Shak_Celts wrote:I don't like what I saw from the guys after hauser and pritch.
Banton and Brissy must be great in practice. Ewww.
Here's the amount of playing time for each player, through 4 games:
Joe talks about what he sees in Banton in this vid at :14 and at 2:14
What I see? He's a secondary ball handler. In situations where he's out there with Pritchard and we have a bench unit lineup of Pritchard/Banton/Hauser/Al/KP, having Banton in the game with that lineup gives us another guard - it gives us some more ball handling. Pritchard in a lineup as the only ball handler is not good. We've even seen a few plays where those 2 guys are out there together and Pritchard will defer to Banton and let Banton bring the ball up and initiate offense - maybe that's to lessen the load on Pritchard so he doesn't have to bring the ball up and initiate the offense every time (especially since Banton is arguably better than Pritchard at handling the ball vs tough defensive pressure, getting it across half court, getting to his spots with the ball in his hands, getting downhill, pressuring the rim, seeing over the top of a defense, etc.). And the other reason why I think sometimes Banton brings the ball up (even when Pritchard is out there) is because Pritchard is a really good shooter, whereas Banton is not a good shooter. So Banton can bring the ball up and be the one facilitating the offense, while Pritchard can be the spot up, catch and shoot guy - which is what he does best.
If we had like Lamar or Brissett in there with that group instead of Banton, now we don't have enough ball handling. Too much pressure on Pritchard to handle the ball and run the offense..and Pritchard not able to be a spot up catch and shoot guy as much if he is running the point.
And if we had Svi in there instead of Banton, well now we don't have as much size and defense on the floor. Perhaps Joe doesn't want to have Pritchard, Hauser and Svi all on the floor together at the same time because it would leave us vulnerable defensively. Also, I think Banton is better at running the point and being a secondary ball handler than Svi. Svi can do it if we're really in a pinch, but the strength of his game on offense is moreso spacing the floor, and just spotting up on the perimeter and out there on the wings and in the corners, being a catch and shoot guy, who can sometimes make moves off the dribble to create a shot and be a solid connective passer out on the perimeter. Banton is better at running PnR, a little more comfortable running the point and initiating actions out on the perimeter - so gives us more ball handling and more of a secondary ball handler than Svi. Plus, Banton gives us more size out there (Banton is 6'9" with a 6'10" wingspan, Svi is about 6'6" with a 6'5" wingspan) and Banton is better defensively too.
TL/DR, Banton is a nice option to throw in there from time to time as a 10th man, when we need a secondary ball handler, in lineups where we only have 1 other guard out there (so only 1 out of Pritchard, Jrue, White).
Plus, Joe has also mentioned "he's young" and "I think he's got a chance to be a really good player" about Banton. So I think they like the idea of giving him some minutes here and there as a 10th man, and developing him into a guy who could potentially move up even higher in the rotation down the road.
