ISO with Dalano Banton | Portland Trail Blazers

ISO with Dalano Banton | Portland Trail Blazers

all my name is Delano banson I’m a guard and I play for the Poland TR Blazers basketball I don’t know I think just watching and just seeing it definitely just playing it kind of just falling in love with it over time I’m from Toronto Canada we had a great childhood had a lot of fun times um just always grew up hooping outside courts playing in the rec centers wherever I just got a chance to play runs I grew up in like a community type Vibe you need sugar you go to your neighbor you don’t walk to the store but I think I grew up in a neighborhood where a lot of people just fall into the wrong tracks fall into the wrong things so just kind of using basketball to stay out the way staying in the gym I was going after school getting home very late waking up early going back to school so I feel like that was great man I had a great opportunity you know everyone around me everyone in my neighborhood pushed me to do so just kind of trying to be positive so I feel like I was blessed with that truck my last year of high school I kind of like got a lot better and then College I went to Western Kentucky played there a year here transfer I met um Fred hyberg who got the head coaching job in Nebraska and um yeah from there like we clicked you know Fred he played in the NBA he was a head coach did front office stuff so you know I feel like it put me in a great position you know he has the direct link to the NBA he was going to let me play point guard which is a big thing for me for recruitment wise that’s what I wanted to do I wanted to play point to show that you know I could be a tall guard you know trying to just find ways to through that process thr what I can do and show my translation of my game from college to the when I was going into the draft process and like they asked Management in front offices where they think you’ll land I got my thing back and said I would be undrafted uh 100% sure got a lot of workouts got good feedback so I decided to stay in the draft and um yeah I just continued with the workouts I ended up getting drafted to the Raptors so like I was the first person from Toronto to get drafted to the Raptors I felt like I had two dreams coming true cuz I used to grow up going to Raptors games like we used to get tickets through our neighborhood crazy and then I got to play for the Raptor had some good stretches But ultimately I never you know got the opportunity that I wanted just try to find somewhere where I could build a name for myself in the league aside from just being like a HomeTown kid I actually want to play I want to build a name for myself build something for my family so that was when I went to Boston definitely had a great opportunity there but yeah man just going there putting my head down working I got to see the guys in front of me play which I feel like helped me a lot actually maximized my opportunity there um just by learning just by getting the preparation that I needed for this opportunity that I got here I remember I told Joe like you guys gave me a great opportunity and you know it doesn’t come around very often so just kind of Meet the preparation with the opportunity as NBA players we know that at any time that call could be made you could be traded so just man whether you’re not playing or you’re playing you just got to trust in your routine trust in your work um stick to it um you never know when your name or your number is going to be called through all the work that I put in I came in with a great mindset of just being confident being confident in myself from Dayan chy believed in me also knowing that like you know a lot of people that I played with too um you know believe in my game so yeah you build um longlasting relationships um with a lot of players with a lot of development guys a lot of coaches waking up every day every morning you grinding on the court together um you’re working hard putting in the time putting in the sweat putting in the [Applause] [Music] hours no one will got me here and there’s a long way to go looking forward to contribute to winning I’m that’s that’s everything so yeah man I’m just grateful for I’m grateful to you know have the opportunity to be tired from the game

Learn more about the Toronto native who made a splash at the end of last season.

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