Pete Marasmitch is all about protecting the interests of Roko Ukic. With Jermaine O’Neal proving healthy and the Miami trade still on the front burner, it would be wise to find out what kind of player Marcus Banks is — become equipped to destroy him as we did Will Solomon, if you will. Therefore, I tapped into the blogosphere and created

• Full name: Arthur Lemarcus Banks III
• Position: Guard
• 6′2″, 200 lbs.
• Born: November 19, 1981

Let’s start with the professional opinion of John Hollinger:

Banks is incredibly fast, especially going to his right, and his blazing speed makes him a real threat in transition. In the half-court, though, his games lacks refinement — too often he dribbles into trouble, and he lacks the court vision to find the open man. Banks had also been an erratic shooter until last season.

Defensively, Banks is strong and quick and excels at pressuring the ball, but he can overdo it at times and pick up cheap fouls in the backcourt. He cut his foul rate last season but it was still the sixth-highest among point guards at 4.65 per 40 minutes.

2008-09 outlook: … the best role for Banks would be as a combo guard off the bench, where his failings as a distributor would be less glaring.

Banks was known for poor shooting and decision making early on. Has he improved at all over his five seasons in the league? Surely there were positive signs in Boston (2003-05), right, Justin Poulin (Celtics Stuff Live)?

Marcus Banks is an extremely undersized shooting guard, and the fact that he prefers to score at the rim is either a statement as to his intelligence or his stubborn nature. Since he left Boston before I acquired credentialed access to the Celtics locker room, I will never know which. His tendency to drive at the rim with reckless abandon would not be so bad if he had any inclination to kick the pass out to the corner, which he does not. He has limited range on his jumper and most marginal point guards in the league do not survive with poor perimeter shooting. His luck runs out with his contract in ‘10-’11 and he’ll head overseas.

When forced to mention Banks’ positive qualities I would say that he is physically quick, a halfway decent on-ball defender and a bit of a gambler in the passing lanes.

If he couldn’t find a way to succeed in Phoenix then he’s not likely to do so anywhere else. The offense under D’Antoni was about as close to ideal for his game as he can expect to get during his professional career. Remember, Phoenix signed him to a low mid-level deal and shipped their first-round pick that year to Boston, Rajon Rondo… Uh oh, Snap, Ouch!

Ah yes, the Suns, and the mid-level deal that doesn’t end soon enough — $4,260,000 (’08-’09) / $4,553,793 (’09-’10) / $4,847,586 (’10-’11). But before Banks ended up in Phoenix, he was packaged off to Minnesota (second half of 2005-06 season). Wasn’t he better there, Wyn (Canis Hoopus)?

He played 40 games and averaged 31 minutes for the Wolves after being traded from Boston to Minny. The biggest thing I recall is that McHale talked about what big part of the trade Banks was, that he really wanted him. So much so that he agreed to put the 1st rounder in that trade.

I think the fact that Banks’ strengths and weaknesses today are the same as they were coming into the league is the very reason that he’s struggling now. I’d say speed and defense are his strengths (they were when he played in Minny), but shooting and the ability to run an offense were his weaknesses. But, again, I think those have been true for him his entire career.

He was able to put up 12/3/4.7 with 1.2 steals on 48% shooting, but I think it’s clear now that he was playing toward free agency. Once the Suns gave him a 5-year deal, he went right back to mental lapses and sloppy play.

I will say that a motivated Banks was fun to watch that half of the year. He wasn’t asked to do much on a team with KG, Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Trenton Hassell, Rashad McCants, etc., and he made some exciting breakaway plays with his speed. But even at the time, no one in Minnesota was upset that the Wolves let Banks take Phoenix’s deal without offering a better one.

Contract year — didn’t think of that. Sure worked out for him. What did you see, College Wolf (TWolves Blog)?

My first response would be to say, I remember him scoring a bunch of points in a handful of games, but other than that he was largely unspectacular. To be fair, I think the reason his best statistical season was with the Wolves can be attributed to playing alongside Kevin Garnett. If you take some time to look at the roster of playoff teams in the Wolves history, you’ll see that they are largely KG and filler. What I am getting at is that KG can (and does) make everyone around him better. So that would be my guess as to why it might look like Banks did well during his short time in Minnesota.

To go a bit more in-depth, his strengths were that he was strong and had great quickness, particularly when taking the ball to the hoop. If I remember correctly, he was somewhere between an “average at best” and “horrific” jump shooter. I remember cringing whenever he would shoot, and especially when he’d hoist up three-point bricks. However, myself and other fans did like the way that he would take the ball to the rack on occasion, resulting in a pretty lay-up, or more often, foul shots. So he did have that going for him. He was capable of making some great passes and setting up teammates, but he was largely inconsistent in that facet. Banks would be prone to turning the ball over with much more frequency than you’d see a spectacular pass.

I can’t say that he was a great point guard by any means, and I think his floor vision was probably average at best. I don’t remember him being a leader on the court by any means, so that doesn’t bode well either. Other weaknesses were that he was not a good defender, although he had the quickness and size. I just don’t think he “got it” on the defensive end. He was tantalizing in that regard, because he had all the tools to be a good defender, but just couldn’t put it together into a complete package. I already spoke of his poor shooting from anywhere that wasn’t a lay-up, and if I remember correctly there were a lot of issues regarding his attitude and character when he came on board with the Wolves. I don’t think his reputation served him well on our squad, nor has it probably since then. Thank God the Suns signed him away from us.

Wow, big build up for his time in Phoenix (2006-2008) where, “in 2007, the Suns spent training camp working Banks into a shooting-guard role when they were not seeking a trade.” Take it away, Sons of Steve Nash:

When Marcus Banks was playing with the Suns he showed some very promising skills in his games. Potentially he looked like the long-term solution to the backup PG question the Suns had, and still have, of course.

He was good in the open court, a decent outside shooter. Don’t forget he was scoring over 12 points a game, with almost 5 assists with the Wolves the year before. He was even a solid one-on-one defender. He was perceived to be an upcoming player, perfect to give the Suns 20 minutes every night.

What happened in Phoenix? Tough to tell, maybe the big contract took some of the fire out of him, but I believe he got lost in D’Antoni’s game. The Suns’ game was built around Nash’s unique skills. What seemed chaos was indeed the most perfect
organized system in the game, but it required first of all a bright basketball mind and the ability to understand plays developing before they happened … it’s not easy to build an offensive play in less than 7 seconds, it means you have to think faster than the defense.

Add the fact that D’Antoni never showed the needed patience to develop young players. Amaré was the only rookie to play significant minutes for Mike in his 4 years in Phoenix.

Marcus was overrated, that’s for sure, but I think he could still be a much better player than he’s showing. I think he could be a 20 minute, 10 point, 4 assists back up PG if put in the right situation. He’s still relatively young and should be able to regain his focus. Maybe he could use a year or two in Europe…

Another vote for Europe, a likely destination since he now plays sporadically in Miami.

Well, I now see why his relatively small contract is avoided like the plague.

No need to worry, Roko.