Homegrown and growing
Rookie Banton is everything team hoped for — and he keeps improving
SAN FRANCISCO Fred VanVleet is sitting on a chair outside the visiting team locker room at the Chase Center winding up a wideranging conversation when the chat turns to his young Raptors teammate, Dalano Banton.
VanVleet’s eyebrows raise a bit, he’s a bit animated as he says:
“The kid is really talented. He doesn’t make a ton of mistakes and he plays really hard. He’s fearless and I like him.”
About 15 minutes later, as his team goes through its warm-up work before practice, Nick Nurse is standing at courtside when the same topic, Banton, is broached.
“Exciting to see,” is the coach’s endorsement. “When we have him on the floor, I really like the way things look. Spacing’s good, the ball’s moving, he gets it started early.
“There’s a lot about him to like. I think it’s awesome.”
For sure, there are gaps in Banton’s game, just like there are gaps in the skill set of every NBA rookie.
He doesn’t have the handles of Kyrie Irving and his dribble could be tighter and more efficient; he doesn’t shoot it like Stephen Curry and he seems hesitant to even throw up the odd three-pointer.
But Banton’s a 22-year-old rookie who should be in his second season at Nebraska working on his skills and his draft stock, rather than playing about 18 minutes a night with his hometown NBA team.
That’s the prism through which Banton should be viewed.
“His shot is not broken,” VanVleet said.
“I think it’s one of those things were he’s got to get the reps and he’s got to get the experience.
“You see flashes of it, he’ll hit some pull-ups, he’ll hit some threes every now and then and he can play. He plays really fast, he knows the game.”
Banton’s under no illusions about what he means to the Raptors and what his job is: A tempo-changer and a disruptive defender.
He plays super fast but tends to stay in control. Things happen quickly and usually for the good when he gets on the court. Nurse likes to at least start him off with an older safety-valve backcourt partner in Fred VanVleet so that Banton doesn’t have to immediately shoulder all the team-running burden, but once the six-foot-seven rookie gets his feet wet each game, the coach gives him some alone time in the backcourt.
“I'm just kind of looking to improve just whenever my name is called,” Banton said. “Go out there and play to my strengths.
Both Nurse and VanVleet praised Banton for his innate knowledge of the game. There little tricks he can learn and should over the rest of this season that will make him a better player in the long run.
“His reads will continue to slow down for him,” VanVleet said. “I think that’s the biggest drop-off right now.”
Banton’s going to get time unless he runs smack dab into the rookie wall and regresses to the point that he’s hurting the team. But if he just goes through the usual ups and downs that rookies do, he’s going to be able to work through mistakes and learn from them.
“I just want to get him a little bit more solid on ‘D’, think he got out of position a couple of times (Sunday against the Golden State Warriors) but … he has a great feel for the game,” Nurse said.
It should only get better. “We’re a month into his rookie year so he’ll be all right,” VanVleet said.