Excellent post.
Here is the problem for you. Everything you say about Bennett is based on a hope. Everything I say is based on what he actually did on the court. Which one of us is in the stronger position?
You guys want to crown him the PF of the future, ok, go ahead. I don't, and quite frankly between the two of us I have more evidence backing up my position than you do.
But let's actually take the "arguments" and analyze them.
1) Do I understand potential? I do. Bennett didn't show much this year. Furthermore, I was always against drafting an undersized power forward number 1 overall. His size is always going to be a problem.
2) Next years class won't be great out of the gate? Well, it won't take a whole hell of a lot to be better than what we saw from Bennett, will it. In fact, I'm going to go waaaaaaaaay out on a limb and say that the first five picks in this draft will all have better rookie season than Bennett just had.
3) Is Aaron Gordon going to be better than Bennett? Well, I certainly think so. Again, the bar has been set pretty low. But I like your argument. "Doubt that." Good. He's a more fluid athlete who is leaps and bounds better off the dribble and has a much higher ceiling on defense.
4) Who was my number 1 choice? I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. I'm not criticizing the drafting of Bennett. I'm just admitting he, along with most of that draft, isn't very good and the mere fact we picked him shouldn't keep us from upgrading the position this year. Listen, had we taken Otto Porter I wouldn't be burying my fucking head in the sand and asking us to steer clear from Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins simply because my guy was taken the year before. No, Otto Porter didn't show nearly enough this year for the Wizards to just blindly consider him the future of their SF position. Note, that does NOT mean they made the incorrect draft choice. You compare the pick to the players drafted in the same class.
5) You're obviously here because of an attachment to Bennett. I'm not. I want what's best for this basketball team, not Anthony Bennett.