Ok I'll give you some time to stop laughing...
Done yet?.. No?... Ok... Let it out man. It's been a rough week, you earned this...
... Still laughing? Har har har. Yeah... Brb, gonna hit the bathroom...
Ok back. We ready to talk about this? Here's a digital tissue for your giggle tears.
I get it. He's a bust. He certainly hasn't played well. They clearly saw something in him when he was taken 1st. A big guy who could move and shoot. He was thought to have a high ceiling. There was an understanding that he was a high risk/high reward type of guy.
Rookie season, it didn't work out. He injured his shoulder and came into camp out of shape. He was at least 21 pounds overweight at 261 pounds:
In addition to the weight issues, he reportedly was dealing with sleep apnea, asthma, and poor eyesight. HIs numbers were historically bad. People ripped him apart.
As the season progressed, he actually shed some of the weight and showed some flashes of his potential. 15 point, 8 rebound performance on Jan 28th, a 14 point 8 rebound performance on Feb 5th... all with limited minutes. It was enough for ESPN's David Thorpe to sing his praises on TrueHoop TV and urge patience:
http://www.fearthesword.com/2014/2/7/5390556/nba-news-espns-david-thorpe-urges-patience-with-anthony-bennettLess than a week later he put up this 19 point, 10 rebound performance against the Kings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaHbylkacyc Despite the flashes, he saw sporadic minutes and sprained his knee in March which caused him to miss most of the final month.
During the offseason, he found himself traded along with Wiggins in an unprecedented trade for Kevin Love. He spent the offseason addressing many of his issues:
The 21-year-old Toronto native, who was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the summer blockbuster headlined by All-Star power forward Kevin Love and 2014 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins, underwent a number of changes in the offseason following a dismal rookie campaign short-circuited by injury, fitness issues, ice-cold shooting and "biggest bust ever" talk. He adopted a strict diet and went through weeks of brutal "chameleon training" to drop some of the weight that he struggled to carry around on the court. He had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids, a procedure aimed at helping him breathe easier on the court and get more re****l, restorative sleep.
Bennett also had LASIK surgery to correct his eyesight ? you might remember seeing him in goggles during the Wolves' preseason slate, wearing them to protect his recovering peepers ? following in the footsteps of players like Rudy Gay in pursuit of clearer vision on the court. To hear Bennett tell it to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the vision problems were worse than any of us might have realized:
Bennett has never worn contacts. Can't put them in his eyes. How bad was his vision before?
"You see that white board?" Bennett said recently, pointing to a board no more than 10 feet away. "Last year, I couldn't read the writing on it."
And during games?
"Anything far, I couldn't really see," Bennett said. "I couldn't see the people in the stands. Now I can see the scoreboard. I can see what plays coach wants to run."
"Last year I felt like I was always playing catch-up," Bennett said. "This year, it feels a lot different."
It was reason for optimism.
His summer league was fairly productive... sharing a team with Andrew Wiggins, he averaged 13 points and 7.8 rebounds while Wiggins put up 15.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in equal minutes. He looked fluid. He was noticeably thinner, was explosive, could move and his shooting stroke was impressive.
His pre-season was equally productive. In a mere 18.6 minutes per game, he avearged 10 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals... compared to Andrew Wiggins who played 28 minutes and averaged 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
You'd think that the Wolves would have given Bennett a fair shake at developing on a rebuilding team, right? Clearly this was a team that could afford to feed big minutes to developing players, right? Not exactly. Initially, Flip Saunders seemed to have delusions of "retooling" instead of full "rebuilding". He gave up a 1st rounder to acquire a starting PF in Thad Young (only to later shift-gears and dump Thad Young for Kevin Garnett... more or less wasting a 1st rounder)
Young's short tenure really reveals Saunders' muddled thoughts about his team. Last summer, he moved a first-round pick to add Young as a downgrade replacement for Kevin Love, even though his squad was bound to enter an extended rebuilding cycle, even though that extra pick could have been very helpful, and even though Saunders had acquired a young frontcourt prospect in Anthony Bennett during the Love deal. That deal raised eyebrows at the time and it looked worse and worse as Minnesota plunged down the standings.
So you had Thad Young there getting 33mpg... instead of having an opportunity to play through his mistakes and gain some kind of rhythm, Bennett was relegated to 16mpg off the bench and never really found a role.
There were a few games where Bennett got above-average minutes and didn't look that bad:
11/15 - 29 minutes, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists.
11/21 - 32 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals.
11/22 - 30 minutes, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists, 1 steal
12/6 - 27 minutes, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.
1/7 - 22 minutes, 14 points, 10 rebounds 1 assist.
But mostly he had spot minutes off the bench.
That said, after Thad Young was traded, it appeared the Wolves were finally going to give Anthony Bennett his big opportunity. On Feb 20th, the first game after the Thad Young trade, Bennett got the start. He played a total of 9 minutes, hurt his leg. Brutal. He essentially missed the rest of the season. Adriene Payne ended up getting the big opportunity instead, putting up 26mpg in 22 pretty disastrous starts. Bennett didn't really return until the final game, when he clearly outplayed Payne off the bench by putting up 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists in 22 minutes.
Another disappointing season from "the biggest bust ever".
Fwiw, here are his highlights for the season. It's clear that the kid still has tools that could translate into a starter-caliber big man in this league:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd9YOFoN8YsWhether or not he puts those tools together is still unknown. I don't think it's fair to completely write him off yet.
Like most young players, Bennett has been working hard this offseason.
On the bright side, Bennett has started working with trainer Drew Hanlen, who had previously trained Wiggins and Zach LaVine. Bennett seems motivated to find his game and at least make himself a serviceable power forward in the near future for the Timberwolves.
Hanlen tweeted a link to an Instagram video yesterday showing some highlights from his workouts with Bennett. They are reportedly working on some shot mechanics, footwork, and added post moves.
From the trainer:
Started working with 2013 #1 pick @ab3nnett two weeks ago & he's already lost 12lbs, improved his shooting mechanics & added a ton of mid-post moves. I know a lot of y'all have given up on him, but trust me, he's working his butt off & will make a big statement next season!
Brief video:
https://instagram.com/p/3CoGP6lNo0/Which brings me to my question...
Isn't Anthony Bennett the epitome of "buy low" type of players that Danny Ainge has never been shy about targeting? Ainge's history is littered with these types of players. Some didn't work out (Luke Jackson, Robert Swift, Sebastian Telfair and Patrick O'Bryant are some who immediately come to mind) ... Some were able to be reformed and flipped (Ricky Davis and Jordan Crawford come to mind)... both Tyler Ennis and Evan Turner seem to fit that "buy low" mold. But Ainge has never been afraid to bring in talent for cheap.
Wouldn't #16 for Anthony Bennett seem like a kind of deal that would make sense? Now, I know instinctively we're supposed to think that whoever we'll end up at #16 would have vastly more potential than Anthony Bennett, but I mean... really? On average, isn't it usually pretty weak?
http://www.celticsblog.com/2015/5/23/8648071/a-look-at-the-last-20-years-of-nba-draft-picks-15-20
16TH OVERALL PICK
Accumulative Stats (Last 20 #16 Overall Picks): 9.0 PPG - 3.6 RPG - 2.1 APG
All-Stars: 1 - Ron Artest (1)
Similar to number 15, the 16th pick in the draft has birthed just one All-Star over the last 20 years. However, the 16th spot has not proven to be quite as deep with impact players over the course of that time frame, as the talent pool is headlined by a short list of quality rotation players but stands relatively mediocre overall.
Alan Henderson, Brevin Knight, Marreese Speights, Nick Young and former Celtic Tony Delk highlight the ballplayers that have done well with extended minutes, and last year's number 16 pick Jusuf Nurkic looks promising as well. Outside of that, we're talking about end-of-the-bench forwards Luke Babbitt and James Johnson to go along with a good-sized list of busts like Rodney Carney, Bryce Drew, Kirk Haston, Kirk Snyder, Royce White and former Boston College standout Troy Bell.
So the chance is, you're getting some bum with that pick. I mean, who are we taking at #16?... Frank Kaminsky or something? (12th in Draftexpress's mock draft). Frank Kaminsky and Anthony Bennett are a month apart in age. Are you seriously more confident in the ceiling of someone like Kaminsky over Anthony Bennett?
So I'll ask it again. Would you trade #16 for Tony Bennett?