Former Cav Anthony Bennett gets a ring with Fenerbahce

Anthony Bennett, a former first overall pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has finally won a championship.

Anthony Bennett, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, has won a championship. Fenerbahce Instanbul defeated Olympiacos Piraeus 80-64 on the way to being named the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions.

Fenerbahce Instanbul is the first Turkish ball club to be crowned EuroLeague champions.

Bennett was reportedly set to be released by Fenerbahce for them to make room for Pero Antic but actually remained with the team.

Per SportsNet‘s Steven Loung:

"Bennett is still on the team and will be on the EuroLeague Final Four roster, but was left off the Turkish-league playoffs roster. According to a memo Canada Basketball sent to Sportsnet, the club can dress only six foreign players in domestic playoffs and opted to go with the ones who were there at the start of the season."

https://twitter.com/basketsuperligi/status/866395680998293504

You can see Bennett posing on the far left of the photo.

The pose that the Fenerbahce players are holding was made infamous by the man holding the trophy in the middle of the photo, Chef Nusret Gökçe (also known as “Salt Bae”). The pose is the “how bow dah” pose seen on Snapchat filters and music videos in America.

Bennett has shown that he still holds a bit of resentment towards the Cleveland Cavaliers (and other teams, possibly).

He said that he feels like he’ll have the last laugh before the game against Olympiakos Piraeus:

Although he only played 1:12 seconds in the blowout, he averaged 9.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game in seven Basketball Super League contests for Fenerbahce. After being released by the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors over the past two seasons, Bennett has clearly had more success in international competition than he has in the NBA, where he holds career averages of 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game.

Bennett has also played for the Canadian national team in multiple FIBA team events and the Pan American Games. He averaged 15.6 points and 9.4 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game while playing for the Canadian national team in the Pan American Games.

While Bennett is right about still having the potential to be an impact player down the line, as nobody can predict the future and he’s shown steady development after a horrendous rookie season marred by injuries and subpar performances, it doesn’t change the fact that he failed to live up to expectations.

With Bennett’s inability to make an impact in the league and all of the incoming NBA talent in what’s a pretty deep 2017 NBA Draft class, barely playing two minutes in the EuroLeague isn’t going to make teams jump at him in the offseason. If a team that doesn’t have a lot of NBA talent on the roster opts to leave you on the bench for all but two minutes in a blowout game, it’s not exactly a vote of confidence.

He’ll probably have to hope he gets the opportunity to play for a franchise’s Summer League team to get back in the NBA. Nonetheless, he’s a player who looks like he could be better suited playing overseas, as many former NBA players are.

Despite the unfortunate turn in his career, I’m personally hoping that he can become a starter for a EuroLeague ball club one day. I’d rather see him star in the EuroLeague than struggle to stay on a NBA roster.

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Do you think Anthony Bennett will ever return to the NBA? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.