Not ready to give up on Banks just yet...

[azirish]

To me a "volume scorer" is someone who shoots a lot but has a low percentage. Last night Banks shot 13 of 19 from the field and 4 of 6 for three plus 12 of 14 from the line. He even had 6 rebounds.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520700018

It would be even more encouraging if Banks had more asists, but considering how poorly the rest of the starters shot, that might not be representative of his play. Only Tucker at 5 of 9 shot over 50% and two of those buckets came late when the Cavs were totally focused on trying to stop Banks.

BTW, it looks like Banks defense was pretty good. None of the Cav's guards shot well although it is not clear who was guarding whom.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

To me a "volume scorer" is someone who shoots a lot but has a low percentage. Last night Banks shot 13 of 19 from the field and 4 of 6 for three plus 12 of 14 from the line. He even had 6 rebounds.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520700018

It would be even more encouraging if Banks had more asists, but considering how poorly the rest of the starters shot, that might not be representative of his play. Only Tucker at 5 of 9 shot over 50% and two of those buckets came late when the Cavs were totally focused on trying to stop Banks.

BTW, it looks like Banks defense was pretty good. None of the Cav's guards shot well although it is not clear who was guarding whom.

My assessment is that in NBA games where people actually can stick with you make Banks mostly an outside scorer. He can drive at times but if you recall he rarely had the looks he had last night. The summer league is what it is Banks is much better than the competition and he was hot that's going to get you a great percentage. If you watch warm ups they all are better than I could ever dream of being, yes even Unior. So my assessment in general is Banks is a player than is going to shoot 40-45% at best.

So answer me this, if you have Banks out there and the lineup is Barbosa, Hill, Banks, Amare and Shawn who takes less shots so that Marcus Banks can shoot more? Why wouldn't defense be his #1 job in that rotation?

 

[azirish]

The key to Banks will be his decision making, ie passing rather than taking contested shots. If he does not try to force things on offense, his defense can be allowed to work.

BTW, my preference would be to avoid having Marion take outside shots. The reason he's open is because opponents don't respect his shot which turns out to be a sound decision by them.

 

[F-Dog]

I like the outside shooting. That's an improvement over last season.



With Diaw off the bench, Banks shouldn't have to run any offense. He just needs to make smart SG decisions and play decent PG defense.

People wanted to anoint him PG over Barbosa last year, which was ridiculous because Barbosa had so much more experience with D'Antoni. What the Suns need from Banks is for him to play like Lindsay Hunter--aggressive D, hit shots when he's open, and make plays when the opportunity is there.

 

[OldDirtMcGirt]

The problem with Banks is that he isn't a good fit at all for D'Antoni's system. And since D'Antoni is apparently incapable of change, I doubt if you'll see a real increase in production from last year unless Mike learns how to change and adapt styles.

 

[azirish]

The problem with Banks is that he isn't a good fit at all for D'Antoni's system. And since D'Antoni is apparently incapable of change, I doubt if you'll see a real increase in production from last year unless Mike learns how to change and adapt styles.

If Banks shoots like he did on Monday, he'll play. Obviously, I'm not counting on it.

As for whether he's a fit for the D'Antoni system, only time will tell. Every year Mike has been here, the team has had some radical changes. The only constant is that his teams WILL push the ball.

 

[Errntknght]

The problem with Banks is that he isn't a good fit at all for D'Antoni's system.

The biggest reason that Banks was not a fit last year was that he didn't shoot well enough - not nearly as well as he did with Minnesota. I'm not saying he was good at operating the offense but he was about the same as Barbosa as far as getting assists with more TOs.

The problem is that even if he returns to his Minnesota shooting form he still won't be as accurate as Barbs. I tend to agree that in order to get time in the regular rotation he has to be a very good defender every time on the floor - which he was not last year. He had some good outings on D but he was not consistently good. His defense in the one summer league game so far was not good either - he was going way under screens and couldn't pick up his man without fouling him. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was the one responsible but the few traps the team tried didn't work at all.

On the other hand, we are going to be very thin at guard this year if we have only Barbosa to back up both positions and Nash will be playing long minutes again. Throw in a backcourt injury and we're in pretty dire straits. Yeah, Hill could fill in some at SG but I'll bet that D'Antoni plays Raja way more at SF than he does Hill at SG - he's always liked Nash, Barbs and Raja on the floor together.

 

[azirish]

His defense in the one summer league game so far was not good either - he was going way under screens and couldn't pick up his man without fouling him. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was the one responsible but the few traps the team tried didn't work at all.

I would guess that four days of practice was not enough to have anybody play good team defense. DX said he played hard on defense, which is about all I can ask. As for going under screens, it did not seem to make a difference since the Cavs guards didn't shoot very well; but it's something to pay attention to.

 

[Errntknght]

As for going under screens, it did not seem to make a difference since the Cavs guards didn't shoot very well; but it's something to pay attention to.

It made a difference in the game I watched because the Cleveland guards were driving, not putting up jumpers.