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Anthony Bennett

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His first sentence was that he's seen countless raw players amount to nothing, then cited Tristan as an example we all could relate to. Is there anyway else to interpret that?

He was talking about work ethic, and I read it as him saying that work ethic doesn't always translate to improvement.
 
I was impressed with Bennett defensively. he seemed to take it seriously and made an effort on both sides of the court. He has never been asked to play effort defense and has responded well. Im jus t not seeing it as a big negative right now .

it amazes me the same people complaining about his play time complained about him being used at the three. if its not exclusively it isnt a problem and the landscape sort of required him to do so. contintue getting Bennett to guard these threes who are often being used at the 4 themselves.

that stretch that they were using Bennett at the three you could see him developing a rythm people were more angry at the thought of it than anything imo.
 
Watching that highlight tape, you'd think he had a great season. Anyone that watched knows the opposite happened. There were times when you said "okay, that was nice" but unfortunately there just wasn't enough of those, but then again there wasn't a whole lot of minutes, until Dan and Griff basically forced Mike to play the kid. Mike ruined this kid, he's going to explode next season. They played him at the wrong times, then when he was ready they weren't playing him enough.

The same kind of potential Dion has at the 2, Bennett has at the 4.
 
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He was talking about work ethic, and I read it as him saying that work ethic doesn't always translate to improvement.

That's fine if you read it that way, but that's not what was written.

He was refuting a point made by another poster that Nerlens Noel can develop an offensive game from having a work ethic. Bimbo responded that he's seen countless raw players with "great work ethic" (not even the quoted words of the OP) amount to nothing in sports. The he followed up saying Tristan would be brought up to prove players with great work ethics don't improve offensively, which is just as absurd as well.

Before we forget- Tristan Thompson, who's still only 23, has gone from a sub-50 FT% in college to hitting close to 80% (78.7%) from the line in his last 20 games of the season. A big that can hit over 70% from the line can stay at the end of games without hurting their team offensively. In direct relation to Nerlens Noel, the disputed player being questioned, it's an encouraging sign to see another raw big man raise their FT% in such a short time.

Going back to Bimbo's OP - "Anyways, Bennett has the ability to be a much better 2-way player than Noel because he already has a rare offensive game from the 4 spot."

I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. I don't see AB as being a 2-way player at all, just a really good offensive player that on good days holds his own defensively. Unlike some players with defensive limitations it's not his physical tools, which would be the biggest concern to me. AB's problems mostly stem from inattentiveness and a lack of confidence. He's a constant ball watcher that routinely takes missteps while guarding along the perimeter. He also has a very limited understanding of where other players are on the court in relation to him, all too often getting caught up in screens and taking long, unnecessary paths to re-locate his man. The good news is most of this is fixable, but I don't understand how everyone has already forgotten how bad he looked defensively at times. Legit talk of his 2-way game, over a potential franchise center in Nerlens Noel?

With continued improvement to his free throw percentage, Noel can be an immediate factor on offense in the NBA as an alley-oop threat on pick and rolls. This, combined with his defensive presence at the most critical position on the court, makes him a much better 2-way moving forward. I think Nerlens is at least capable of doing what Brandon Roy did (5 years in POR, 3 All-Star seasons) but because he's much younger (going to play next season at 20, Roy entered the NBA at 22) and has taken better care of his knees (smartly sitting out the entire tank effort of a season for the 76ers, as opposed to Roy playing for the Trailblazers, the worst medical staff in the NBA) I think Noel can provide more healthy seasons for Philadelphia than Roy did for Portland.
 
Since we're (apparently) going after a offensive coach, I'm fully expecting Bennett to break out as a stretch 4. Kicking TT out of the starting up.
 
Yeah, you got to think AB will at least be somewhat factored into the coaching decision. Kyrie, Dion, and AB starting together could be a pretty lethal offensive group in the right system if AB develops like we all hope. Add a good defending and shooting 3(Hood in the draft or FA) and a defensive center who can rebound and the roster makes a bit more sense. This will be another development year with a new coach and still young team.

If this team gets more offense oriented, KI and Dion will both be a lot happier, that is for sure.
 
We are really lacking length and size, that is what scares me the most about this roster. As much as I have railed on AB i'd be much more excited with him as a prospect if we had a long 2 and 3 already established, He just doesn't fit with what we have though, which is going to make Griffins job interesting as there are multiple parts that could move.

Watching the Pacers / Heat today Miami just looked tiny, and they would be bigger than us with a lineup of kyrie dion and AB as starters. We would need something like a deng sized SF and chandler-esque mobile center to make that work.

Most of these top teams have legit length and size across the board but particularly at the 2-4 position. The core of all of these lineups is extremely mobile with length and agility which is key for defense. Griffin is spot on when he says our pieces just don't match, and we need to get bigger.

OKC
Thabo 6'7, Durant 6'9, ibaka 6'10 all extremely long

Indy
Lance 6'5, George 6'8.5, West 6'9 all long and mobile.

Spurs
Green 6'6, Leonard 6'7 (super long), Timmy 6'11

Heat
Wade 6'4.75, Lebron 6'8, Battier 6'9


Cavs - Assuming poster above is right and AB is starting 4.
Dion 6'4 , FA / Draft, AB 6'7 (with length but short and immobile)

A lot of people think I put too much stock in measurements, but when you look at it as a whole there is a reason all of these teams are built that way. It creates havok on defense / passing lanes. Allows you to make up for mistakes with agility and length, and generally makes it more difficult on the other team to find a comfort zone. Particularly in the playoffs where intensity is increased and shots are harder to get off.
 
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Very excited for these guys' actual rookie seasons to start. Does anyone know if either will be competing internationally this summer?

[video=youtube;8fmWXFy5amI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fmWXFy5amI[/video]
[video=youtube;I0bwhyfM1yE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0bwhyfM1yE[/video]
 
We are really lacking length and size, that is what scares me the most about this roster.

Yep, one of the reasons I believe Grant fucked up our rebuild big time.
 
We are really lacking length and size, that is what scares me the most about this roster. As much as I have railed on AB i'd be much more excited with him as a prospect if we had a long 2 and 3 already established, He just doesn't fit with what we have though, which is going to make Griffins job interesting as there are multiple parts that could move.

Watching the Pacers / Heat today Miami just looked tiny, and they would be bigger than us with a lineup of kyrie dion and AB as starters. We would need something like a deng sized SF and chandler-esque mobile center to make that work.

Most of these top teams have legit length and size across the board but particularly at the 2-4 position. The core of all of these lineups is extremely mobile with length and agility which is key for defense. Griffin is spot on when he says our pieces just don't match, and we need to get bigger.

OKC
Thabo 6'7, Durant 6'9, ibaka 6'10 all extremely long

Indy
Lance 6'5, George 6'8.5, West 6'9 all long and mobile.

Spurs
Green 6'6, Leonard 6'7 (super long), Timmy 6'11

Heat
Wade 6'4.75, Lebron 6'8, Battier 6'9


Cavs - Assuming poster above is right and AB is starting 4.
Dion 6'4 , FA / Draft, AB 6'7 (with length but short and immobile)

A lot of people think I put too much stock in measurements, but when you look at it as a whole there is a reason all of these teams are built that way. It creates havok on defense / passing lanes. Allows you to make up for mistakes with agility and length, and generally makes it more difficult on the other team to find a comfort zone. Particularly in the playoffs where intensity is increased and shots are harder to get off.

Thabo is listed at 6'5", and Durant is really closer to 6'11" despite his 6'9" listing.

And where on earth did you get the notion that AB is immobile? At the power forward position, he had an advantage in that area.

And you're also nuts if you think that AB doesn't fit on this roster. There's more to the equation of being able to play a position than mere height. Unless we get an all-star PF via trade, I highly doubt we're going to find a PF that is going to be better for this team long-term than AB. He's got elite potential offensively at the 4, and his length, strength, and athleticism have shown that they are probably going to be enough for him to at least be able to be average on defense.

Also, at 6'3.5" in shoes, Kyrie is actually above average height for his position, so I don't know why you are mentioning him like his height is an issue.

And while I'm at it, Dion hasn't really struggled due to his length either. Any issues I've seen have stemmed from mental errors and poor choices. Just like Bennett, Dion usually has the speed and strength advantage to make up for length. Dion also has a touguness that few have in the league. If Dion wants it badly enough, he has the tools to do what Joe Dumars did. Plus Griffin told Dion that he wasn't going to be traded. In any press conference Griffin has done so far, he has said that we need more shooting because of the two drive and kick guards that we have. That tells me that he is looking for more shooting at sf, pf, and c. I'm betting he's primarily talking about SF and C. Those are the two positions we've suffered at the most for quite some time now.
 
Thabo is listed at 6'5", and Durant is really closer to 6'11" despite his 6'9" listing.

And where on earth did you get the notion that AB is immobile? At the power forward position, he had an advantage in that area.

And you're also nuts if you think that AB doesn't fit on this roster. There's more to the equation of being able to play a position than mere height. Unless we get an all-star PF via trade, I highly doubt we're going to find a PF that is going to be better for this team long-term than AB. He's got elite potential offensively at the 4, and his length, strength, and athleticism have shown that they are probably going to be enough for him to at least be able to be average on defense.

Also, at 6'3.5" in shoes, Kyrie is actually above average height for his position, so I don't know why you are mentioning him like his height is an issue.

And while I'm at it, Dion hasn't really struggled due to his length either. Any issues I've seen have stemmed from mental errors and poor choices. Just like Bennett, Dion usually has the speed and strength advantage to make up for length. Dion also has a touguness that few have in the league. If Dion wants it badly enough, he has the tools to do what Joe Dumars did. Plus Griffin told Dion that he wasn't going to be traded. In any press conference Griffin has done so far, he has said that we need more shooting because of the two drive and kick guards that we have. That tells me that he is looking for more shooting at sf, pf, and c. I'm betting he's primarily talking about SF and C. Those are the two positions we've suffered at the most for quite some time now.

Watching the games? Watching very old, very slow stretch 4s blow by him over and over again this season. He's slow footed.
 
And where on earth did you get the notion that AB is immobile? At the power forward position, he had an advantage in that area.
.

... I'm not sure if this is a troll but he is incredibly slow of foot on the defensive end. Like Rich said he consistently was torched trying to close out on players, it was painful to watch. You could see MB almost seize out after it happened each time. Not to mention he seems to have almost zero game sense on the defensive end. Couple low agility with low defensive sense and it isn't pretty. I'm not sure how you could have watched many games this season and think otherwise.

You mention how Dion "doesn't really struggle with his size, and AB can make up for it"

To be a top tier team you need to be dominant, not "just get by", or play "average defense" like you say AB can do (even though he has not shown that at all). You can get away with it here and there, but if you have multiple people playing from a disadvantage the odds stack against you.

Again, there is a reason every contending team is built this way. In the playoffs especially the difference in a game can be minute. Having 2 or 3 players that have to play against bigger, more agile players night after night starts to add up.

I think you are missing the overall point. I love Dion, you defend him well in your last paragraph. My point is to start both he and AB is likely not to be met with much playoff success as they are both undersized, which is why i said Griffin has a lot of tough choices to make. It is much easier to balance a roster around maybe one person playing small for their position, once you start to get to 2 and 3 it becomes very difficult to hide that weakness.
 
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Hey guys, quick question, is there a way to sort stats on basketball reference to get averages for a set range of dates? I'd be curious to see AB's PER over his last 20 games. Thanks in advance!
 
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