mojo13 wrote:The_Hater wrote:Flight33 wrote:I can't believe I'm saying this, but if Bennett applies himself he can be really good in the NBA.
But that's a really huge 'if'. Physically he's obviously gifted but he's generally lazy on the court and takes too many plays off. He hasn't improved his skill level since joining the league and he spent most of his rookie season out of shape. All those things generally link back to the same place, desire/work ethic etc... Right now he's a poor man's Derrick Williams which is kinda sad.
I don't agree with this. Bennett hasn't really shown he is a lazy player/person. I think this is a little meme for people looking for convenient simple minded excuses for his struggles in the NBA to date. .
Simple minded? Thanks for the insult. Does it make you feel better about your opinion to insult the person with the opposing view?
Back when Bennett was at UNLV I made the observation that he stands around watching the play quite often if the ball isn't in his hands. I made the same comments when he was in Cleveland. Among the many problems with this, it leads to poor defensive rotations and poor box-outs on rebounds and not so surprisingly he's considered a poor defender and a poor rebounder by NBA standards right now. Call this unfocused. Call it lazy. Call it both. It really doesn't matter because it's a huge problem and a huge reason why he doesn't play very many minutes. The standing around problem is very Bargnani-esqe to make a comparison.
Flight33 wrote:He was no doubt out of shape during his rookie season but that wasn't because he was lazy. He had a handful of meaningful health issues all through his rookie campaign and was never able to really get into shape. The Cavs not only did him a disservice picking him but also by not sending him to the D-league to play himself in shape when he was finally healthy his rookie year. No one close to him, who really knows him has ever said anything bad about his work ethic..
While I agree that he gained the weight while injured prior to his rookie season, we need to ask why most NBA players don't gain 20-30 lbs while having an injured shoulder? What was he doing while he was out? What was he eating? Was he still running to keep his weight down? Was he doing any activities to help him to stay in shape? Blaming 100% of the weight gain on a short term shoulder injury just appears to be a convenient excuse instead of the huge red flag it should be and only bolsters my claim that he appears to be lazy.
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Flight33 wrote:Bennett struggles seem tied to confidence issues with being picked way too high at #1 and not having the right NBA coaching to date. He unfortunately has had coaches that haven't been the best for his development and/or building up his confidence. Flip had him on a pretty serious leash last year and when he did start playing well and gaining some slack he injured his knee (tragic). Triano has told him to just go play and do what you do and we can see the results. He has talent, he has work ethic, his is a good teammate with a good attitude. There is a real chance he can salvage a meaningful career if he finds himself in the right situation. Minny with Flips insistence to start 40 year olds on a rebuilding team doesn't seem to be a great spot (EDIT: KG is 39!).
I'm sure his confidence is down too but what in his skill level has improved since college? He showed me limited overall skill in college. A solid face up jump-shooter who relied a lot on his strength/athleticism/long armed package to dominate less talented college players. Along with those positives he displayed a poor handle, a poor dribble drive/floor game, a poor post up game, poor perimeter defense and was a poor passer. And none of those things have changed during his NBA career. He has also failed to improve the range on his jumper from the college 3 point line to the NBA 3 point line. Right now as an NBA player he pretty much does nothing except shoot long 2's which compromise almost half of his FG attempts. Considering all of this I don't think it's out of line to question how hard he works on the skill level part of his game. Perhaps he works quite hard but just fails to improve but does this really sound reasonable for an age 21-22 year old player?
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Flight33 wrote:This sort of reminds me more of the Darko situation of getting drafted into the worst possible situation possible for a players development. Not as bad a situation for AB, but with more injuries. Darko also had a pretty crappy attitude.
His situation was nothing like that of Darko. Darko was drafted to a legit contender so there weren't very many minutes to go around to help him develop but lots of quality veterans who could give him advice. AB got to play for 2 terrible basketball teams in 2 years. There were lots of minutes available to the young players who earned them but maybe not as many vets to help him learn between the ears. How are these two situations similar? Sorry but that a terrible analogy.
Listen, as a Canadian I'd love Bennett to prove me wrong but I just don't see any signs that my scouting report is too far off. I guess we'll find out what he's made of this season but I wouldn't be holding my breath. I think there's a very good chance that he'll be out of the league in another 1-2 seasons and if that happens the finger should be pointed directly at Bennett himself.
