Hope he enjoys Maine in the winter.

We usually get a nice thaw going in January or so.

Hope he enjoys Maine in the winter.

He’s from Canada so he’s unlikely to mind too much.

Banton might find some time if we really push the ball next year. He's solid in the open court and has some nice passing. He can really get up and down the court. I'm also seeing different measurements for his height. 6'7" or 6'9" in shoes with a 6'10" wingspan. He would be very switchable...

Who diss.?

What an interesting pickup. Unique body and game: he’s a push-it-up 6’9” pass-first point guard. Has great length, good footwork, good handles. As far as scoring goes, he’s got ball skills around the hoop, and is an excellent finisher - otherwise, the shooting is mediocre. If he’s going to crack the rotation he’ll need to contribute more to the half-court offense.

He fits the Ujiri profile of 6’9” and long. Has good potential at guarding 2-4 and being a solid team defender. Blocks shots (4.5%, really good; compare Porzingis last year at 4.0%), and gets deflections and steals (2.3%, same as Marcus Smart last season).

He’s 23, unique, and cheap. Definitely worth a try.

Does he make the team out of camp?

I don't get the negativity. I really liked what I saw of Banton when he played against the Celtics the past 2 years. He's a young, versatile guard with size and length who plays hard and shows signs of good bball IQ. Sure he has some flaws in his game he needs to work on, especially shooting, but he's a 3rd year vet min signing. It's a solid addition for wing/guard depth with potential for improvement.

I think the negativity comes from the fact that a good chunk of the board would like someone who’s more guaranteed to slide into minutes, especially given the injury problems we dealt with at the end of the playoffs.  Is Banton actually going to get playing time if guys in front of him go down?  Brissett?  Walsh?  Davison?  Is Champagnie going to stay on the roster?  What about Kornet?  Are we going to keep Grant, or are we going to have missed out on actual rotation players by the time Grant signs somewhere else too expensive for us?

I like the Banton signing in a vacuum.  He clearly has some things to offer.  I get the negativity in the context of the totality of the back-end of the roster, and how we needed a functional back-end of the roster 6 weeks ago.  I’m holding judgment until the roster is finished, because I think there is at least one more trade coming, but our roster right now is a solid front 7, two guys who Joe wouldn’t play when we needed bodies (PP and Hauser), two other guys who were lower still in the pecking order, and three new question marks.  With the fragility of all three of our bigs, as well as Brogdon, we need a solid front 9, not front 7, and we’re not there right now, with most players off the board and 14 players under contract.  I get the concern.  But I’m interested in seeing what Banton looks like in year 3.