Jake Ehlers, a 2012 forward to Portland.

I came across this on Twitter

RT @wreign1: Jake Ehlers, a 2012 forward from Corvallis (OR), has committed to Portland.

Found this story on him

http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/high-school/article_1fce220a-38cb-11e0-98f3-001cc4c03286.html

good Job.

THANKS!

From what I've learned about this new commit, I'm thinking that this is a pretty good recruit for us.

Here's another article about him:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/high-school/article_ebc82832-609a-11e0-8c62-001cc4c002e0.html

Some major highlights from the article:

For the year, Ehlers averaged 22 points and seven rebounds for the 27-1 Spartans.
He shot close to 60 percent from the floor, including 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. He was just as effective in the paint, with the mid-range shot and from 3-point range.

Not to mention that he was also named 5A co-player of the year. From what it seems like, Ehlers is an absolute scoring machine as well as just a good all around player. I'm excited to see what ESPN and others rate him. Nevertheless, it'll be interesting to see who else Reveno can recruit but until then...

GO PILOTS!!!!!!!!

ESPN rated him at a 40. Here's the proof. But, if I have learned one thing from rankings and ratings, it is that they mean nothing. I am excited to see what Coach Reveno can teach this guy.

RipCityPilot wrote:ESPN rated him at a 40.

Actually, that just means they haven't gone to grading him yet.

Nonethless, I completely understand what you mean. Reveno is a great coach. I'm particularly happy that he's also drawing in good players, so with those two in conjunction, that means that the future for our program sure is looking up.

Ehlers looks like a good get, cant have too many guys that know how to put the ball in the hoop.
I am glad he has an outside shot and I hope he can handle the ball because with his height and frame he looks like a 3 to me.
Also the article talks about the knee problems he had as a youth, that always is a bit of a worry considering that college ball is an 11 month grind. Does anyone know about that particular syndrome? Is it something that can re-occur or is is something that once it goes away stays away?

Osteochondritis dissecans has a juvenile form and an adult version. Since he got it as a child and not as an adult, it should not effect him anymore as the bone remodeling phase of an adolescence's growth repairs damaged bone tissue and cartilage. It'd be a totally different story if he had that condition now though.

This is basically the gist that I've gotten from the osteochondritis dissecans wiki page and its references.

RipCityPilot wrote:ESPN rated him at a 40. Here's the proof. But, if I have learned one thing from rankings and ratings, it is that they mean nothing. I am excited to see what Coach Reveno can teach this guy.

I wouldn´t go so far as to say that the ratings mean nothing. I think we absolutely should be excited about the highly touted players that we have coming in next year like Kevin Bailey. But, I think it´s safe to say that ESPN probably does not scout the Corvalis area very well, and this guy probably has an incomplete report card.

A reminder, as Another Pilot Fan said, a 40 rankings from ESPN just means that they haven't rated a player yet. It's the equivalent of a "N/A."

Speaking of ratings, ESPN has officially evaluated Jake Ehlers as an 87 stating the following:

Strengths:
Ehlers has a decent frame with good length and fairly long arms. He runs well in transition and can finish on the break at the rim due to his solid athleticism. He is deceptively bouncy around the paint area and he possesses good instincts for the game. He projects as a stretch 4-man who can knock down the mid-range jump shot. In addition, he has the quickness and savvy (utilizes the pump fake well) to get by his defender at the elbow and finish with either hand through contact.

Weaknesses:
Ehlers must get stronger to be affective at the next level. He has the shoulder width and upper body to put on weight, thus after a solid season of weight lifting and conditioning he should be ready to make an impact. In terms of skills he needs to continue to add to his inside-out game and pivot moves to be a more affective scorer.

Bottom Line:
Ehlers is a relative unknown outside of the Pacific Northwest, but by the time he adds strength and experience to his evolving game, he should be a very productive player for Portland.

Hopefully he can shore up the mentioned shortcomings with his senior year of high school. Still a good 2012 pickup for us though.

Stonehouse wrote:A reminder, as Another Pilot Fan said, a 40 rankings from ESPN just means that they haven't rated a player yet. It's the equivalent of a "N/A."

Well, you learn something new everyday!

Here he is mentioned at the bottom of the linked article as comparing favorably to other Oregon prospects, including the OSU commit.

Note too we are getting our commits earlier than in prior eras which suggests that the players the coaches target are more receptive to our offers.

Welcome Ehlers: Go Pilots!

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/basketball/mens/story/_/id/6799527/marcus-smart-stands-adidas-super-64

Love me some college basketball talk in August.

Something that I'm not sure has been brought up about this, maybe it has I just missed it, but it's awesome that he is local talent. During Rev's first few years he relied heavily on the Seattle area and oversees as well as a few grabs here or there, but the Portland name wasn't strong enough to grab top local talent. But in the past couple of years Rev's and Portland's reputation has been gaining some momentum. But with two solid recruits in two years (David Carr and now Ehlers) we may have some ability to grab some talent that in the past has gone the way of Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, and even Gonzaga. Love it.

Another Pilot Fan wrote:Speaking of ratings, ESPN has officially evaluated Jake Ehlers as an 87 stating the following:

Strengths:
Ehlers has a decent frame with good length and fairly long arms. He runs well in transition and can finish on the break at the rim due to his solid athleticism. He is deceptively bouncy around the paint area and he possesses good instincts for the game. He projects as a stretch 4-man who can knock down the mid-range jump shot. In addition, he has the quickness and savvy (utilizes the pump fake well) to get by his defender at the elbow and finish with either hand through contact.

Weaknesses:
Ehlers must get stronger to be affective at the next level. He has the shoulder width and upper body to put on weight, thus after a solid season of weight lifting and conditioning he should be ready to make an impact. In terms of skills he needs to continue to add to his inside-out game and pivot moves to be a more affective scorer.

Bottom Line:
Ehlers is a relative unknown outside of the Pacific Northwest, but by the time he adds strength and experience to his evolving game, he should be a very productive player for Portland.

Hopefully he can shore up the mentioned shortcomings with his senior year of high school. Still a good 2012 pickup for us though.

Thanks for the link. So, I guess the report card is more complete than we originally thought. Since we have excellent strength trainers, this guy will hopefully develop into quite a player.

A nice, but short discussion of the recruiting interests in Ehlers, together with a note about a player with some Pilot connections:

http://nationalhoopsreport.net/2011/07/18/emptying-the-notepad-from-the-ua-college-view-showcase/

And an excerpt from yet another article regarding the Oregon Underarmour Showcase this summer:

Jake Ehlers

The 6-foot-6 forward out of Corvallis, OR will make one mid-major college program a very smart man when he signs his National Letter of Intent in the fall. A forward that has offers from a collection of the schools in the WCC was one of the event's best players.

Ehlers is a point-forward that has a great back-to-the-basket game with good footwork. A good passer and shooter makes him a hot target on the trail.

Portland was on hand watching his entire games as well as Oregon State, Washington State, Montana State, Portland State, Penn, Princeton, and Seattle.

If Ehlers had played for a more high profile AAU team or in a region more known for basketball players Ehlers would be seeing high major interest.