Anthony Bennett

[CosmoKramer]

So you're saying that Bennett's offensive game is limited to offense-stopping, awkward face-up plays and put-backs? Bennett is 10x the offensive player that Tristan is, and he could very well be better on defense and rebounding when all is said and done, too. Their body types aren't even remotely close either. Not a very good comparison at all.

Where's that wild hyperbole coming from? 10x better already? Come on, he's closer to 10x worse. I'd agree AB has the potential to be a much better offensive player than TT, but let's save the 10x better for when AB's shooting higher than 35/25/64. Is there any logical explanation that Tristan hits free throws at a better rate than AB right now?

 

[Rich]

Where's that wild hyperbole coming from? 10x better already? Come on, he's closer to 10x worse. I'd agree AB has the potential to be a much better offensive player than TT, but let's save the 10x better for when AB's shooting higher than 35/25/64. Is there any logical explanation that Tristan hits free throws at a better rate than AB right now?

Look at those numbers. Sure-fire offensive force right there.

Were it only the shooting numbers, a case could be made. But the guy looked really awkward putting the ball on the floor and had no go-to post move to speak of. He's so far away offensively it's depressing.

 

[The Process God]

Where's that wild hyperbole coming from? 10x better already? Come on, he's closer to 10x worse. I'd agree AB has the potential to be a much better offensive player than TT, but let's save the 10x better for when AB's shooting higher than 35/25/64. Is there any logical explanation that Tristan hits free throws at a better rate than AB right now?

Yes it is hyperbole. I'll admit that. But who can shoot jumpers including fade-aways, turn-arounds, catch-and-shoot, off-the-dribble, and 3-pters? Bennett. Who can drive to the basket and make a layup all in one motion consistently? Bennett. Who doesn't need to gather himself in order to dunk? Bennett. Tristan has a decent push shot which hasn't been falling recently and put-backs. That's about it. Tristan also runs the floor occasionally. Bennett is also a much better athlete when in shape.

I suppose you're right that he has the potentially to be a lot better, so I should have said that. Once Bennett's confidence gets up there and he is in shape, these things will begin to show that I just mentioned. Sure, Tristan is more effective now, but it's at the cost of stopping the offensive flow, thus hurting other players' flow.

 

[The Process God]

Look at those numbers. Sure-fire offensive force right there.

Were it only the shooting numbers, a case could be made. But the guy looked really awkward putting the ball on the floor and had no go-to post move to speak of. He's so far away offensively it's depressing.

I think that's pretty easy to explain, and Maximus has echoed this as well. When you're nervous and not mentally prepared to handle the pressures of this league, your entire game, no matter how smooth, can look terribly off. Bennett had small foward-level handles in college. He could take people off the dribble pretty easily. His lack of being in shape and lack of mental preparedness for the season made any fluidity he has shown in the past to his game look really robotic. Rewatch those games where he was successful, and you'll see much more fluidity to his game. I suspect his handles and the rest of his game will return next season at least at some capacity. I have high hopes for this kid.

 

[getBUCKED]

He never had small forward handles (or agility). His above average handles, jump shot, and first step make him a mismatch at the 4, not 3.

 

[DatDudeZ3]

He is a PF, end of story. If I ever have to see him guarding Jamal Crawford again... :chuckles:

 

[Ohio]

The words "Small" and "Forward" should not be allowed to be posted together in this thread...ever

 

[The Process God]

Pretty sure I never said he was a small forward. I said he had small forward handles, which I don't think is a stretch. He could certainly put the ball on the floor in college. Better than most power forwards. Defensively, no, he shouldn't be guarding small forwards.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Yes it is hyperbole. I'll admit that. But who can shoot jumpers including fade-aways, turn-arounds, catch-and-shoot, off-the-dribble, and 3-pters? Bennett. Who can drive to the basket and make a layup all in one motion consistently? Bennett. Who doesn't need to gather himself in order to dunk? Bennett. Tristan has a decent push shot which hasn't been falling recently and put-backs. That's about it. Tristan also runs the floor occasionally. Bennett is also a much better athlete when in shape.

Just because AB is attempting those shots doesn't make him the better offensive player. How often those shots go in should have some bearing here. Josh Smith is widely criticized for attempting so many 3's as the league's main brick-layer, yet he actually shoots a better percentage from 3 (26.4%) than Bennett (24.5%).

As for the other parts, AB does not drive to the basket and convert layups consistently. I'm sure he'll be a more explosive athlete when he actually shows up to camp in shape for one of these seasons, but can you wait until that actually happens before using it as a fact in a disagreement? AB was one of the worst conditioned professional basketball players I can remember, I don't understand why he gets a free pass for that.

I suppose you're right that he has the potentially to be a lot better, so I should have said that. Once Bennett's confidence gets up there and he is in shape, these things will begin to show that I just mentioned. Sure, Tristan is more effective now, but it's at the cost of stopping the offensive flow, thus hurting other players' flow.

That doesn't make any sense. The offense has performed fine when Tristan's been in this year, you can't say the same for AB. That sure doens't help your argument that AB is a 10x better offensive player right now.

 

[ice cream man]

He's a PF, and only a PF. This argument should be over. Cavs tried him at SF early on as some sort of desperation move. Christ, in today's NBA he's closer to a center than an SF.

 

[Zen]

Yes it is hyperbole. I'll admit that. But who can shoot jumpers including fade-aways, turn-arounds, catch-and-shoot, off-the-dribble, and 3-pters? Bennett. Who can drive to the basket and make a layup all in one motion consistently? Bennett. Who doesn't need to gather himself in order to dunk? Bennett. Tristan has a decent push shot which hasn't been falling recently and put-backs. That's about it. Tristan also runs the floor occasionally. Bennett is also a much better athlete when in shape.

I suppose you're right that he has the potentially to be a lot better, so I should have said that. Once Bennett's confidence gets up there and he is in shape, these things will begin to show that I just mentioned. Sure, Tristan is more effective now, but it's at the cost of stopping the offensive flow, thus hurting other players' flow.

Just because you attempt a shot doesn't mean you can do it well. I could go out there and do my best impression of the Dirk one legged turn around but it would get blocked 10x a game and i'd probably trip and pop a hernia. Mechanically though I will concede it at least looks good, which is why we should have hope.

Bennett had one of the worst rookie seasons for a #1 in the history of the NBA. He improved towards the end of the season, but his improved period which people lauded was placed in a better light due to how absolutely TERRIBLE he was to start. Even when he "improved" he still had a few decent games surrounded by complete shit shows.

Elite handles? If anything he has below average handles for a 6'7 NBA player. I watched AB in college. In fact I can hardly think of a time where he put the ball on the floor more than 3 times in a row, so who knows what they were like. The video highlight where he goes coast to coast is literally the only time I saw him dribble in the 5 or so games I saw him play.

To call for AB to start, or to say he is better than TT, or to say he is the stretch 4 we need is all completely asinine until he proves he can play in the NBA at a consistent level. This off-season is astronomically important for him. Don't forget he is making 6+ million a year, the cavs will have to make a decision on him eventually because that is not an insignificant salary impact. All things considered he is closer to being waived than being a starter over TT as of today.

This offseason and summer league is going to be his chance to improve so that he can get to the point where he is considered an NBA level player, if and when that happens we can start talking about his future potential.



[video=youtube;h_OVkQCQeQo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OVkQCQeQo[/video]

 

[JackBurton3380]

Just because you attempt a shot doesn't mean you can do it well. I could go out there and do my best impression of the Dirk one legged turn around but it would get blocked 10x a game and i'd probably trip and pop a hernia. Mechanically though I will concede it at least looks good, which is why we should have hope.

Bennett had one of the worst rookie seasons for a #1 in the history of the NBA. He improved towards the end of the season, but his improved period which people lauded was placed in a better light due to how absolutely TERRIBLE he was to start. Even when he "improved" he still had a few decent games surrounded by complete shit shows.

Elite handles? If anything he has below average handles for a 6'7 NBA player. I watched AB in college. In fact I can hardly think of a time where he put the ball on the floor more than 3 times in a row, so who knows what they were like. The video highlight where he goes coast to coast is literally the only time I saw him dribble in the 5 or so games I saw him play.

To call for AB to start, or to say he is better than TT, or to say he is the stretch 4 we need is all completely asinine until he proves he can play in the NBA at a consistent level. This off-season is astronomically important for him. Don't forget he is making 6+ million a year, the cavs will have to make a decision on him eventually because that is not an insignificant salary impact. All things considered he is closer to being waived than being a starter over TT as of today.

This offseason and summer league is going to be his chance to improve so that he can get to the point where he is considered an NBA level player, if and when that happens we can start talking about his future potential.



[video=youtube;h_OVkQCQeQo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OVkQCQeQo[/video]

I am going to have to disagree with the being waived than being a starter over TT part because that is complete BS on your part. First off according to lloyd or The Bullshit Whisperer, bennett was always viewed as a long term prospect. Yes he had a terrible rookie season but did you actually watch him this year because to me he has shown more potential with his ability on the court than TT has shown in his entire career so far. One thing that drives me nuts is how people expected him to average 18 plus a game this year even though we already have a number 1 overall pick from two years ago to go along with a number 4 pick from the past year. He was not placed in a position to succeed, I mean at the beginning of the year he played 6 minute stretches for the first part of the season and if he made one mistake he was pulled for TT. How can anyone get comfortable and get in a rhythm on the court with the way mike brown handled his minutes.

He was not handed the starting power forward spot the last two years like TT, Tristan was handed that position and he has not delivered. He is very limited on offense and is a black hole once he touches it. I think I have maybe seen him pass the ball 5 times to an open shooter the last 3 years. To the guy who says TT is an elite rebounder, JJ Hickson is averaging the same amount, does that make JJ an elite rebounder? TT is a good rebounder but someone has to get them on the cavs because it sure was not going to be zeller or sims.

My last point is that according to windhorst, around the deadline teams were very interested in bennett because they can see the potential in him, the same cannot be said for TT.

 

[chuck0609]

Hes got a lot of work to put in this offseason. He gets a pass for his rookie year coming off the shoulder injury.

 

[Kizzle]

He gets a pass from me for being freaking 19 and being coached by a guy who is notorious for not playing young players and just for the immense mess we were this season.

If Spurs draft Bennett I think hes a better player. No way we can blame too much on Bennett when im sure we didnt even have an offense before the all star break.

We can blame him for his horrible % tho but it did seem to improve. He also showed some around the rim scoring talent even when he wasnt shooting well.


I expect him to go all out next season and he makes TT expendable if he happens to play good

 

[kidduck]

This is from a Sports Illustrated article dated 3/10/ 14:

The former Runnin' Reb spent his summer recuperating from shoulder surgery (and taking it easy), leaving him rusty and out of shape—and lumping him in with names like Kwame and Olowokandi.


HE WAS no sure thing. The scouting reports were pretty emphatic on that point. They called him undersized for a power forward (he's 6'8"), dinged him for preferring to face the basket rather than play with his back to it. And if he made any difference on defense, they said, it would be in the spelling; in his native Canada, the word takes a cinstead of an s.


What's more, they couldn't help but wonder if Anthony Bennett was a touch soft for the NBA. Never mind that he had played the last month of his only season at UNLV with a torn labrum in his left shoulder that would require surgery or that he has asthma and suffers from seasonal allergies. If he appeared choked up on the Barclays Center stage when the Cavaliers picked him No. 1 in the draft last June, it's because the pollen-rich Brooklyn air had been assaulting his sinuses.

But without a can't-miss prospect in the class of 2013, Cleveland general manager Chris Grant got creative. The 240-pound Bennett had a smooth righty stroke and soft hands around the basket, and he had been the hub of a veteran team, leading the Runnin' Rebels in scoring (16.1 points per game), rebounding (8.1) and three-point shooting (37.5%). "As we went back and reviewed the film and went on campus and visited everybody, we came away saying he's a great kid," said Grant last June. "He's willing to work and do the right things, and he's got a bunch of talent."


Sure, Bennett expected some growing pains. Name a new job that doesn't have them (even if it pays $16.7 million over three years). But transition was his game: He left his family in Brampton, Ont., at 16 to play in the U.S. Coming off the bench, he could handle. He just never thought he could feel so lost on a basketball court. He never dreamed he could miss 20 of his first 21 shots, lay an egg in the scoring column in 13 of the Cavs' first 36 games and be reduced to a courtside spectator in 12 more. Bennett's return to Barclays Center on Jan. 4 should have been triumphant. Instead it ended in another shutout after a little more than eight minutes that saw him flub a putback attempt, fumble a post entry pass and blow a handful of defensive assignments in an 89--82 loss to the Nets. This, after coach Mike Brown told reporters before the game, "Every day [Bennett] gets a little bit better." Talk about a cavalier statement.


A month later Grant was fired after nearly four years on the job. And if anything burns Bennett about the first three months of his pro career, it's that he dragged his chief supporter down with him. Now his fan base can be neatly divided into two groups: a handful of lifers like UNLV assistant Todd Simon, who four months ago sent Bennett a 50-minute supercut of all 202 of his college field goal makes to remind Bennett of the beast within himself; and everyone else, who seem to be tuning in for the irony and to pronounce him the biggest bust in history. Things got so bad that there were whispers that the Cavs were on the verge of demoting him to the NBDL's Canton Charge. (Quick reminder: Anthony Bennett was the first pick in the 2013 NBA draft.) But through it all he kept fighting. If he didn't, how would he have explained that to his mother?


LIKE HER son, Edith Bennett left her homeland as a teenager—and she was also no lock to succeed. She arrived in Toronto from Jamaica in 1980 determined to make a go of it. She babysat, among other odd jobs, to put herself through nursing school. By the time Edith finished, in 2002, she had three kids.


Three years later, Anthony, her youngest, was 12 and in the middle of a self-imposed timeout from basketball. Edith had also been an athlete once, a standout on the track, a ringer on the semipro netball circuit. She gave up too, without thinking it through. A part of her would come to regret it. "Back in the day, you really don't know you could be a big deal in sports," she says.

Her son had potential. But his height (he shot to 6 feet by the time he was a teen) came much faster than his coordination, which often sapped the fun out of playing. Shooting, though he liked—so much so that during a decade of growing up in a neighborhood called Jane and Finch, the Watts of the True North, Anthony stayed out on the court behind their apartment complex until the streetlights came on or gunfire began. (Luckily the lights usually came first.) But after Edith relocated to the quiet suburb of Brampton and Anthony settled into his body, the game of basketball took on a new charm.


Raw talent carried him from AAU ball to the Canadian junior national team, which he helped lead to consecutive bronze medals at the FIBA world championships, the first in 2009. Soon after, prep school coaches south of the border hit Bennett with the full-court recruiting press. He played his sophomore season at Mountain State Academy in Beckley, W.Va., then went to Findlay Prep in the Las Vegas exurb of Henderson.


There, his fondness for goal-setting (his biggest: land a D-I scholarship) dovetailed with a demanding coaching staff. "We were really particular about having him play at a particular body-fat percentage, about practicing in order to play at a particular skill level," says Simon, an associate head coach at Findlay before becoming a UNLV assistant. "He ate all that stuff up. He went from a guy that was a good shooter to a great shooter just on reps and confidence alone." And on the rare occasions when Bennett's effort did sag, Findlay coaches knew that rebooting him was as simple as letting fly with basketball's oldest and most devastating zinger: Yo momma. They would just remind Bennett how hard Edith had worked: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a rehab hospital then 3:30 p.m. to midnight at a mental hospital. "If you ever needed to push Anthony's button," says Simon, an associate head coach at Findlay before becoming an UNLV assistant, "that was the easy one."


"She sacrificed a whole lot just to see us live well," says Bennett. "Any time I think about that, I try to go hard."
After being named the Mountain West freshman of the year at UNLV, Bennett decided it was time to give back to Edith. "This is a great opportunity for me to be able to support my family," he said in an April news conference announcing his decision to declare for the draft. "I'm ready to learn and work hard."


A scalpel changed all that.


THE SURGERY was last May, and the recovery left Bennett with his left arm strapped to his stomach and a plastic bag over his shoulder to keep the moisture away from the stitches. To protect them from perspiration, he only had one defense: Remain as still as possible. So Bennett parked himself in front of the TV and saved his energy for trips to the fridge. For four months he followed doctors' orders—through predraft workouts, through summer league—until he was finally cleared for action last September. By then, he wasn't even close to the same player.
For one, he had 21 pounds of post-op fat throwing off his balance and timing. The bigger issue was a left arm that had gone rogue. Bennett had thought that since the operation was on his weak side, it wouldn't affect his game too much. "There are things that I was able to do in the past that I still can't do now," he said before his nightmarish appearance against the Nets. "I don't have full rotation yet, so finger rolls ... I can't do that. I can't really do any of that fancy stuff with my left shoulder."

So, out of shape and out of sorts, Bennett returned to the court content to launch jumpers: Of those first 20 misses, 14 came from outside of 15 feet. The only thing that saved him from total ignominy was the dismal performances of the other frontcourt rookies drafted in the top six: Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. (1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds per game at week's end); Bobcats center Cody Zeller (5.0, 4.0); Suns center Alex Len (2.1, 2.6); and 76ers center Nerlens Noel (in rehab for a torn left ACL). Still, Bennett was taken first, so he was the one being compared with famous flameouts like Michael Olowokandi and Kwame Brown.

Bennett continued to hone his stroke—fellow Canadian Steve Nash once advised him to shoot 500 jumpers after every practice, and Bennett has been showing up to practice an hour early and staying an hour late. But more important, as he got back to his ideal playing weight, Bennett began to look more and more like the threat he was at UNLV. "He's working harder than ever and learning the game," Cavs forward Tristan Thompson says. "Next thing you know he's gonna be in his third year, starting, playing real well, and people are gonna talk about his rookie year. He's gonna laugh." The first chuckles came on Feb. 11. Facing the Kings at home, Bennett came off the bench and had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 109--99 walkover. "Anthony Bennett kicked our butt," Kings coach Michael Malone said after the game. "I'm sure Chris Grant is smiling at home—and deservedly so."

More impressive than the stat line was how Bennett achieved it: He played a lot of pick-and-roll with point guard Kyrie Irving, which left him in position to get the ball on the perimeter—and instead of hoisting jumpers, he attacked the basket, getting to the line nine times. It was the sort of aggression that's becoming a hallmark for Bennett. In his first 32 games he averaged 2.8 free throw attempts per 36 minutes. In his last 11, through Sunday, the number is 5.6. (By comparison, Irving leads Cleveland with 4.9.) During that stretch, Bennett was also averaging 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.


But perhaps the most telling moment in his breakout performance against Sacramento came after he buried a fourth-quarter elbow three to salt the game away. As he swaggered over to the sideline to slap five with Mike Brown, he had the look of a kid who could make a smooth transition after all.