triangle Excellent

Steve Blake suffered a mild sprain of his ankle at the tail end of Sunday afternoon's practice, but he was back on the floor on Monday.

"You feel it a little bit, but not enough to make me have to sit out," he said. "We didn't really go full contact, so I tried to see how it felt, make cuts and everything and it felt fine."

Blake was also the subject of conversation from Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant, primarily due to his already advanced understanding of the triangle offense. Jackson said Blake's quick study of the offense "very much" reminds him of how quickly Pau Gasol picked it up back in February of 2008.

"I had an opportunity to come in about two weeks before, and just worked one-on-one with the coaches to figure out the triangle. I'm pretty comfortable with it, and the more I see it with five guys on the floor the more comfortable I get."

Blake added that he understands what to do within the offense when players move around the floor, or when a guy makes a cut, but says he's still getting fully comfortable with the terminology.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/100927pr ... eport.html