Stillwater wrote:I am not defending the past because it was a bust scenario and I have no idea where it came from nor can I find the source now so it was probably untrue, and probably not even worth getting into , but Bennett even if he was picked 20th lacked the motivation to work through the hate associated with him in his rookie season struggles after being thrown in the fire coming off injury and surgery out of shape and lost his shot developed sleep apnea had asthma the list of excuses was endless etc... He never should have been drafted in the top of the draft but in a terribly weak draft where nobody would give up value to go get the Dipos or OPJs of the class the Cavs just took the guy they wanted the most for fit and Bennet was widely considered a top 10 pick with no clear separation on paper between him and others available. It was not only a bad luck pick for them it was by far one of the most unimpressive draft classes outside sleepers like Giannis and Gobert that we have ever seen.
lesson: never pick for need unless there is no clear better player available and make sure you get all the medicals not the cliff notes version before you draft anyone.
You got a lot right here except the bolded part ... the Cavs had Thompson at PF still at that point, and admitted they took a shot on Bennett after being unable to trade down because they felt he had the highest upside and Dan Gilbert would rather roll the dice for a big win than settle for ok to good.
16 & 8 and 37% on 3pters in just 27mpg as a 19year old was pretty advanced for his age compared to what the other lottery prospects did as freshman.
So, on paper at least, there was some reason for their thinking.
And I know from local coverage that the Wizards were seriously considering taking Bennett at 3.
However, David Griffin (the biggest proponent for Bennett in the organization) would later on admit the main thing they missed was that Bennett could not cope with adversity.
So, that's partially how we ended up drafting a player like Collin who sees any negative comment as a challenge who after losing all but 2 teammates in an NCAA game doesn't raise the white flag but fights his hardest to overcome the odds.
Teams should draft for fit within a given tier, but part of what determines those tiers should definitely include those intangibles that the Cavs missed in Bennett.
Any organization that starts from ground zero will build up list of do's and dont's over time ... and they're pretty much all learned in the most painful way (by direct failure). That we keep restarting from ground zero every 4 years or less, falls on Dan Gilbert.