Suns Want To Trade Marcus Banks

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Suns may look to move disappointing Banks
By Jerry Brown, Tribune
December 16, 2006
With the Dec. 15 deadline for trading players with new contracts now passed, the Suns may be gauging outside interest in guard Marcus Banks with an eye toward unburdening themselves of the five-year, $21 million contract he signed this summer.

Banks continues to struggle coming off the bench and his playing time has shriveled away. He played a total of 24 minutes on the just-completed five-game road trip as coach Mike D’Antoni has gone more exclusively with an eightman rotation — with Leandro Barbosa backing up Steve Nash at the point.

Banks hasn’t played more than 10 minutes since playing 15 in Portland on Nov. 26.

The Suns could be in the market for another big man off the bench who brings a shot-blocking presence in the middle, and will be watching trades such as the pending Allen Iverson deal to look for opportunities.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=80699

[JMarkJohns]

We;ve been talking about this elsewhere for a few weeks now and while a player like Hunter or Gadzuric could be had, not too many actually think a team would want Banks right now. He's still got potential and perhaps the games with Minnesota are still fresh within GMs minds, but his market was non-existant this past summer and now his minutes with the Suns are the same. He's got little to no trade value, save to a team in desperate need of a PG, something that can be said about both Philly and Milwaukee, but to the extent to eat 21-million of Banks?

Woulda/Shoulda/Coulda taken Marcus Williams in the draft. What a moronic move. Still pissed about that. :pctoss

[JamStone]

Marcus Williams is more of a half-court type point guard. Plus, he's never been in that great of shape for a point guard. While extremely skilled, Marcus Williams probably would struggle in the Suns system as well.

[baseline bum]

8-man rotation in December? That D'Antoni's a hell of a coach.

[timvp]

We;ve been talking about this elsewhere for a few weeks now and while a player like Hunter or Gadzuric could be had, not too many actually think a team would want Banks right now. He's still got potential and perhaps the games with Minnesota are still fresh within GMs minds, but his market was non-existant this past summer and now his minutes with the Suns are the same. He's got little to no trade value, save to a team in desperate need of a PG, something that can be said about both Philly and Milwaukee, but to the extent to eat 21-million of Banks?

Woulda/Shoulda/Coulda taken Marcus Williams in the draft. What a moronic move. Still pissed about that. :pctoss

Don't foget Nate Robinson. Or Sergio Rodriguez for that matter.

[JMarkJohns]

Marcus Williams is more of a half-court type point guard. Plus, he's never been in that great of shape for a point guard. While extremely skilled, Marcus Williams probably would struggle in the Suns system as well.

That's why in two games vs. the Suns he's had his two best games of the season? I'm not following your logic. He's an instinctive pass-first PG that has a good jumper and good off the dribble ability. He's big and can defend pretty well and on top of all his skills, he would be making next to nothing compared to Banks.

Williams in a Suns tempo: 2 games with an average of 22.5 points, 4.5 assists on 68% from the floor in an average of 25.4 minutes per game.

Granted, it's vs. the Suns defense, but it clearly shows he's capable of playing within an uptempo offense as both games were fast-paced.

[JMarkJohns]

Don't foget Nate Robinson. Or Sergio Rodriguez for that matter.

Still haven't seen the latter play, but the Suns would not have picked Robinson there. That was a Thomas pick all the way. They would have went with Francisco Garcia more than likely. Still, PG's were available. Travis Deiner and Monta Ellis were both taken early to mid-second.

Though, again, that pick went to New York along with Richardson for Kurt Thomas, who was more of a need than a backup PG at the time.

Still, their past draft was inexcuseable.

[RonMexico]

Still haven't seen the latter play, but the Suns would not have picked Robinson there. That was a Thomas pick all the way. They would have went with Francisco Garcia more than likely. Still, PG's were available. Travis Deiner and Monta Ellis were both taken early to mid-second.

Though, again, that pick went to New York along with Richardson for Kurt Thomas, who was more of a need than a backup PG at the time.

Still, their past draft was inexcuseable.

Sergio Rodriguez is good, but I think he's much more of a project at this point in time - he can turn the ball over more than Barbosa and that's difficult to do. He has great court vision and a nice jumper, but sometimes tries to force things a little too much and that's probably due to his youth. We've seen with Houston's Spanoulis out of Greece, who completely destoryed the US in the World Championships, that European guards are still having adjustment periods when they start in the NBA.

I'm not only pissed about passing on Marcus Williams (who might have played well against the Suns also to prove they should have taken him), but also that they passed on Jordan Farmar who is playing great for the Lakers and we all know Phil doesn't play rookies that much, so he must be really good in practice too. The Banks signing was stupid and I knew that this summer, but I thought he could pull it off because he's young, athletic, has good on-ball defense, and has a decent shot. But you know he must be having trouble if their best option is Barbosa at the point right now.

I mean, I'd even prefer a little Diaw/Rose handling the ball for stretches while Steve is out. Sometimes I think D'Antoni should look at slowing down the offense a little bit when Nash is out of the game and moving Barbosa to SG. They could leave Amare and Diaw to post up in there and draw some double teams. Boy do they miss Eddie House this year...

[Axl Van Dam]

8-man rotation in December? That D'Antoni's a hell of a coach.

:reading That eight man rotation will be their undoing come the playoffs. :reading

[RonMexico]

:reading That eight man rotation will be their undoing come the playoffs. :reading

Hence - they better move Marcus Banks fast...

[ChumpDumper]

I still don't know why anyone in their right mind would've given Banks that ridiculous contract when all he has shown is the ability to run really fast.

If you're looking for a big man who can block and rebound, don't even wait to trade and call up this guy:

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/justin_williams/index.html