Image by jgrove via FlickrDevin Ebanks wasn't supposed to be a second round pick. Three years ago, he was one of the top high school players in the nation and looked like a future lottery pick. He was putting up impressive numbers, dominating national tournaments and camps, and being recruited by the top college programs in the country.
So how did the Los Angeles Lakers land Ebanks with the forty-third pick in this year's draft? After two solid seasons at West Virginia, the twenty-year old forward was overlooked in a class that was loaded with wing players. Despite being one of the better athletes in the group and possessing the kind of potential not usually found in a second round selection, Ebanks sat in front of his television and watched as other players came off of the board in front of him.
He's happy to be in the league, but he's not ready to forget what happened on draft night. Going into the Las Vegas Summer League, Ebanks – along with fellow Lakers rookie Derrick Caracter – felt this was the perfect environment to show teams what they missed out on. Both were, at one time, projected to be top picks and had slipped into the second round.
"We both had chips on our shoulders because we felt like we should have went higher and our chemistry is great," Ebanks said. "I actually played with D.C. when I was younger, back in high school, so we knew each other's styles a little bit. It turned out to help us a lot in Vegas."
Throughout the week and a half, Ebanks and Caracter put on a clinic, averaging a combined 30.4 points and emerging as two of the best rookies in Vegas. That wasn't a surprise to Ebanks.
Even if he doesn't play big minutes during his rookie campaign, the young forward knows that he'll have plenty of opportunities to develop and learn from the veterans ahead of him on the depth chart.
"I spoke to Lamar when I first got to Los Angeles to practice for the Summer League. When I signed my contract, I spoke to Ron Artest when he was out there. Both of them were excited for me to get out there and hopefully I can just learn behind them because they have great NBA experience," he said.
Odom and Artest will definitely take Ebanks, a fellow Queens native, under their wings next season. But even with the "say Queensbridge" connection, Ebanks has already started to give fans in Los Angeles flashbacks to a different forward that used to wear purple and gold.
After finishing the Pre-Draft Camp in Chicago, the Trevor Ariza comparisons started. The two had almost the exact same measurements in almost every category. Height, weight, vertical leap, standing reach, lane agility drills, and the ¾ court sprint; you name it and the two forwards had eerily similar numbers. With his perimeter defense and athleticism, Ebanks says that Lakers fans have made him well aware of the similarities.
"I've heard that a lot," said Ebanks. "We definitely do have a lot of similarities in our games, but we're two different players and I'm just going to try to play the way I usually play."
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