is Anthony Bennett the worst use of a #1 overall pick ever?

[Owl]

It's certainly way too early to say "worst use ... ever". Maybe let the class play some NBA basketball first?

Also "worst use" rather than just "worst player", implies looking at the context of who was available. By that measure a pick like Bogut (dissapointing, but not a bad player) looks worse because you passed on Chris Paul, wheras Andrea Bargnani (very dissapointing because of awful defense and coming off a very bad year) doesn't look as bad because a lot of players selected after were also poor (Ty Thomas, Adam Morrison, Sheldon Williams, Randy Foye. Roy was very good but fragile. Gay is okay but not a special player. Only Aldridge really panned out of the top tier players). So it depends how other players do.


Do I like the pick? No. Nerlens was long the consensus number 1 and by every attempt to translate college stats is the best prospect. Bennett isn't that impressive by translations (Pelton had him 8th) and was 6th on the NBA.com consensus mock draft. Unless they were desperate to get him it seems like they could have traded down. Obviously in a (percieved) weak draft you won't get a great haul for moving down a few picks but you could get something (and not have to pay him the no. 1 pick salary scale). So yeah, I was surprised, and I don't (at this point) think it was a great pick, but lets see how he actually does.

As to the state of the Cavs despite dubious picks (Waiters with Drummond on the board and a plausible pick, Thompson with Valanciunas on the board and a plausible pick) the Cavs having Irving, Bynum, the cap space to chase LeBron and some decent young players. If (a huge if) they can land LeBron (and Bynum is healthy) Cavs might go into the 14-15 campaign as title favorites.

[JtotheIzzo]

PENlS comments because you cannot argue the content?

I think I proved most of your content wrong. Oh wait, you did get one thing right, LeBron, KD and Melo ARE good players.

I see where you get your legendary troll status from, hopefully this will be the last time I get sucked in to your web of trash.

[Doranku]

In the context he uses by saying "worst use" of a #1 overall pick, I think he has a point about trading down.

No one in the top 5+ was even looking at Bennett besides the Cavs, they should have milked the pick and tried to pick up a serviceable bench player from one of those teams for essentially nothing.

[Fresh Kid]

olawakandi.

[CavaliersFTW]

You are blind if you think he only looks 4" taller. He is almost a full head taller than him and looks like the 6'7-8" he was measured at.

... he wasn't measured at 6-8. He measured 6-7 in shoes and refused to be measured w/o his shoes which leads me to believe his shoes must have been incredibly thick ala Kevin Love and he's hiding his true height. The video does indeed reveal he's pretty short for an NBA PF though that doesn't necessarily mean there will be problems because he's wide bodied for a strong base and has a decent wingspan so from a purely physical point of view he's at least got a fighting chance to play PF in a poor mans Charles Barkley mold which isn't bad if you ask me (despite the criticisms that he's "fat" he's still not quite as heavy as sir Charles was, nor is he as explosive).

Id bet money he is no more than 6-5 and change w/o shoes as even average NBA shoes are 1.25" thick (which would make him 6-5.75) however like I said I suspect he was really wearing thick footwear at the draft trying to hide his true height so I'd go so far as to say he may only be around 6-5 even.

[tontoz]

Irving does a good job at scoring, but 6 foot guards that dominate the ball and make no defensive impact are overrated.

First of all Irving measured 6'1.75" barefoot at the combine. Secondly do you think he was the wrong pick? Who would you have chosen?

I think the TT and Waiters picks were dubious but Irving was clearly the right pick.

[Bandito]

At the time Kandi/Kwame seemed like alright picks. Noone knew. This pick is disaster from the start. Thats why its a worse pick.

So your reason for that is because what? BEcause I don't get it. If you're comparing Bennett to Kwame and Kandi then that's just asinine because Bennett has not even played a year of basketball and most people consider player bust after a couple of year in the league. The rookie year is the worst for most players because they have to get used to traveling, tough schedule, new city and playing with veterans that have played basketball at the highest level for a long time. I think it is a little early to be calling him the worst pick of all the time, specially comparing to Kandi the WOAT bust of all time.
BTW if you think the CAVS are making move so they can get Lebron back then you're just retarded.

[KyrieTheFuture]

I wonder if Tony has any interactions with people in real life. If he has, the fact he hasn't been murdered purely out of annoyance by this point is shocking.

[Twiens]

In the context he uses by saying "worst use" of a #1 overall pick, I think he has a point about trading down.

No one in the top 5+ was even looking at Bennett besides the Cavs, they should have milked the pick and tried to pick up a serviceable bench player from one of those teams for essentially nothing.

There's no way he drops out of the top 4

[Collie]

Naa he isn't the worst. Oden just might take that spot. It would be hard knowing you could have had KD instead.

Bennett wasn't the worst player in the draft but he sure as hell wasn't the best. I think he is kinda fat too.

If we're talking hindsight yeah, but everybody back then would have taken Oden.

[DukeDelonte13]

First of all Irving measured 6'1.75" barefoot at the combine. Secondly do you think he was the wrong pick? Who would you have chosen?

I think the TT and Waiters picks were dubious but Irving was clearly the right pick.

TT and Waiters were considered reaches at draft time but have proved they deserved to be picked where they were at.

People wanna gush over J-val but they forget that J-val was not intersted in coming to cleveland and that TT pretty much averaged a double double on good D as a 21 year old. TT also grew two inches since he was drafted.


And as for waiters, there is only one other guard in the entire class that can create like he can and that's Lillard. I would take Waiters over Barnes every single day of the week and not even think twice about it comparing what each was able to do last season. First team all rookie, USA camp invite, and the pick is "dubious" SMH

[boozehound]

was it surprising? Yes. A waste of a pick? I dont think so. I am not sold on any of the other top 10 picks (other than nerlens, and you can see what he was worth based on the trade). The cavs got who they wanted.

[RedBlackAttack]

It's certainly way too early to say "worst use ... ever". Maybe let the class play some NBA basketball first?

Also "worst use" rather than just "worst player", implies looking at the context of who was available. By that measure a pick like Bogut (dissapointing, but not a bad player) looks worse because you passed on Chris Paul, wheras Andrea Bargnani (very dissapointing because of awful defense and coming off a very bad year) doesn't look as bad because a lot of players selected after were also poor (Ty Thomas, Adam Morrison, Sheldon Williams, Randy Foye. Roy was very good but fragile. Gay is okay but not a special player. Only Aldridge really panned out of the top tier players). So it depends how other players do.


Do I like the pick? No. Nerlens was long the consensus number 1 and by every attempt to translate college stats is the best prospect. Bennett isn't that impressive by translations (Pelton had him 8th) and was 6th on the NBA.com consensus mock draft. Unless they were desperate to get him it seems like they could have traded down. Obviously in a (percieved) weak draft you won't get a great haul for moving down a few picks but you could get something (and not have to pay him the no. 1 pick salary scale). So yeah, I was surprised, and I don't (at this point) think it was a great pick, but lets see how he actually does.

As to the state of the Cavs despite dubious picks (Waiters with Drummond on the board and a plausible pick, Thompson with Valanciunas on the board and a plausible pick) the Cavs having Irving, Bynum, the cap space to chase LeBron and some decent young players. If (a huge if) they can land LeBron (and Bynum is healthy) Cavs might go into the 14-15 campaign as title favorites.

There is a lot of revisionist history going on here. That isn't out of the ordinary for drafts when you're looking at them years later, but the truth of what was being said at draft-time bears repeating.

It's disingenuous for people to act as though Drummond was the consensus pick and the Cavs shocked the world by taking Waiters. Drummond ended up going right around where he was projected by most. Maybe it was a little later than anticipated, but he was not being mocked in the Top 4 by the time the draft came by anyone I can remember.

There was also very little talk about Drummond and how the Cavs should take him. His stock fell as the guys went through the combine and individual workouts, which shocked me personally -- I thought the opposite would happen. But, it was pretty well accepted by draft day that Drummond likely wasn't going to be a high pick.

There was a guy who everyone said the Cavs blew it by not being able to draft and HE was actually considered the consensus best player available at No. 4... That was Thomas Robinson. I can't tell you how many times I listened to people rattle on about how, if the Cavs would have taken someone else other than Thompson in 2011, they would be able to take a much better PF prospect in TRob in 2012 and that would have solved all of the Cavs problems.

Where are all those people now? Suddenly, it has shifted to Drummond who was the consensus pick, even though there were literally like three people on here talking about him that high and I was one of them. I don't remember getting a lot of support with that opinion.


About Jonas, as DukeDelonte said... his agent was giving the Cavs the runaround. He told them it may be several years before he could come to the states. That was reported by Chad Ford among others. His agent (and maybe Jonas himself) wanted Toronto.

The Cavs, faced with a guy they really liked who didn't want to come here, turned around and "reached" for a guy who just averaged a double-double as a 21-year-old sophomore in the NBA and has certainly been one of the best players in that draft so far. He's also a great locker room guy, which is an underrated asset.

These "dubious" picks have been pretty damn good. Now, had the Cavs listened to the masses and taken TRob in 2012? That would have been a dubious pick. That's not normally the way we refer to guys who were second amongst rookies in scoring and made First Team All-Rookie. We generally reserve hyperbole like that for Top 5 picks who've played for three teams in one year.

Are the Cavs given credit for not going with conventional wisdom on Robinson and possibly trading Thompson (an idea floated by many people)? Of course not.

We'll see about Bennett, but if Grant's track record is any indication, he'll probably be good.

[bluechox2]

he got owned by a 75 year old white guy

[chips93]

People wanna gush over J-val but they forget that J-val was not intersted in coming to cleveland and that TT pretty much averaged a double double on good D as a 21 year old. TT also grew two inches since he was drafted.

is that true? never heard that before. he still looks undersized to me