How BAD Was Anthony Bennett Actually?

anthony bennett is best known for being the first overall pick in the 2013 nba draft and getting mentioned with the term bust in the same sentence but how bad was anthony bennett actually and is he really the worst number one overall pick ever youth career in college anthony bennett was born and raised in toronto canada but he moved to the usa at the age of 16 to advance his basketball career against stuff for competition in 2010 draft express described him as an athletic and strong big man with both physical and basketball upside most of his points in high school came via dunks but he also had solid shooting mechanics and could score from mid-range and hit an occasional three which stuck with most nba scouts he was far from a finished product but the potential was there and bennett was listed by all major publications as the number one forward and the top 10 high school player in the country bennett had offers from many major ncaa universities and he ultimately opted for unlv he averaged 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds a game and only 27 minutes per game at unlv which isn't remarkable but the scouts were intrigued by his efficiency anthony shot 53 from the field and 37.5 from three-point range and his average player efficiency rating was 28.3 one of the best ratings in the country bennett then took the well-known one-and-done route and after just one year he signed up for the 2013 nba draft pre-draft before the draft nba scouts had quite divided opinions about the young mr bennett some believed he could become a player of similar ilk as larry johnson another unlv standout nba all-star and the number one overall pick in 1991. paul milsap's name was also thrown around mostly because bennett resembled both of those players physically as a strong undersized forward some scouts weren't convinced that he'll ever become an all-star like johnson or milsap but they all agreed on one thing the kid had potential and he should be picked in the lottery even though many believed bennett could eventually become a good player almost nobody thought that he had superstar potential in fact none of the mock draft sites predicted his name would be called before the fourth pick and most projected that he would be drafted 10th overall why drafting first matters in may of 2013 the lottery god smiled in the direction of the cleveland cavaliers who won the number one overall pick in the draft for the second time in three years six nba franchises never had a first overall pick in the draft and with the new lottery system having a top pick is not guaranteed even if you had the worst record that being said a wasted first pick has its penalties it means that the franchise has missed the opportunity to start forming a winning team which usually means another year without the playoffs fewer games on tv less fans in the arena and all of those things mean less money in the nba world where superstars are hard to come by and where 30 teams fight for a championship under the strict rules of the salary cap drafting well is the key to success especially for small market teams that don't attract free agents 25 percent of all players drafted first overall made at least one all nba team and 55 of them played in at least one all-star game as the picks go down the talent crop gets thinner and the chances for drafting a future all-star get slimmer for example only thirty percent of players chosen fifth overall will become an all-star and seven percent of them will make an all-nba team from mid to late lottery chances to draft an all-star drop below one percent we're not trying to bore you with statistics but these numbers paint a nice picture of how crucial it is to score the first overall pick and how important it is not to screw it up the 2013 draft when david stern came to the podium and said that with the first pick in the 2013 draft the cleveland cavaliers selected anthony bennett the reaction was an unusual one you could hear a loud murmur of many omgs and wtf's in the draft room and see plenty of faces frowning in disbelief including the face of anthony bennett himself bennett became the first canadian chosen as the first overall pick after a solid but unspectacular year at unlv despite having no expectations to be drafted first he's subtly projected to be the cornerstone of a franchise that was still recovering from the bronze decision contrary to all the predictions and analysis this draft had the most quality players dropped to the middle and end of the first round making it one of the deepest drafts in recent nba history by choosing anthony bennett the cavs missed out on giannis vifta oladipo steven adams c.j mccollum and rudy gobert among other quality starters and rotation players conditioning and work ethic issues after a surprisingly solid summer league performance bennett showed up to his first training camp overweight and out of shape then the regular season started and bennett missed the first 16 shots of his career and didn't score his first field goal until the fifth game of the season bennett scored in double digits for the first time in his 33rd game while more than 70 of first picks scored over 10 points in their first nba game coaches tried everything to get him up to speed and acclimated to the nba he played both forward positions they pushed him at times and gave him space at others nothing helped and it was starting to get glaringly obvious that they drafted a cat in a sack even though he desperately needed more playing time the cavs refused to send him to the development league fearing that it would crush his already fragile psyche and public image he played 52 games with the cavs in his rookie year averaging 4.2 points on horrendous 35 shooting and 24 from three all that efficiency he had in college disappeared and it was clear that there was little to no chance that something was going to improve the issue with anthony was and we had no way of knowing this at the time the kid had no desire to overcome adversity whatsoever as soon as it was hard he was out his whole life he rolled out of bed bigger better and more talented than everybody else as soon as it was hard it was over said the cavs gm david griffin from first overall pick to g-league in four years before his second season the cavs had no interest to make bennett a part of the rotation so he was eventually involved in a trade with the timberwolves for kevin love and the timberwolves accepted to trade for him just because he was a package deal with andrew wiggins another first overall pick anthony played better in his second year which wasn't that hard considering how low the bar was set in 57 games for the timberwolves bennett shot 42 from the field and 30 from three for a measly 5.2 points per game minnesota waved bennett before the next season and bought out his contract just to get him off the team and when it seemed that the first pick would be out of the league in two years the raptors gave him a chance partly because he was canadian and partly because he was the first pick two summers ago but after 19 games and a total of 28 points from bennett he was cut once again proving that patriotism will only go so far next year he got another chance with the brooklyn nets who were the worst team in the league at the time and had nothing to lose bennett added another million on his bank account but he didn't add much to the nets averaging his standard five points and three rebounds after which his nba chances have expired after only his fourth year in the league anthony bennett had lost his job this happens all the time and about 50 basketball players get cut from the nba roster every season those players are usually second round draft picks or undrafted players who unsuccessfully try to show that they belong and deserve to play with the best players in the world it was unprecedented that it happened to a guy who had been the first overall pick just four years ago after the nba bennett went overseas and signed with fenerbahce and he actually won the euro league with the team in 2017. it's the only trophy in his short career where he contributed with exactly 12 points in 10 games he played in the euro league bennett tried to revive his career in the g league and thus became the first number one pick to ever play in a game in the g league it seemed to work because in july of 2019 bennett managed to sign a one-year deal with the houston rockets but he was waived during training camp is he the worst number one pick ever many of the famous draft busts were actually solid nba players they were not worth the first pick obviously but they were good players who had the gift and the curse of being drafted first andrea bragnani was a black hole on defense and by no means was the next dirk as he was advertised he will always be considered a bust but he still had one season where he averaged over 20 points per game and 14 points for his career kwame brown was tormented by michael jordan with the wizards who shattered his confidence with trash talk from which kwame never recovered but brown still carved himself a fine 12-year nba career and was one of the better defenders in the league when his number was called the same is true for candy man michael aloa condi who couldn't score a basket unless he was alone underneath it but he still played solid defense which secured him a nine year worth of nba contracts purvis ellison sam bowie and greg oden were all quote unquote busts but that was due to injuries more than anything and all of them showed that they were otherwise talented to be if not all stars than at least solid contributors the only first draft pick comparable to bennett was larue martin the first overall pick in 1972. martin spent four years in the league just like bennett and averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds and was long considered the worst number one pick ever but he still had better numbers than bennett some people will say that the burden of being the first pick and getting traded every year had a negative impact on anthony bennett and his career but the truth is hard and it is cold anthony bidden didn't deserve to be the first pick and frankly it's questionable should have been drafted at all to answer the question from the intro yes anthony bennett is the worst player in nba history drafted first overall the fact that he was picked first was actually beneficial to his career because if he weren't pick so high he'd get fewer opportunities and be out of the league much sooner but to be fair you can't blame the mild-mannered canadian for any of this and mock him for the lack of production he didn't pick himself first overall and if he was drafted in mid to late lottery he will be out of the league maybe even sooner but he wouldn't be called a bust thank you for watching please don't forget to like and subscribe as we put out videos like these every day let us know what you thought about this video in the comments and what 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Channel: Nonstop

Views: 1,780,011

Keywords: nba, nba history, nba busts, anthony bennett, anthony bennett draft, anthony bennett highlights, anthony bennett highlights college, 2013 nba draft, worst draft picks, biggest draft busts, anthony bennett bust

Id: nBPqNavW8O4

Length: 9min 1sec (541 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 07 2021