By Paul M. Banks and David Kay
In helping lead West Virginia to their first college basketball Final Four since 1958, extremely gangly (6-9, 205) forward Devin Ebanks helped his NBA Draft stock; or did he?
At the Final Four, Bob Huggins discussed why his two stars didn’t leave school for “the league” right away. Da’Sean Butler stuck around all four years and Ebanks stayed in beautiful Morgantown for two.
“Da’Sean never thought about exploring the draft. That never crossed his mind,” Huggie Bear said.
“Devin, a year ago, never thought about it. Devin had a meeting, because I think all the circulation that he was getting got him thinking about leaving. He came back and just said, how do we stop this? I mean, those guys never thought about exploring leaving,” Huggins continued.
Well, what a difference a year makes. Today, the small forward appears to be in for good. His stock is more erratic than Goldman Sachs. He’s been projected as high as the late-lottery but could easily fall to the late-twenties. He excelled at a program which stressed defense and rebounding, and if NBA scouts believe he can carry over his superlative abilites for both of those aspects of the game, it should serve him well.
“It’s coach Huggins, really. In practice we work at it everyday. It shows how we work together; we’re a tight knit group,” Ebanks said about his ability to crash the boards in Indy.
His athleticism, length, great vision as a passer, long arms, leaping ability, skills in transition and abilty to defend multiple positions are his strong traits. However, his inconsistent outside shooting, terrible three-point shot, and desperate need to add muscle to his mosquito like frame will hurt his stock.
If there’s a NBA coach who’s looking to take a talented, versatile wing,”a point-forward project” if you will, and turn him into a player living up to his potential, they should draft Ebanks.
For an in-depth scouting report on Ebanks go here