Ndudi Ebi

Ndudi Ebi

Sandwiched amongst all their vetoed Timberwolves first rounders from the Joe Smith debacle came Ndudi Ebi, a half-British man who was a first round draft pick of the team in 2003 out of high school. He did not justify his draft billing and failed to even get to the third season of his rookie contract, but not before a shambolic a moment that saw the Timberwolves ask the NBA if they could send Ebi down to the D-League for his third season, in circumvention of the rule that states only rookies or sophomores can be assigned by teams to the D-League. Their justification for the request? Ebi hadn't played much, and thus didn't really have two years experience. The NBA denied the request, and Ebi was waived to accommodate the incoming Ronald Dupree.

After leaving the NBA, Ebi spent a couple of years in the D-League (fittingly), playing very averagely. He then spent a year in Israel and a year in Italy's Serie A, before spending last season in Italy's Lega Due (second division) playing for Rimini. There, Ebi averaged 15.3 points and a huge 13.6 rebounds per game, alongside 3.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. He had to drop all the way down to the Italian second division to do it, but Ndudi Ebi finally starred. Now, he has something to build from.

- Ndudi Ebi

Former Timberwolves draft pick Ebi spent last year in Italy's SerieA, but this year downgraded to LegaDue, the division below. (Why LegaDue is not called SerieB, I do not know.) The obvious benefit there is to Ebi's numbers, and he's responded with averages of 16.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 assists per game. He leads Rimini in rebounds (with no one else having more than 4.5), steals and blocks, and is second in points only to Carlton Myers.

[...] Carlton Myers is pretty much an Italian, despite the name, being born to an Italian mother and spending basically his whole life there. However, he was born in London, as was Ndudi Ebi. Rimini also boast another Englishman, Mike Bernard, a former South Florida bench player and English international. Because of this trio, Basket Crabs Rimini are my favourite Italian second division team. Also factoring into that decision is the fact that their name is Crabs Rimini.