Proud father, Banks, scores a flying basket, with a smile on his face

Among Cimberio supporters, at least among the most avid followers of the social networks, the real star in the last few days is not some two-metre high giant that can shoot a basket from far away and from close up, but a little mite, who now trains regularly with the team of Francesco Vitucci, albeit with a smaller ball. His name is Adrien, and he is the young son of Adrian Banks (the names of father and son differ by one vowel), who, since coming to town, has divided his time between the developments on the court, and his job as a dad, which makes him very happy.

Adrien is a Twitter star: he appears in all of Adrian’s tweets (Drizzy is his nickname), he appears on national TV after the victory win against Cantu’ (see photo, on the right), he steals onto the court when training is over, and lies down next to his dad when it is time to do stretching. Then, he sits quietly and waits for his dad to finish the interview, maybe guessing that the first question is about him.

“He’s staying with me for another few days and I spend as much time as I can with him,”  Cimberio’s shooting guard explained. “When basketball takes me away from Varese, Adrien stays at home with my fiancée, but we bring him to the stadium whenever we can. The people, the supporters often ask me about him, and this makes me happy; I’m also happy about the affection he gets from my team mates. They’ve all become babysitters. They give him five when they come off the court, and they all play with him; it’s a lovely atmosphere.”

But the presence of his little son hasn’t distracted Banks from his job on the court. The inspired shooting guard from Memphis is living up to expectations, with important statistics, except for his precision on 3-point shots, which has not improved from 29%. But this doesn’t matter, given his 16-point scoring average (always in double figures), with 2 bounces, 1.3 assists, but also several decisive baskets, such as during extra time against Brindisi, and the two scored in Caserta, when Varese thrust forward, towards success.

“I think one of our team’s qualities is the fact that a lot of the players can determine the success of a match. Every match, every week, is different from the others; each time, the opposing teams hope Varese will lose, but on the court, my team mates and I take turns to score baskets. This is what happened with Ere, with Green, with Dunston, with me and with the others, and this is how we came top in the championship. It was a wonderful feeling; we were really happy about it.”

When he arrived in Varese, Banks emphasised his need to adapt to the Italian game and to a team that had a lot of “strikers” in the front line. “That’s right. For me, the Serie A is a new league, but it’s no problem not taking the shot and passing the ball to an unmarked team mate. It’s the right approach. Among the players I mentioned before, I forgot to mention those who come off the bench. They’re all guys who can make a contribution on the court, and who make this team ‘long’ and unpredictable.”

One of the reasons that Adrian says brought Varese to the top of the league is the technical guidance. “I think Coach Vitucci is great. He knows the game well, he explains to us and shows us exactly what movements we should make on the court, to play as best we can. And then, one thing I think is very important, he cares about us players; he keeps asking about how we live, whether we have any problems or wishes, and so on. Playing for someone like this is even more fantastic; we want to do our best.”

After six games, Banks still does not have his finger on the pulse of the Serie A, but he has started to get an idea of the strength of Varese’s direct opponents. “Of the teams we’ve encountered so far, Cantù have given me the best impression (see photo: Banks against Cusin). They can play a team game, they play a tough tournament, like the Euroleague, and they prove it when they play Italian games. But now, all the teams we play will make a special effort to beat us. Varese is the top team, they all want to stop us.”

Banks is not the only great news for Cimberio 2012/13: there is also the centre, Bryant Dunston, who, on several occasions, has shown he can dominate the area. “He could be a great surprise in the championship; he’s an unusual centre, because he’s not very tall, but when he gets the ball under the basket, he knows how to score. He’s an enthusiastic guy, cheerful but also explosive; I’d compare him with Dwight Howard (the former star of Orlando, who recently went to the Lakers, ed.) because of his competitive aggression and his athleticism.”

His team mates, the coach, and the presence of his son. There are many reasons why Banks is enjoying a happy debut here in Italy, but there is another which, right from the first few days, emerged on the omnipresent social networks: the food. “It’s true, the Italian specialities drive me crazy: pasta, pizza, salami and so on, I really love them. And since we discovered the Restaurant Bologna, this has become our ‘refuge’ for team dinners.” These are the very where Joe Isaac’s bad boys would sit, back in the days of DiVarese, curiously the team that most resembled the current version of Varese basketball on the court.