“His swag is through the roof.” But Raptors’ newcomer Dalano Banton has found a way to stay grounded in his hometown

MIAMI Another young man may have been overwhelmed by the circumstances and surrendered to them.

A less young man may have played largely for the NBA team in his hometown, the first Canadian ever drafted by the Raptors and one who exploded on the scene early in the season.

It would not have been unusual for someone like Dalano Banton to kiss a little, rest on his laurels, spend all his available time with family and friends and other pendants who would like to know and with an NBA player to hang out. .

But Banton somehow escaped it all.

He works on his art and finds ways to improve, and has not in the least conceded to outside influences.

“Basketball is so much of my time, everyone kind of understands that I will not be in the area that much. I can not see people every day, ”the Rexdale native said here before the Raptors faced the Miami Heat on Saturday night.

“Everyone wants the best for me. Nobody pushes me to do something or to see someone or anything like that. I’m grateful for that. Your support team is what will help keep you off track. ”

This level of maturity of the 22-year-old not only suits him well. Keeping his priorities straight has enabled him to endure some typical difficult times in his rookie season.

“The rookie life, it’s the ups and downs of it,” teammate Fred VanVleet said of Banton. “It takes time to understand how to get it every night. It takes time to understand what it takes to do it every night.

“One game is fun and it’s cool. Two games is cool, but can you do it every night? That’s how you become a player in this league, by being able to bring a certain level of achievement every night. ”

In his rookie season, Raptor Dalano Banton, who was raised by Rexdale, found a balance of the track that helped his game.

Because Banton could only concentrate on basketball – not always a given with a rookie, and certainly not one who has the profile in his city that Banton has – his game came back.

He started gangbusters – a long, fast wait that had an impact on games simply with his speed and athleticism – but then hit an expected wall. Some of it was the natural progression of NBA rookies; some of it was because the Raptors might have asked Banton too soon.

“To be honest with you, we may have overloaded him there for a while,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “He played like five nights in a row (between the NBA and the G-league). Who knows, but our goal was just to give him as many (many) repetitions as he could get, and it seemed like he swerved a bit after that while. ”

Banton’s game did go a bit off track, however, and he rarely got on the field for about three weeks. But some confidence-building games with the Raptors 905 and VanVleet’s absence due to injury, which forced Nurse to use Banton, apparently rejuvenated his game.

“Going up and down the G-League and playing here with the Raptors, I feel like I’m putting myself in a position to have a good, long career,” Banton said. “Everyone here is looking out for me. They never let anything slip with me. “Everyone holds me accountable.”

Banton’s teammates understand what he can do on the track, and what he needs to do about it. They appreciate his professional approach, which focuses on focusing only on basketball. They will support it to the extreme.

“One thing about him: He works hard. I love his energy, I love his personality, his confidence. His swag is through the roof, ”VanVleet said. “He has all the intangible things. He just needs to find out what kind of player he wants to be in the league and just stick to the details, the professionalism of what it takes to be prepared, execute the game plan and do what the coach asks of you. ”

And like the support system that allows Banton not to be distracted to play at home, the basketball support system allows him to learn the game.

“You have to do it every night, and he is definitely capable. We will therefore be there to help him and support him on his journey, but definitely a piece that we can use going forward, ”VanVleet said.

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