Five Lakers Who Will Have to Step Up in Dwight Howard’s Absence

I know what you’re probably thinking: Devin Ebanks is a shooting guard/small forward, why would he have to step up?

Well, here’s why:

Devin Ebanks will have to prove he’s ready to become a staple in Mike Brown’s rotation.

After the Lakers decided not to re-sign Matt Barnes, that left Ebanks behind Metta World Peace on the small forward depth chart. However, Antawn Jamison can play the small forward position, and if Ebanks isn’t performing up to expectations, Mike Brown easily can bench him in favor of the experienced veteran.

With Howard missing time, though, Jamison will spend most of his time on the front line, which will leave the backup small forward duties to Ebanks.

Ebanks showed some promise last season, even starting a few games at the beginning of the season, and then starting some more towards the end of it. I predicted he would have a breakout season last year, but I was wrong. I’m going to go ahead and predict it again this year and say “Devin Ebanks is going to have a breakout year.”

With a full training camp under Mike Brown this time around, and less uncertainty surrounding his role, Ebanks will have more freedom to make mistakes and essentially grow into the player we all hope he can be; he recently put on 10 pounds of muscle as well, which should help him when guarding forwards.

The start of next season might just be an indication of how his third season as a professional basketball player will turn out.

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