Banks cashing in on chance

Sean Banks sees life differently now.
He is no longer the hotshot freshman at the University of Memphis or the athletic freak at Bergen Catholic (New Jersey).
Still only 23, Banks is nevertheless an intriguing prospect. But the time to waste opportunities is gone, he says. If he is to get another shot at the NBA, which he says he is determined to do, then he’ll do so out of the spotlight.
The East Elmhurst product is again lighting up scoreboards, but he can’t be found on national television anywhere, as was the case in 2003-04, when he was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year and ESPN.com’s National Freshman of the Year.
The 6-foot-8 Banks is leading the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA’s Developmental League (NBDL) in scoring, averaging 22.1 points per game. He recently competed in the D-League’s All-Star game in New Orleans, in the same venue and setting as the NBA’s stars, but also far from that stage.
The NBDL is another world, full of talented individuals such as Banks, who’ve made the wrong turn at one point or another. Unlike the NBA’s private jets and five-star hotel accommodations, Banks and the D-Fenders mostly travel via bus. Their flights, few as they may be, are cramped, often taking off in the wee hours of the morning.
“It’s tough,” he said, “but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Banks enjoyed a taste of the NBA life, back in 2005-06, with the New Orleans Hornets. He also played with their NBDL affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers, and landed with the D-Fenders last year.
Banks’ talent has never come into question while he was leading Bergen Catholic to a New Jersey Class A championship as a junior, being named an all-state player his final two years there, or taking Memphis by storm as a freshman. It was his immaturity that rubbed his coaches the wrong way.
The poor decisions - and ultimately what brought him to the NBDL - began the summer after that remarkable freshman year. Banks was invited to tryout for the 2004 World Championships by Team USA for their Young Men’s qualifying team. Banks never showed. He said he skipped the invitation to be with friends, that he was homesick.
“That was a lack of maturity,” he said. “I always look back and think I should’ve played.”
It was not his first misstep. The summer before his senior year at Bergen Catholic, Banks was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of associating with gang members. He pleaded guilty, was fined, and suspended four games that season. As a sophomore at Memphis, poor grades caused his dismissal from the team in mid-season, and declared himself eligible for the draft that June.
“The summer between his freshman and sophomore year, I don’t know what happened,” Memphis Coach John Calipari said. “It went south in a hurry.”
Even when he was with the Hornets and the 66ers, his agent Max Etienne said Banks was caught up with the wrong crowd, still making poor decisions. Etienne had known Banks for several years, going back to his days at Bergen Catholic. They live in the same New Jersey town of Oradell. Over the summer, they had a series of talks, about maturity and growing up. Etienne took on Banks as one of his clients with Pro Sports Solutions. Moreover, when the D-Fenders season began, Coach Dan Panaggio saw a different Sean Banks.
“The reason he’s playing so well is because his approach is different,” Panaggio said. “He’s getting to practice earlier. He is going through the drills with more purpose. I noticed from Day 1, he is a little bit more serious about his career. He knows he cannot just float through and expect to get a great result. He’s putting blood, sweat and tears into this.”
“For him to make that All-Star game, it means he has begun to change,” Calipari said. “It means that people are no longer enabling him. I would say the next step is now that you’re at the top of the mountain, do you revert, do you slide back, or do you say, ‘Man, I screwed up, I’m not going to let that happen again.’”
Banks says he appreciates the game of basketball more, and the opportunity he has been given. He knows there is no messing around; it is his career and his living, his livelihood.
“We talk about this daily - there’s no shortcuts around it, there’s no easy way out of this, all you have to do is play hard, do the right things, stay out of trouble, make sure good people are around you all the time,” Etienne said. “He’s done all the things that should garner him a call-up. With the right guidance, I feel the sky’s the limit for him.”
“If he wants to get there, I’m pretty sure he can get there,” said Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva, a childhood friend of Banks. “He’s got the talent.”
“I was committed, but I think I’m a lot more committed now,” Banks said. “Everything is on the line. I just think of what I have to do each day to make a career out of this.”