Banks' journey from high school JV "bag boy" to Team USA member
HOUSTON - The 12 members of the USA 18U team that will soon depart for Chile to compete in the FIBA Americas Championship are, obviously, extremely talented. Out of the 12, nine are five-star prospects, including three that have a legitimate chance of being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 (Markelle Fultz) and 2018 (Mohamed Bamba and Michael Porter Jr.) NBA Drafts, and most are names that flew through the grassroots hoops galaxy like shooting stars, and sparkled in the sky long, long before this event.
Then, there is Texas big man James Banks.
Make no mistake about it, Banks, who was a standout member of the La Lumiere (La Porte, Indiana) hoops team that finished national runner-up to Matt Coleman’s Oak Hill Academy team, is extremely deserving of his spot on the USA roster. During the USA 18U trials in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the 6-10.5 big man with a 7-5.25 wingspan constantly changed and blocked shots on defense, ran the floor, showed some offensive skill and ability to finish at the rim, and was the most physical presence. Plus, he positively infected the gym with his constant energy, competitiveness, and talking.
Banks carried that over to Houston, and found out, in a moment that he humorously compared to a popular television show, Tuesday night he made the cut to become a member of the USA team that will compete for gold.
“Felt like an episode of The Bachelor, you know? Felt like The Bachelor,” said Banks as he showed off his funny side with a smile. “You walk outside and there are 12 chairs, you see a Gatorade over there and you’re like, ‘Yeah I got a rose. I live to see another week, you know?’ Of course it’s really exciting… I was really excited, really happy. It was a great feeling to be able to call my mom and tell her I made the team.”
That moment, and the USA games that are on the horizon for Banks are things that he dreamed about. However, if someone could travel back into time and observe Banks then, it’s safe to say they wouldn’t have predicted this.
“The thing is you want it to be possible. This is stuff you dream about,” responded Banks when asked if years ago he event thought this was a possibility. “I’m not sure if I was fooling myself, but I always thought it was possible. It’s something you work towards, a goal. Everyone sets high goals. If you set goals and people don’t think you’re crazy, they’re not high enough. So this is a goal I set for myself. In recent years when I started getting better, they started becoming more attainable. But when I was working and I was in the gym and putting in those hours of work, stuff like this is what I was dreaming about.”
A four-star prospect that finished No. 83 overall in the 2016 Rivals.com rankings, Banks caught the attention of Texas and plenty of other schools. But not the “bluebloods” that are chasing his USA teammates Trae Young, Quade Green, Hamidou Diallo, Bamba, and P.J. Washington, and the ones Texas had to beat for Banks’ Texas teammate and fellow “Fro Bro” Jarrett Allen. Those kinds of players have been household names for a while. Banks took a much different route to his place on the 18U USA team.
Football was Banks’ sport of choice, and he didn’t even really start to play basketball until after his freshman year in high school. In fact, the Longhorn big man couldn’t even get on the floor for his JV team his freshman year, and was an afterthought.
“I really didn’t start playing until the summer of my freshmen year in high school. That freshman year in high school I was the bag boy basically. I really didn’t get a chance to practice with the guys. I didn’t start for my JV team. I barely played for my JV team. Then we went to the state championship and I moved up on varsity, but that was just because I was big. They just like sat me on the bench and I warmed up. We lost in the state championship, and something about that game really fired me up.”
Losing the state championship years ago played a pivotal role in Banks being able to compete for a gold medal in just a few days.
“I was like, ‘This is what I want to do. I’m going to take this seriously. I’m about to work. I’m about to work hard.’ That next day I was working with my trainer,” said Banks about sitting on the bench and watching his team lose the state title. “I was in the gym. I was running, doing this, doing that to get better and to where I want to be.”
Work is probably an understatement.
Banks was a gigantic ball of hoops clay that hadn’t even began to take shape.
The potential was, obviously, extremely high but the starting point was just as low; he really did start from the bottom.
“I couldn’t run in and do a layup. I couldn’t dribble,” said Banks about here he was after that freshman season in high school. “If I tried to go between my legs, I’d lift my leg up and throw it under there. But it was just a process. It was a process. You have to love it if you want to be good at the game.”
Banks does love it, and now he’s here. But he’s not satisfied.
“A lot of people say, ‘Are you satisfied with where you are?’ I’m not. I really want to be the best,” Longhorn freshman said. “I know everyone says that, but that’s what I’m working towards.”
The hoops environments Banks frequents now are a bit dreamlike for a USA Basketball member that took a very unique road. However, all he’s focused on ahead is winning the gold medal, and then at Texas, winning the Big 12.
“Every time when you get there it’s surreal, but you can’t get caught up in the moment. You have to be focused on what you’re doing at the time. I’m pretty sure when I’m playing Oklahoma, I can’t be focused on me, myself and I. I have to be focused on, ‘Yo, we have to go get this win. We have to win the Big 12.’ Nobody plans on losing,” said Banks. “When I’m in the gym working out, looking at film, I’m not planning on, ‘This is going to be an okay year.’ I’m planning on, ‘Alright I want to go out there and I want to bust their ass.”
One thing is for sure: Banks is going to put in the work.
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