Watch: Fred VanVleet Says Dalano Banton Will be a 'Problem' if He Develops a Three-Point Shot
Back in Summer League, the Toronto Raptors gave rookie second-round pick Dalano Banton a challenge. He'd played in a fast-paced offense at Nebraska, but the Raptors wanted more from the 6-foot-9 point guard. They wanted him to turn up the pace to ludicrous speed. They wanted him to get opposing defenses on their heels, going all-out all the time and create as many fastbreak and transition opportunities as possible.
The change took Banton some getting used to. He spent training camp and preseason working with assistant coach and former NBA guard Earl Watson trying to learn how to stay composed with the increased pace. It's one thing to go fast, it's another to stay in control at that speed, as Banton learned.
"For me being a rookie, it feels really fast," Banton said back in the preseason. "So I’m kinda just trying to slow the game down in my head and make things work."
Just five games into the season, Banton seems to have figured it out. The moment he checks into games the pace immediately revs up. He's the hard-throwing reliever coming out of the bullpen following the crafty veteran throwing 90-something breaking balls.
"I think the biggest thing is he injects an easy basket or two into the game pretty quickly," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday. "It seems, there [are] moments when they're hard to come by whether it's just the other team playing great defense, lack of execution, getting a great shot that doesn’t go in, or whatever, and he seemed to get one to the front of the rim or get somebody one to the front of the rim to kind of keep us rolling."
So far this season, the Raptors have played at a pace of 103.90 possessions per game when Banton is on the court. That's five possessions more than the almost 99 possession pace the Raptors have played at when Fred VanVleet leads the charge.
"That’s a skill in the NBA, being able to push the pace, collapse the defense and once I think he gets a couple more gears – slow, he’ll be even more dangerous out there moving and it’s hard to guard," VanVleet said.
Right now, Banton is sort of a one-trick pony. To borrow from baseball again, he's a one-pitch pitcher with a killer fastball. The key, as VanVleet said, is developing a secondary pitch, learning to slow things down when he has to, learning to shoot the three-pointer a little bit more, something he struggled with in college, and developing some more half-court pick-and-roll skills.
"Sometimes you make passes you think are open and they’re not and that’s something that you’ll learn but his eyes are always in the right spot," VanVleet said Wednesday. "From Day 1, I just told him to shoot the three, that’s probably his only issue he’s gonna have and he stepped up and knocked two down, 2-for-3 tonight. He’s gonna be a problem if he knocks those down."
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