Dat2U wrote:stevemcqueen1 wrote:Dat2U wrote:Reading the end of the last draft thread, I think Bennett's strength as an ISO player has been greatly overrated. His handles and ability to create shots is very solid for a 250 Ibs but his handle is not elite. It's very good for a big man but only average for your typical SF. Plus if your an unwilling passer like Bennett is, a team can't fully take advantage of those skills when defenses key on him.
Bennett's handles are an obvious, self evident strength. When I read arguments saying they aren't, it says to me that person has lost objectivity because of whatever agenda they've got or they never actually watched him play. He successfully attacked multiple defenders with his dribble more often than any forward in this class and he's got better slashing ability than some of the top guards in the class.
There is no,
Bennett's handles are effective, caveat: for a 250 pounder. They're effective, period, in part
because he's 240 pounds. Why do you think LeBron is such an effective slasher? How often does he cross people over or use liquid sizeup and hesitation moves to break his man's ankles and get around him? Almost never. He doesn't have to, he bulls his way to the rim using sheer speed and strength because he can. Bennett can get rolling down hill too and just bull his way to the rim and finish over people. Strength matters as much as speed or skill for slashers.
Bennett's not selfish either. UNLV was a free shooting team of gunners, you can point to his guards and teammates being unwilling passers. When you've got Katin Reinhardt and Bryce Jones chucking away for low efficiency, there is the source of your efficiency and ball movement issues. Bennett was the top scoring option and finished the looks he got with excellent efficiency. That was his role.
First off, you need to take LeBron out the equation, because him & Bennett aren't in the same ballpark on any level. You kill your own arguments when invoking his name as a comparable standard, it can't be taken seriously because it's not comparable. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
This doesn't argue against my point. And what you're creating here is a type of false dichotomy, a common logical fallacy. You're trying to say that LeBron is LeBron, the greatest player right now, and all comparisons to him, no matter how nuanced or specific are invalidated because the whole must be like LeBron in order for the comparison to be valid. That's not the case. There is an entire continuum to LeBron's (and every other player's) skill set, and some players can logically have similar pieces of that skill set without possessing the whole.
Secondly, Bennett is a straight line slasher. As you mentioned, he doesn't really show any advanced dribbling moves to create space or get into the lane. That's fine in the Mountain West but in the NBA you can't bull over or explode by every defender, even with your example, LeBron effectively uses multiple moves to attack off the bounce. LeBron is not a straight line slasher. LeBron handles are elite. He can get the rack any number of ways other than just bulling people over.
I didn't say Bennett doesn't show any advanced dribbling moves. I wouldn't say that because I know he has shown them. I've seen him size people up and use hesitation dribbles and cross people over. But mostly, he can use his strength to overpower players so that's what he does.
Bennett is powerful even by NBA standards. When he ages and gets stronger, he'll be even more of a load to deal with.
When does LeBron try anything else except bulling people over? In fact LeBron's lack of creativity with his drives and finishes was part of the reason he sucked in so many games against the Spurs. How many times did he just try and run through the defender with a poorly executed, half-hearted eurostep and hoist a crappy lay up attempt looking for a foul call? It's what he's been doing his whole career because it almost always works and he rarely needs to be more creative than that. He's a down hill player.
Thirdly, you can make the claim Bennett is not selfish but what is this actually based on? Your objectivity??? The numbers show that passing is not something he accustomed to doing. Maybe he acquires that trait at the next level, maybe he doesn't. But he played like passing was only a last resort, I don't know how you dismiss it by blaming his teammates.
It's based on having watched him and understanding his role at UNLV. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. But I know what I saw. His role was not a facilitator, he was a finisher. He's not a chucker even though he played on a team where chucking was prevalent and he had plenty of opportunities to be one. He passed out of bad situations. He didn't get the ball at the top of the key to facilitate the offense from there. He didn't catch the ball in the post with the design to have his teammates cut around him to the basket. His role was to catch the ball and go and score.
I'm curious, why is it so important to you to try and downplay Bennett's scoring skills? Pretty much everyone accepts they were a big strength.
