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Call me crazy but I still think he's going to be a good player.

Any chance we take a flyer?

He'll get no time here to become that good player. And he doesn't fit the team at all.

God, I hope not. This has been discussed in the speculation thread, but essentially:

- He's awful, pretty much doesn't do a single thing well on the court.

- He's already getting something of a reputation for not having a lot of motor or drive.

- Two teams in two years have already given up on him. The Cavs made sense because they were moving to acquire Kevin Love. The Wolves are a young team who have plenty of reasons to give it a wait-and-see approach with AB (especially given their PF options consist of an ancient KG and little else), yet they too are cutting their losses.

- We already have AG as a combo forward prospect, playing behind an established combo forward in Tobias (who we just re-signed to a large deal). We also have Hezonja and Fournier battling for time at small forward, and Frye and Nicholson at PF - if Bennett couldn't earn time against the Wolves bench warmers, then he's not going to do it in Orlando.

In short:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ[/youtube]

MitchellUK wrote:God, I hope not. This has been discussed in the speculation thread, but essentially:

- He's awful, pretty much doesn't do a single thing well on the court.

- He's already getting something of a reputation for not having a lot of motor or drive.

- Two teams in two years have already given up on him. The Cavs made sense because they were moving to acquire Kevin Love. The Wolves are a young team who have plenty of reasons to give it a wait-and-see approach with AB (especially given their PF options consist of an ancient KG and little else), yet they too are cutting their losses.

- We already have AG as a combo forward prospect, playing behind an established combo forward in Tobias (who we just re-signed to a large deal). We also have Hezonja and Fournier battling for time at small forward, and Frye and Nicholson at PF - if Bennett couldn't earn time against the Wolves bench warmers, then he's not going to do it in Orlando.

In short:

The Wolves have more than just an aging Garnett at PF. Towns and Dieng also have to have time on the court and don't forget about Pekovic too. They also have a good young prospect in Adrien Payne and they also brought over Nemanja Bjelica who I think they want to give some time too as well. Bennett was expenadble as their just wasn't enough playing time to go around.

And we do not have a whole lot at PF. Nicholson may very well be out of the NBA after this year and I would love to get rid of Frye. And Gordon and Harris will probably be our starting forwards I am not sure either is a PF going forward. Bennett does have some skill or he wouldn't have been drafted that high. Yes it was a reach even at that time but still he was going in the lottery to someone if the Cavs didn't take him. Yeah he does have issues and he hasn't liven up to those lofty expectations but he hasn't been so awful that he doesn't belong in the NBA. His PER is higher than both Nicholson and Frye and isn't that far off from newcomer Jason Smith. I would be fine with giving Nicholson's and Frye's minutes to see if things canc hange for him. People can change. Yeah it doesn't happen all the time but it can happen and I don't view Smith, Nicholson or Frye as part of our future(though we could be stuck with Frye though due to his contract) so I would be fine with bringing him in. Hassan Whiteside was viewed as bust yet Miami picked him up and now he looks like he could be in line for big pay day next summer. Not saying this will happen with Bennett but On a cheap deal I don't see a reason not to. It very well could be a one year deal and we have the cap room so I would be fine with it. He could turn into a really good asset and I would hate to miss out on that just to give Smith, Nicholson, or Frye more minutes.

Bennett will be a guy that will bounce around from team to team like Thomas Robinson and Anthony Randolph because they don't excel at anything. If a guy like Hark was sent packing because he wont play then I doubt there will be time here for Bennett. Not only that but he would be in Skiles dog hosue rather quickly.

Ultimately, I think he ends up going the same route as Beasley and Derrick Williams. A guy who's not good enough to warrant being a star player, but even if he got that chance, it wouldn't matter.

He doesn't fit our team at all. Maybe someone like the Blazers, 6ers or Raptors could find time for him amongst their front courts?

Another wild card could be the Bulls, because I know Hoiberg likes athletic and springy PFs for easy clean up dunks once the ball movement opens some space up for them.

ralphie9898 wrote:

MitchellUK wrote:God, I hope not. This has been discussed in the speculation thread, but essentially:

- He's awful, pretty much doesn't do a single thing well on the court.

- He's already getting something of a reputation for not having a lot of motor or drive.

- Two teams in two years have already given up on him. The Cavs made sense because they were moving to acquire Kevin Love. The Wolves are a young team who have plenty of reasons to give it a wait-and-see approach with AB (especially given their PF options consist of an ancient KG and little else), yet they too are cutting their losses.

- We already have AG as a combo forward prospect, playing behind an established combo forward in Tobias (who we just re-signed to a large deal). We also have Hezonja and Fournier battling for time at small forward, and Frye and Nicholson at PF - if Bennett couldn't earn time against the Wolves bench warmers, then he's not going to do it in Orlando.

In short:

The Wolves have more than just an aging Garnett at PF. Towns and Dieng also have to have time on the court and don't forget about Pekovic too. They also have a good young prospect in Adrien Payne and they also brought over Nemanja Bjelica who I think they want to give some time too as well. Bennett was expenadble as their just wasn't enough playing time to go around.

Pekovic is an out and out center who shouldn't be competing for time with Bennett at all (assuming he's even healthy enough to play).

Dieng will soon be 26 and went 21st in the same draft as Bennett (and is basically a center, don't expect him to play much time at PF).

Payne will soon be 25 and went 15th in the 2014 draft.

Bjelica is a 27yo combo forward who has only just come to the NBA, and who's more perimeter oriented than anything.

KAT, like Dieng, probably shouldn't be seeing much burn at PF.

Put simply, if Bennett had the game, if Bennett wanted it, he would be beating those guys out for minutes at power forward. Aside from Towns, none of them are there for upside. That the Wolves aren't even bothering to see if Bennett can use training camp to beat out a hobbled center, three guys in their mid-20s who project as career role players, and a raw rookie center for a few minutes at one of the forward spots speaks volumes to how little they think of him. Not only they, they are willing to pay him to go away because no team will even give up a bag of chips to acquire him. End of story.

Feel free to carry on polishing that turd, but it still is what it is.

MitchellUK wrote:

ralphie9898 wrote:

MitchellUK wrote:God, I hope not. This has been discussed in the speculation thread, but essentially:

- He's awful, pretty much doesn't do a single thing well on the court.

- He's already getting something of a reputation for not having a lot of motor or drive.

- Two teams in two years have already given up on him. The Cavs made sense because they were moving to acquire Kevin Love. The Wolves are a young team who have plenty of reasons to give it a wait-and-see approach with AB (especially given their PF options consist of an ancient KG and little else), yet they too are cutting their losses.

- We already have AG as a combo forward prospect, playing behind an established combo forward in Tobias (who we just re-signed to a large deal). We also have Hezonja and Fournier battling for time at small forward, and Frye and Nicholson at PF - if Bennett couldn't earn time against the Wolves bench warmers, then he's not going to do it in Orlando.

In short:

The Wolves have more than just an aging Garnett at PF. Towns and Dieng also have to have time on the court and don't forget about Pekovic too. They also have a good young prospect in Adrien Payne and they also brought over Nemanja Bjelica who I think they want to give some time too as well. Bennett was expenadble as their just wasn't enough playing time to go around.

Pekovic is an out and out center who shouldn't be competing for time with Bennett at all (assuming he's even healthy enough to play).

Dieng will soon be 26 and went 21st in the same draft as Bennett (and is basically a center, don't expect him to play much time at PF).

Payne will soon be 25 and went 15th in the 2014 draft.

Bjelica is a 27yo combo forward who has only just come to the NBA, and who's more perimeter oriented than anything.

KAT, like Dieng, probably shouldn't be seeing much burn at PF.

Put simply, if Bennett had the game, if Bennett wanted it, he would be beating those guys out for minutes at power forward. Aside from Towns, none of them are there for upside. That the Wolves aren't even bothering to see if Bennett can use training camp to beat out a hobbled center, three guys in their mid-20s who project as career role players, and a raw rookie center for a few minutes at one of the forward spots speaks volumes to how little they think of him. Not only they, they are willing to pay him to go away because no team will even give up a bag of chips to acquire him. End of story.

Feel free to carry on polishing that turd, but it still is what it is.

I don't care where they went in the draft. That is irrelevant as to what kind of player they will actually be. And yes some of those guys are centers but again they have a bunch of those guys and they want to give them time. Dieng is a very good athlete and he can guard 4s and with Pekovic at center who like Vuc is more of high post center Dieng can play some PF. Towns though can absolutely play PF. He has range on his shot and can be that stretch four and he is a good enough athlete to guard a lot of fours. He very well could end up as a PF in this league. Pretty much all of us hoped we could luck into a lottery pick and get him for that reason. And yeah Bjelica very well may be perimeter orientated but if you hadn't noticed the NBa has no problem with PFs that are perimter oriented especially if they have a very good defensive guy at the 5 which Dieng is and Towns very well could be as well. And Payne has talent and they want to see what they can get out of him as well. Oh yeah and as you said Kevin Garnett as well. So there is more than what you said that went into making Bennett expendable and draft position has nothing to do with it or else they would have let Bjelica go. It was about money his lack of production and effort and the fact that they have a lot of bigs on the roster who they want to give time too.

Optimus_Steel wrote:Bennett will be a guy that will bounce around from team to team like Thomas Robinson and Anthony Randolph because they don't excel at anything. If a guy like Hark was sent packing because he wont play then I doubt there will be time here for Bennett. Not only that but he would be in Skiles dog hosue rather quickly.

Possibly. It is no certain thing that we will go that route. I hear you and I too think that that could be the case. But it is hardly set in stone that he will be like Thomas Robinson or Anthony Randolph. Only time will tell that. I would be fine with giving him a shot. And you could say that is the likely course for Nicholson. I think Frye has been that as well except for that one really good year he had with Phoenix. Smith certainly has been bouncing from team to team as well. I would be fine with giving the minutes that we were going to give to Frye and Nicholson to Bennett and see if the light can come on for him. I don't think Frye is big part of our future much less Nicholson or Smith.

Good grief, Ralphie. Anthony Bennett is 22 years old and only 2 years removed from being picked no.1 in the draft, and a rebuilding team has paid him to go away because they don't think he's good enough to crack the rotation in a frontcourt featuring one elite prospect, a bunch of role players and an a couple of walking corpses.

I'll step away from this discussion now, because clearly your mind is not going to be changed and mine sure as hell isn't.

Nope.

I don't think Bennett is an option for Orlando, as most have said, he's not a good fit. I really can't think of a team off hand that could use him, the Sixers need guards, and I don't think any other lottery teams are desperate enough to take a flyer on him. I'm going to predict he takes the Hassan Whiteside route and goes to Europe. If he can become a good player in one of those leagues he'll get another shot here with someone.


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MitchellUK wrote:Good grief, Ralphie. Anthony Bennett is 22 years old and only 2 years removed from being picked no.1 in the draft, and a rebuilding team has paid him to go away because they don't think he's good enough to crack the rotation in a frontcourt featuring one elite prospect, a bunch of role players and an a couple of walking corpses.

I'll step away from this discussion now, because clearly your mind is not going to be changed and mine sure as hell isn't.

A dude no elite players? Uh did you even read my post. Towns is thought of a guy who can be elite. Dieng looks like a good solid player in the making who could be a starter for many teams. The book is out on Payne as to what player he can be? It isn't about them having an elite player yet. But rather them wanting to see what kind of players they do have and they have a lot of guys at the PF and center position that they want to see. Having Bennett there makes it extra crowded and even with him gone it is still somewhat crowded and I wouldn't be suprised if they look to deal Pekovic sometime soon as well either at the trade deadline or next offseason.

And where you are picked is irrelevent. Just because Payne was picked later on or Dieng was picked later or for anyone else that gets picked later on it doesn't mean they can't be elite or that a player picked number one will be elite. They want to see what they have and they weren't willing to do that with Bennett especially with other young guys who have just as much if not much more potential on cheaper deals. And there is no need to insult me. I never said you were out of your mind or resorted to saying anything similar. And Towns very well could be a PF just as many if not all said on here as well as numerous draft sites and draft experts. He could also be a center but he has versatility and very well could be a PF as well. Only time will tell and I bet you will see Towns playing with Pekovic or Dieng plenty of times this year.

Max Power wrote:I don't think Bennett is an option for Orlando, as most have said, he's not a good fit. I really can't think of a team off hand that could use him, the Sixers need guards, and I don't think any other lottery teams are desperate enough to take a flyer on him. I'm going to predict he takes the Hassan Whiteside route and goes to Europe. If he can become a good player in one of those leagues he'll get another shot here with someone.


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Yeah Europe could be an option though I believe some team will give him a one year deal to see if they can make something out of him. There is talent there and if the light ever comes on for him someone could nab a great value. We shall see.

asset

MitchellUK wrote:Good grief, Ralphie. Anthony Bennett is 22 years old and only 2 years removed from being picked no.1 in the draft, and a rebuilding team has paid him to go away because they don't think he's good enough to crack the rotation in a frontcourt featuring one elite prospect, a bunch of role players and an a couple of walking corpses.

I'll step away from this discussion now, because clearly your mind is not going to be changed and mine sure as hell isn't.

It amazes me how some talk about him like he still has the potential of an 18-20 year old lottery pick who hasn't played in the league yet... we've seen the guy play poorly for two seasons and he just got cut loose for nothing by a rebuilding team. The potential ship has sailed. He's got some athleticism and length, but you need more to make good use of it. Who cares if he can dunk a basketball with an open lane. He's a below average shooter from every range (including free throws), his defense sucks, he plays dumb, doesn't play aggressively and lacks confidence. He's not even a good backup player right now. He needs a team more than a team needs him.

They should change this site's name to realbadgm with these pro Bennett weirdos thinking he is anything other than worthless.

Well his rookie contract has been bought out, so realistically any team looking to sign him would be paying him the minimum.
He might be a decent 10th-12th man at min salary but usually you are looking for a hustle, utility player there and bennett plays like hes still trying to proves hes a star.

If that makes sense.

I'd take him at the min over Andrew N