What impact will the #1 pick have this year, and where does he fit in with Cleveland?
Like many, I was surprised when Anthony Bennett’s name was called for the first overall pick. I’m not necessarily saying he wasn’t good enough to go first; in this draft there was no clear first overall pick and Bennett has a unique skill set that’s loaded with upside. What is tough to gauge is how he fits in Cleveland.
Most people expected Cleveland to take one of the centers (Alex Len and Nerlens Noel) or Georgetown SF Otto Porter Jr. Any of these picks would have filled a weakness on the Cleveland roster, but instead they took a PF in Anthony Bennett. Some argue Bennett can operate as an SF due to his offensive skill set but I disagree with that. He would get killed defensively defending opposing SF’s so PF will be his primary position. Meanwhile, Cleveland already has one of the most promising PF’s in the NBA on their roster in 22-year-old Tristan Thompson who averaged 11.7 PPG and 9.4 RPG last year in his second season in the NBA.
Due to Thompson’s presence I most certainly expect Anthony Bennett to start out his NBA career in a bench role. In a year or two it’s reasonable to expect Bennett to be a better player than Thompson, but this year he’s better served off the bench. He’s currently injured so when he does get healthy again he’ll be able to ease back into the swing of things. Its important to remember he has a lot of raw talent, and he has a lot of work to do to improve defensively.
Bennett’s biggest knock coming out of UNLV was his defense. He has the potential to become a very good defender at the NBA level, but critics have accused him of being lazy and not hustling defensively. He won’t be able to do this in Cleveland, because if he does he’ll never have a prayer at taking the starting job from Tristan Thompson.
What Bennett will bring right off the bat is offensive firepower and the ability to stretch the floor. The PF position is changing in the NBA, more and more four’s are able to knock down outside shots now. You can look at Charlotte as another example; they spent the fourth overall pick this year on Cody Zeller in hopes of him developing into a PF that can knockdown shots from the outside. This is a trait Tristan Thompson simply does not and never will possess. Thompson didn’t attempt a single three pointer last year, meanwhile Bennett shot over 38% from behind the arch in college last year.
When you look more and more into this pick it certainly begins to make sense. Cleveland now has a dynamic duo of young PF’s that have different and unique skill sets that complement each other. I also think Cleveland is a great place for Bennett. In college Bennett was a scoring specimen, but on defense he seemed to get lazy. Either that or he’s just a really, really bad defender. He often times wouldn’t hustle down the floor and wouldn’t seem to care. However in Cleveland he’ll have to prove he’s a willing defender just to get minutes and I love that because I believe he has the tools to become a very solid defender, he just has to channel them all together.
I expect Benett’s rookie year to get off to a slow start due to his injury. Cleveland won’t want to rush him back, they’ll progress him slowly and really turn him into a legitimate weapon down the stretch as they fight for a playoff spot. It will be interesting and exciting to see what he can do with such a rare skill set and I’m thrilled to watch him play with Kyrie Irving.
Projected Rookie Stats: 12.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 0.8 APG, .470 FG%, .374 3P%
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