Standing tall in the saddle
Eubanks patrols the paint like ‘a guy riding a mechanical bull’
Spurs center Drew Eubanks entered Wednesday’s game against Toronto with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter.
The bodies soon began flying.
For Eubanks, this felt like a good sign.
“If I come in and tell myself, ‘Hey, hit the (expletive) out of this guy, be physical,’ that’s when I do well,” Eubanks said.
Within seconds of checking in against the Raptors, Eubanks sent Raptors forward Freddie Gillespie sprawling in a tug-of-war for a rebound.
Then Eubanks nearly pulled the rim down on a dunk attempt while being fouled by Yuta Watanabe.
A few moments after that, Eubanks hammered Gillespie again with a hard foul to prevent a layup.
The Spurs took a disappointing 117-112 loss to the Raptors in Tampa, Fla., but it wasn’t for Eubanks’ lack of energy.
“We pretty much always like the minutes we get from Drew,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s really learning how to play the game. But his effort level, his physicality, his will to win is always there.”
Demar Derozan describes Eubanks’ black-and-blue playing style in terms an urban cowboy might understand.
“He reminds me of a guy riding a mechanical bull,” Derozan said.
That colorful observation came after a win over Sacramento last month in which Eubanks so irritated Maurice Harkless in the second half that the Kings forward sent
him hurtling to the floor in frustration.
It earned Harkless a foul and Eubanks the chuckling admiration of his teammates.
It was all in a night’s work for Eubanks, who often patrols the paint with the grace of a large dog let loose at a dinner party.
“When I come in, I’m just trying to keep things simple, bring energy and do the little things,” Eubanks said.
Eubanks’ willingness to play hard — and occasionally send opponents toppling — has kept the 24-year-old in the Spurs’ rotation throughout his third NBA season.
Heading into Friday’s game against Portland at the AT&T Center, Eubanks had made 35 appearances this season, already a career high. The Spurs finish a back-to-back tonight in Phoenix.
The 460 minutes Eubanks had totaled while backing up Jakob Poeltl are 135 more than in his first two NBA seasons combined.
With Lamarcus Aldridge leaving for Brooklyn and subsequently retiring Thursday, Eubanks has seen his playing time tick up since the All-star break.
Over the past 20 games, Eubanks is averaging 5.6 points and 4.3 rebounds while making 59.2 percent of his shots.
It has been a steep learning curve for Eubanks, who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2018.
He didn’t begin playing basketball until his freshman season at Reynolds High School, outside Portland.
“Obviously if you play a different sport and then come in late, the learning curve is a little different,” guard Derrick White said. “He’s definitely skilled. He’s only going to get better and keep getting more and more confidence.”
Even so, the Spurs tried to give Eubanks’ minutes away when they signed veteran center Gorgui Dieng on March 29.
Dieng was injured in his first five minutes on the floor for the Spurs and has appeared in only three games.
Popovich has had no choice but to go back to Eubanks as his first big man off the bench. Eubanks has delivered.
In Monday’s victory in Orlando, Eubanks posted 10 points and 10 rebounds in 20 bruiseinducing minutes for his first NBA double-double.
“I feel like I have the physical tools and the athletic ability to do that every night,” Eubanks said. “It’s more so just keeping my head in it and focusing and bringing that same energy every night.
“I feel like 10 and 10 could be the minimum for me on any given night.”
In Poeltl, Eubanks has a role model for how to thrive doing dirty work.
Eubanks’ mantra: “I’m just trying to be more like Jakob.”
It’s not the stuff of a Gatorade jingle, but it is working for Eubanks.
“He’s somebody that I try to model my game after because, like I said, I’m just trying to keep things simple, so he sets a great example,” Eubanks said. “I always ask him on the bench, ‘Hey what do you see or what can I do?’ and he’s always there to help me.”
The skills sets of Poeltl and Eubanks are somewhat redundant. Neither is going to score much from outside the paint.
That is one reason the Spurs made the move to bring in a floor-spreading big man like Dieng, who was shooting better than 47 percent from the 3-point line with Memphis before coming to San Antonio.
It is here Eubanks would ( jokingly) like to remind the Spurs’ staff of his status as the most accurate 3-point shooter in franchise history.
He is 2 for 2 from beyond the arc in his career.
“Maybe I’ll miss one next year or something,” Eubanks said.
Until then, Eubanks aims to do what he does best as a baseball player turned basketballer who would have made a good hockey enforcer.
“My main focus is trying to set screens, roll, rebound, defend, block shots and dunk the ball,” Eubanks said. “Not really trying to get any more complicated than that.”
And let the bodies pile up where they may.