Posts tagged ‘devin ebanks’

Made it to Vegas safe and sound and just got finished watching the Lakers and Nuggets square off. I said it on draft night and now I’ll say it again, the Lakers did very well to pick up Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter. Ebanks has a lot more smoothness on offense than you’d anticipate and Caracter’s body can’t be handled. On Friday Caracter had 20 points, 10 rebounds and today he put up 17 and 12 to go with four assists.  Ebanks notched 21 points on 9-16 from the field on Friday and 24 points on 8-16 shooting on Saturday. But it’s also summer league, folks.

Okay …. John Wall time. He and the Wizards are set to face the Golden State Warriors (who are playing the Detroit Pistons as I type) at 5 pm Vegas time tomorrow (8 pm on the East Coast). Set your dials and DVRs. But until then, here’s something to tide you over … a compilation of clips from scrimmaging at the end of the first day of Wizards mini-camp last Thursday evening. While you’re waiting for John Wall, a little John Wall. Enjoy.

[Editor's note: This is the second piece on TAI by John Townsend, check out his first one here.]

photo courtesy of K. Praslowicz (Sjixxxy)'s Flickr - www.kpraslowicz.com

“Just because you have money doesn’t mean you should overspend on someone that won’t be a part of your long-term future.  If the right opportunity comes along, I think you want to look at it, but I’ve said all along that we might save our powder for down the road, to see what the new CBA brings, to see if there’s a hard cap or a soft cap.  We don’t really know all the rules going forward, so just because you have the cap room doesn’t mean you should go out and spend it if it’s not for the right player.”[1]

These were wise words spoken by Wizards GM Ernie, a new herald for operational procedure and organizational preparedness, at a press conference on June 10.  As a long-time Green Bay Packer fan (my first memories of football were watching Packers games at 4am in New Delhi, India with my Wisconsin-born dad), I understand and fully endorse building a team through the draft.  There seem to be philosophical parallels between Grunfeld and Packers GM Ted Thompson, who firmly believes that the most effective way to build a winning football team is through the draft.  Thompson sees free agency as a complementary tool which can be used to add the types of players to a roster that may otherwise be difficult to find. In practice, this means that the Packers re-sign as many of their own players possible.  Rebuilding post-Mike Sherman, the Packers made 14 draft-day trades, all but one of them down, turning 31 picks into 44.  The Packers’ picks filled the roster with solid “glue guys” and have been able to add impact players including QB Aaron Rodgers, FS Nick Collins, OLB Clay Matthews, TE Jermichael Finley, WR Greg Jennings, and NT BJ Raji.  The result? The Packers are a team poised to make deep playoff runs every winter and are near the top of the NFL in just about every statistical category.[2]

Ted Leonsis, the Wizards new majority owner, made public his commitment to building a “generationally great team” that will ultimately win a championship.  Under new management, the Wizards will aim to hit their targets in the draft, spend prudently, create a competitive, cohesive team on the court that plays with an identity and within a system, and (most importantly) win games.[3] In an open note to Wizards fans, Leonsis also dismissed the generalized notion that the franchise was unwilling and averse to bringing in free agents.  Leonsis noted that that teams must consider using all of the tools at their disposal: the draft, free agency (small, medium, and large), rookie free agency, waiver wire pickups, developmental league players, and finding players in Europe.

All fans want to see that max contract free agent wear their team’s colors.  The addition of a superstar means that the team feels it is close to a winning a title and are prepared to kick down the doors of the championship fraternity. Read more »

The Wizards worked out four players on Wednesday: Jerome Dyson, G, Connecticut, 6’4, 190 lbs.; Devin Ebanks, F, West Virginia, 6’9, 215 lbs.; Magnum Rolle, F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.; and Devin Sweetney, G, Morgan State, 6’4, 180 lbs..

Ebanks, an early-entry draft candidate after two seasons at West Virginia, was the big name of Wednesday’s group. He’s currently mocked going 23rd overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves by NBADraft.net, 31st overall to the New Jersey Nets by DraftExpress, and is in Chad Ford’s “next five” after the first round.

Many believe Ebanks to be a lottery talent, but his inconsistency, especially on the offensive end and especially in terms of aggression, has kept his stock waning toward the end of the first round to the second round.

Other the other hand, he’s a good defensive player (6’7″ without shoes and a 7’0.25″ wingspan), a nice very nice rebounder, and has the ability to slash to the bucket. Ebanks has been compared to anyone from Rudy Gay, to Shawn Marion, to Jared Jeffries to Corey Brewer.

Maybe he slips to 30 or 35 and the Wizards take him to say, ‘Hey, with Al Thornton at the small forward position and Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young playing two guard, maybe you don’t throw money at the 30-year old Josh Howard and his knee recovery at the SG/SF spot and hope that Ebanks and his 77% free-throw shooting (in ’09-10) can develop into a decent scorer for an NBA small forward.’ … in addition to Ebanks’ diverse defensive skills, something the Wizard always seem to need, especially on the perimeter.

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