LA Lakers: Will Injuries Increase Roles of Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter?

It's no secret that Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson usually has trouble finding minutes for his rookie players, but due to injuries to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and more recently Sasha Vujacic, Jackson may have no other choice.

Vujacic sustained a concussion from an inadvertent elbow from Lamar Odom during practice Thursday. Vujacic is out indefinitely, and his injury adds to the Lakers' rash of physical woes before the regular season even starts.

Bynum is not expected to return until at least December, and no one is really sure if Bryant will miss any game time or not, but in either instance this may be the best time to give rookie forwards Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter a nice, long look.

Jackson hates to play rookies, but since he will likely be forced to tinker with the roster anyway, why not experiment a little with Ebanks and Caracter?

If Bryant is forced to sit and Vujacic misses extended time, there will be a gaping hole on the perimeter that guard Shannon Brown will not be able to fill alone.

With Vujacic out and Bryant hobbled Brown is the only other shooting guard on the roster, and even though newcomer Steve Blake can provide some relief, his attention should be focused on point guard duty.

In three preseason games Ebanks has averaged 6.3 points and 11 minutes per game, with his high of 10 points coming in a recent win against the Sacramento Kings.



Ebanks played 16 minutes against the Kings going 4-9 from the floor, and he looked fairly comfortable during the brief time he had on the floor.

Caracter has played roughly the same amount of minutes as Ebanks, but has only averaged 1.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in the Lakers' three preseason games.

Caracter will likely find minutes harder to come by since he essentially plays behind Pau Gasol, Odom and Theo Ratliff, but he has shown flashes in the post that suggest he could...

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