Anthony Bennett avg 9 ppg, 3 rpg on 33%fg in six D-league games this year

[scuzzy]

Has there ever been a #1 pick that has fallen off this fast?


Biggest bust ever

[Nilocon165]

LeBeast would've turned him into a superstar

#LeBeast

[Mawly-G]

Saw a thread about this on NBA Reddit.

The sad truth is that even Kwame Brown had a much more prolific career than Mr. Bennett.

I remember Bill Simmons losing his shit when Anthony Bennett was called up for the first pick :roll:

[Legends66NBA7]

Saw him live when he played in Mississauga. Was not impressed and I knew he was a goner after this season was done. Turns out he would get released even before that and got bought out for Jason Thompson.

Kid's been a disaster.

[Mawly-G]

I wonder wtf the Cavs were thinking when they drafted him...

I know the 2013 draft was considered to be weak at the time, but I wonder what they saw in him.

At his best, what do ya'll think his ceiling was? A poor man's Larry Johnson?

[scuzzy]

For comparison:

Jimmer avg 21/5/4 on 46% shooting in the D-league :lol


NBA role players mop up the D-League, what the hell happened to Mr. UNLV?

[I know you are]

LeBeast would've turned him into a spot up shooter.

#LeBeast
Fixed

[Sarcastic]

Easily easily the worst pick of all time. Not his fault though that the Cavs scouting was that bad. He just got paid off it.

[DukeDelonte13]

Easily easily the worst pick of all time. Not his fault though that the Cavs scouting was that bad. He just got paid off it.


he was mocked as a lotto pick by everyone.

His best season was his disappointing rookie year. He had a stretch of decent performances toward the end of the season where it was looking like he was starting to turn things around.

The dude is just a soft minded baby. Got less and less confident in his abilities as time went on.

[DukeDelonte13]

I wonder wtf the Cavs were thinking when they drafted him...

I know the 2013 draft was considered to be weak at the time, but I wonder what they saw in him.

At his best, what do ya'll think his ceiling was? A poor man's Larry Johnson?


i think that was the most common comp for him.

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

didnt think it was possible but he surpassed Oden:lol
Canada and Toronto stay holdin these Ls:lol :lol _iggins:lol

[JohnnySic]

Michael Olowakandi, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, and Andrea Bargnani can relax now.

[Sarcastic]

he was mocked as a lotto pick by everyone.

His best season was his disappointing rookie year. He had a stretch of decent performances toward the end of the season where it was looking like he was starting to turn things around.

The dude is just a soft minded baby. Got less and less confident in his abilities as time went on.

Lotto pick and #1 overall are 2 different things. It's very hard to pick such a bust in the NBA. Yea they happen, but not to that extent. A #1 pick bust usually turns out to be a serviceable role player. Bennett isn't even good enough for D League.

[DukeDelonte13]

Lotto pick and #1 overall are 2 different things. It's very hard to pick such a bust in the NBA. Yea they happen, but not to that extent. A #1 pick bust usually turns out to be a serviceable role player. Bennett isn't even good enough for D League.


they took him over a guy that would have sat a season with a torn ACL, a 6'3'' combo guard after just taking one the year prior, A center with stress fracture issues, Otto Porter designated career role player, and Cody f*cking Zeller.


It was definitely a swing for the fences pick. They went for the guy who had the highest upside with a big bust potential and it failed. Chris Grant was fired midway through the season afterwards.

And if you recall there was clearly no consensus top 3 players that year.

[Sarcastic]

they took him over a guy that would have sat a season with a torn ACL, a 6'3'' combo guard after just taking one the year prior, A center with stress fracture issues, Otto Porter designated career role player, and Cody f*cking Zeller.


It was definitely a swing for the fences pick. They went for the guy who had the highest upside with a big bust potential and it failed. Chris Grant was fired midway through the season afterwards.

And if you recall there was clearly no consensus top 3 players that year.

Nerlens Noel was the consensus, but like you said he was injured. Still should have picked him. You could have picked anyone in the top 15 and made a better pick than Bennett.

[Sarcastic]

Michael Olowakandi, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, and Andrea Bargnani can relax now.

Bargnani is Michael Jordan compared to Bennett.

[Mawly-G]

Bargnani is Michael Jordan compared to Bennett.
Lol, Bargnani actually had a couple seasons where he averaged around 20 ppg.

Bennett could barely even sniff 5 ppg.

[senelcoolidge]

I was watching the Raptors celebrate after winning that game and felt a little sad. Bennett should have been on that bench. Just sad.

[kamil]

I was watching the Raptors celebrate after winning that game and felt a little sad. Bennett should have been on that bench. Just sad.

Don't feel too bad for a guy that puts in this kind of effort:

http://imgur.com/aFWvmB9

[Im Still Ballin]

Small hands. SMALL HANDS

Doesn't really matter for Cleveland as they shipped his ass out of town for the Love train

[Bosnian Sajo]

Michael Olowakandi, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, and Andrea Bargnani can relax now.

Bargnani was never great, but like mentioned he could score down low. All the guys you mentioned had lengthy careers, too, all at least 10 years in the league. Which means they also qualify for the largest NBA pension, which is pretty dope.

[Im Still Ballin]

YO SCUZZY

How much for the moon shoes uce!

[JohnnySic]

Bargnani was never great, but like mentioned he could score down low. All the guys you mentioned had lengthy careers, too, all at least 10 years in the league. Which means they also qualify for the largest NBA pension, which is pretty dope.
I agree with you. I never thought Bargnani sucked. Its not his fault that the Raptors took him first when they should have taken Aldridge. I always though he could be a very good #4 banana on a contender. Fact is though, he did go first, so fairly or unfairly, he has the "bust" label attached to him. Had Bargnani gone a little lower, even #2, no one would think of him as a bust.

Olowakandi, Brown, and Milicic are also busts in the sense that they went #1 or #2 with very high expectations and did not come close to living up to them. But yeah, they were at least good role players and had long careers.

[RedBlackAttack]

That was such a strange pick in retrospect. I mean, even if the organization loved him, we already had invested a high pick and a lot of time in developing Tristan by that point... and he was coming along well.

It was maybe the worst draft ever in terms of sheer talent at the top and really none of the players in consideration for the No. 1 pick were worth even a Top 5 pick most years. But, man... what a terrible, terrible decision.

I fought for Bennett for a couple years too, and even when he was included in the Love trade, I thought he'd eventually make it at least as a rotational big. He had the size and athleticism, but not the mental fortitude.

It was enough to get the GM fired, along with his decision to re-hire Mike Brown.

[DukeDelonte13]

That was such a strange pick in retrospect. I mean, even if the organization loved him, we already had invested a high pick and a lot of time in developing Tristan by that point... and he was coming along well.

It was maybe the worst draft ever in terms of sheer talent at the top and really none of the players in consideration for the No. 1 pick were worth even a Top 5 pick most years. But, man... what a terrible, terrible decision.

I fought for Bennett for a couple years too, and even when he was included in the Love trade, I thought he'd eventually make it at least as a rotational big. He had the size and athleticism, but not the mental fortitude.

It was enough to get the GM fired, along with his decision to re-hire Mike Brown.


what gets me is that he really did start coming around toward the end of the season. He had a 19 and 10 game and started playing a lot better after it. All those feel good articles came out about how he's turning the corner and it was a good decision not to send him to the D-League, etc.

He had a burden to bear, for sure, but man oh man did he lack the toughness and desire for greatness. Soft with a capital S.

[Relinquish]

they took him over a guy that would have sat a season with a torn ACL, a 6'3'' combo guard after just taking one the year prior, A center with stress fracture issues, Otto Porter designated career role player, and Cody f*cking Zeller.


It was definitely a swing for the fences pick. They went for the guy who had the highest upside with a big bust potential and it failed. Chris Grant was fired midway through the season afterwards.

And if you recall there was clearly no consensus top 3 players that year.

:no:

[Mawly-G]

Bargnani was never great, but like mentioned he could score down low. All the guys you mentioned had lengthy careers, too, all at least 10 years in the league. Which means they also qualify for the largest NBA pension, which is pretty dope.
Darko lasted 10 years? That's surprising.

[RedBlackAttack]

what gets me is that he really did start coming around toward the end of the season. He had a 19 and 10 game and started playing a lot better after it. All those feel good articles came out about how he's turning the corner and it was a good decision not to send him to the D-League, etc.

He had a burden to bear, for sure, but man oh man did he lack the toughness and desire for greatness. Soft with a capital S.
I know, right? Toward the end of that season, it felt like we were seeing what the Cavs must have spotted in his workouts that made them pull the trigger. He had a nice, soft touch in the mid-range and above average athleticism for a man that size. He had a string of 20+ point, 7+ rebound games. And then LBJ came back and *poof*

I don't think I ever saw him play again.

But, by the end of the 2014 season, I had no doubt that he was starting to get it and I remember being very bullish on his potential with other ISHers who doubted his promise. Those threads would probably be pretty funny to read now, because I was SO sure he'd at least be a solid role player. I remember a Hawks fan in particular (can't remember the username) that I constantly went back-and-forth with regarding AB.

I told him if Bennett didn't make it, I'd be the first one on here to admit I was wrong. I'm a man of my word... I may not be the first, but I was laughably wrong. As you said, he never had the mental strength to handle playing in the NBA, let alone dealing with being called a bust constantly.

[bobopenguin]

i think he is ready, call him up!:lol

[G-train]

Nerlens Noel was the consensus, but like you said he was injured. Still should have picked him. You could have picked anyone in the top 15 and made a better pick than Bennett.

There was no consensus number 1 pick that year, all the boards had different guys. Bennett was a consensus top ten though.

The most popular first pick was actually Alex Len, all the insiders had him going first to the Cavs.

[artificial]

Don't feel too bad for a guy that puts in this kind of effort:

http://imgur.com/aFWvmB9
Oh wow :oldlol:

That definitely is no NBA player... Not sure he even wants to play basketball if I was to judge from that clip :lol

[LakersForlife]

Oh wow :oldlol:

That definitely is no NBA player... Not sure he even wants to play basketball if I was to judge from that clip :lol
he screens with his aura

[BlazerRed]

You can't fall off when you were never on.

[Nick Young]

Giannis was picked #15 that draft. I wonder how all the scouts missed out on him. Cavs could have had Giannis :lol

[jbryan1984]

It was clearly the least talented draft I had ever witnessed. I almost wished we didn't have the #1 pick. You go back and look at the guys from that draft who have done OK the last three years.... Noel was injured. He was a red flag. EVERYONE was saying that he would be Oden 2.0. CJ McCollum was coming from a small unknown school. Nobody had really heard of these international guys like Adams, Schroder or the Milwaukee Greek beast whose name I still have not learned how to pronounce, let alone spell. MCW seemed to be the only decent name but we didn't wanna pick another guard, same with Oladipo. I really thought at the time we would take Alex Len. So, there really wasn't much of a choice.

You can go back into soooo many drafts and be like, my team could of had this guy or that guy. Portland could of had Jordan but got Sam Bowie. Sacramento could of had Karl Malone but got Joe Kleine. Milwaukee could of had Dirk Nowitzki but got Tractor Traylor. Golden State could of had KG but got Joe Smith. EVERY team in the NBA can go back and find so many what if's.

[G-train]

Milwaukee could of had Dirk Nowitzki but got Tractor Traylor.

Milwaukee had Dirk :lol

[Collie]

didnt think it was possible but he surpassed Oden:lol
Canada and Toronto stay holdin these Ls:lol :lol _iggins:lol

Greg Oden in his short NBA career accomplished 20x what Bennett has. He was top 10 in PER and led the league in FG% in his 2nd season before getting injured.

Olowakandi and Kwame averaged double figures once, and were serviceable players. Andrea was a good scorer in his 1 year peak.

No doubt the biggest bust in NBA history purely from a statistical and impact standpoint.

[FKAri]

Michael Olowakandi, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, and Andrea Bargnani can relax now.
Those guys are all-time greats compared to Bennett. AB is honestly, a league below those guys. He is literally playing in the league below them :lol