The Cleveland Cavaliers have fallen to an overall record of 8-33, the worst mark in the NBA this season. As the losses pile up, the Wine and Gold will search for potential diamonds in the rough that could receive a shot to make the team next season.
With that being said, would it be the worst idea for the Cleveland Cavaliers to bring back former top pick Anthony Bennett on a 10-day contract? In my opinion, it isn’t as bad of a thought as it originally seems.
Yes, Bennett was a complete and total flop when he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Cleveland thought they were getting a physical forward out of UNLV that could create offense from all over the floor. Bennett shot at a 53.3 percent clip, which made him stand out among the top prospects in a draft class where there was no clear choice for the best player available.
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Instead, the Cavaliers were tasked with trying to get some production from an out-of-shape 20-year-old that was too slow to defend small-forwards but too easy-going in the paint to defend bigs. Meanwhile, his offense was average, at best.
Simply put, most nights he was a liability on the court.
Bennett escorted himself out of the league about as quickly as he entered it, only playing parts of four seasons in the NBA for Cleveland, Minnesota, Toronto, and Brooklyn.
His career averages sat at 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in just 151 appearances, per Basketball Reference.
But yes, there is a reason for the Cavaliers entertaining the idea of a Bennett reunion this season. Besides the fact that they’re basically running a talent show with ten-day auditions, the Canadian appears to have gotten his act together and is taking his career way more seriously than he did six years ago.
In seventeen G-League games this season, Bennett has posted 13.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per contest for the Agua Caliente Clippers. His numbers are obviously more impressive than what they were during his NBA stint. However, his play on the court seems way more motivated and his attention to detail is impressive.
Check out some of Bennett’s best work this season with Agua Caliente, this being a 36-point showing against the Austin Spurs.
Watching Bennett in the video above shows the developments he’s made to his game along with a matured level of understanding. His post moves are poised and predicated while his shot is in its purest form. He’s never looked more confident in his performance and it’s showing.
In a way, a return to Cleveland would be a circle of life moment that could culminate with a career revival or the end of Bennett’s short-lived comeback.
With the latest injury to Larry Nance Jr., the Cavaliers are currently down to three bigs at the moment. They’ve been dealing with a shorthanded unit all season and the guys they do have on the roster are nearly identically in their offensive styles.
The only member of the “bigs” unit that can space the floor out right now is Channing Frye, who shouldn’t be getting a ton of minutes regardless of his fan-favorite role with the organization. That’s another selling point to bringing in Bennett, who is hitting a career-high 47 percent of his perimeter shots this season.
He’s never going to live up to number one pick status by any stretch of the imagination. But he’s informing the league that he’s willing to put in the work to get back to being a rotation player, at the very least.
If the Cavaliers are giving guys like Cameron Payne an audition to try and crack the guard rotation, there’s nothing to lose by offering Bennett a ten-day contract besides wearing egg on their face if it fails. Considering they’ve dealt with one failure already with the 25-year-old, it really isn’t that big of a deal.