Odd Man Out?

Delonte West has practially been handed the starting point guard position this offseason. Orien Greene was given a 3 year deal without playing a single game (even in the summer league). The C's are also looking for a veteran point guard with their $1.6M exception money. So where does that leave Marcus Banks? Rumored to be the bait that gets Blount out of town, thats where.

What happened to this guy? How did he go from being Danny's hand picked point guard to being the least valuable Young Gun? I mean, this time 2 years ago, I was gushing over Marcus after seeing him in only one summer league game (they'll let anyone write those things won't they?). He's got all the tools to be a good to great point guard in this league. Why can't he do that here?

Truth be told, I'm still a fan of Marcus. I've come back down to earth a great deal on his ability to run an offense. In fact, I'd go so far as to say its a struggle for him. However, I think that he has real value to this team, in particular if they continue to stress running the ball and playing defense.

Too many times last year, we let Gary Payton walk the ball up the court instead of pushing it down the defense's throat. At least Marcus would huff it up the court, often times blowing past his shocked looking teammates that should have been filling the lanes around him. In fact, he seemed to do the best when he was working on that second unit that would actually run with him. Plus, I always have a weak spot for a guy that plays good defense and enjoys doing it.

Still, he's never really run the offense the way Doc wants and you can tell he's no longer in Danny's long range plans. Delonte doesn't have his athletic talent, but he's got the head that coaches gush about.

So I guess if you are convinced that a guy is never going to be your main man, and you can sell him off on a team that will pay top dollar for his potential, then you sell high and wish him well.

Then again, I'd still be happy with him being a solid second option and keeping Flash and Cash together for at least another season. But what do I know?