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Tickets at Ticket Master
Danny Ainge played on running teams when the Boston Celtics won their last three NBA titles in the 1980s. Now he wants them to run again in his first season in their front office.
They may have just the man to lead the charge in rookie point guard Marcus Banks.
``He's a guy that fits the profile,'' said Ainge, the executive director of basketball operations, ``but I've seen a lot of guys fit the profile and not pan out. So Marcus has to prove that he can do it.''
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The first-round draft pick from UNLV doesn't mind ticketmaster the pressure
on him to contribute quickly.
``It's a great feeling for those guys to be basically looking at me like I've been here three or four years,'' Banks said. ``I have a lot to prove and I have no problem with that.''
Last season, Tony Delk and J.R. Bremer, neither an experienced point guard, shared the job. But forward Antoine Walker brought the ball up much of the time.
``It takes away from some of Antoine's game,'' Ainge said. ``I think it forced him to play more on the perimeter.''
Walker and Paul Pierce are still the Celtics' most dangerous offensive players, and zones make it tougher to run as teams did in the 1980s when Boston had Larry Bird and the Los Angeles Lakers had Magic Johnson.
Ainge just wants his team, which was swept by up-tempo New Jersey in last season's Eastern Conference semifinals, to know ticketmaster how to run so it can capitalize on steals and defensive rebounds.
Too often last season, defensive pressure kept Boston from running and that left too little time to set up a good shot.
``We've got to try to create easy buckets and, hopefully, adding Marcus, a point guard with some speed, we can, hopefully, do that a little bit,'' Walker said.
The 6-foot-2 Banks spent two seasons at Dixie College in Utah, then averaged 17.3 points and 3.5 assists in two seasons at Las Vegas. He was drafted by Memphis with the 13th pick on June 26, then sent to Boston in a trade involving three other draftees.
Mike James, a free agent who spent two seasons with Miami, also can play point guard but Banks should get the best shot at the job.
He played with Walker and Pierce this summer and has competed against NBA guards Steve Francis, Gilbert Arenas, Baron Davis, Gary Payton ticketmaster and Chauncey Billups.
``I held my own
on the court,'' Banks said. ``I'm a good player. They're good players.''