OT: Is Anthony Bennett the worst #1 pick ever?
There are busts, players who got hurt, players who never realized their potential, players with drug issues, family issues, drug & weight issues (I'm looking at you Jamarcus Russell) but when it comes to absolute futility my Cleveland Cavaliers Anthony Bennett stands alone. It certainly appears that the Cavs GM Chris Grant has massively whiffed on his controversial selection.
Granted we are a mere 12 games into the season but ask yourself if you've ever seen anything quite like this before from any NBA player, much less the #1 pick in the draft:
5 for 37 from the floor (that's 13.5%)
1 for 13 from three (that's 8% - you keep firing Anthony)
And 2 for 4 from the free throw line (yippie.....50%)
And the topper is the Cavs found out after the selected him that he suffers from both sleep apnea and asthma making it difficult for him to stay on the court for more than five minutes at a time. Unhappy Cavs coach Mike Brown also added "he likes to stay out late" which certainly isn't helping his cause either.
Last night Bennett entered the game and the first time he touched the ball he immediately air-balled a three pointer. The Cavs are now talking about sending him down to the D-League which would be the first time that I can recall that the #1 pick in the draft couldn't even stay on the team's active roster for his first year.
Worst #1 pick ever? I nominate Anthony Bennett and like they say around here OIC (Only In Cleveland). Can you think of anyone worse?
November 22nd, 2013 at 12:35 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 12:40 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 12:39 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 12:51 AM ^
JaMarcus Russell is probably thebiggest bust of all time for number 1 overall picks.
Kwame Brown is up there too.
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:47 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:47 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 5:34 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 5:53 AM ^
From Wikipedia, here's Michael Jordan on Hakeem the Dream:
If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him.
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^
Olajuwon was a franchise center who went on to lead them to two championships. He was probably the second-best player in that draft. You can hardly criticize that pick.
Now, Sam Bowie over Jordan...
November 22nd, 2013 at 6:15 AM ^
I think it was last year at some point that Yahoo! Sports came up with their own list of the biggest busts with the #1 pick in NBA history. I'll have to look for the article later, but I think they mentioned some names like Joe Smith, Pervis Ellison, some obvious picks like Kwame Brown and Greg Oden and perhaps others. I believe they even gave a collective shoutout to the 2000 draft class as the worst ever. I think I would have a hard time disputing that - that was a bad class for the most part.
November 22nd, 2013 at 7:12 AM ^
I think Pervis Ellison is the standard you gotta beat here. Was injured most of his career.
I am trying but having trouble summoning much sympathy for this for two reasons.
-
Cleveland=OSU. You're not all bad, but more Buckeyes there than Columbus. Buckeyes are my enemy, Cleveland is their friend, so the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and the enemy of the friend of my enemy is my friend.
- Anybody who had the chance to select Trey Burke yet drafted someone other than Trey Burke this year is dead to me.
November 22nd, 2013 at 7:25 AM ^
but I have to mention Charles Rogers as one of the worst #2 overall picks ever, in large part because I watched him play up in EL against Rice during his final season at MSU. I'd been hearing about how awesome he was, so I focused almost exclusively on watching him.
What I saw was a guy who was extremely lazy running his routes when he wasn't the primary receiver on top not giving a shit about blocking most of the time.
If you want to give him a pass because he broke his collarbone in two successive seasons, fine, but based on what I saw I don't think he was ever going to be anything more than an eventual bust in the NFL anyhow.
November 22nd, 2013 at 7:39 AM ^
Obviously the top picks all have great athletic talent. Aside from injuries, what seems to separate the greats from the not so greats is the attitude and work ethic they bring to the game. I'm just amazed that nobody in the Cleveland organization seems to have figured that out. It seems almost as though their entire vetting process was to watch a few highlight reels of his play. What else would explain such a decision to select him with the number one pick?
November 22nd, 2013 at 8:58 AM ^
Great point. I would love to ask Chris Grant exactly what he saw in Bennett that made him think he was worthy of the #1 pick. Most draft boards had him going 10 or LOWER!
November 22nd, 2013 at 8:04 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 8:55 AM ^
Way too soon to judge Bennett, by the way.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^
Terrible, terrible, terrible pick. But every scout had him at 2 or 3. Bennett was a surprise pick to most.
I think Mateen Cleaves at 14 was another awful pick too for the Stones. Rodney White. They've had many misses.
November 22nd, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^
...but as of right now. Yes, he's the worst. He's also fat and out of shape and let the money (and likely women) go to his head.
November 22nd, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^
How can you forget Andy Tonkovich, drafted first by the Pittsburgh Steamrollers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_overall_NBA_draft_picks
More seriously, it is fun to peruse this list -- and realize how few players you know until the 1960s.
November 22nd, 2013 at 9:23 AM ^
Bennett was recovering from an injury in the off season, he started the season extremely out of shape
Another problem is Mike Brown isn't exactly the coach that will cultivate and improve someone's offensive game. This team is an absolute disaster on offense right now, and Mike Brown somehow managed to ruin Kyrie Irving.
The best sports writer in Cleveland right now is Terry Pluto, and he is just dumbfounded by Bennett's start, and the team's offensive play. It's so weird because Bennett's offensive game was not supposed to be a problem, everyone was worried that he wouldn't be able to play defense at all. Surprisingly, he has not been a liability on defense.
November 22nd, 2013 at 9:20 AM ^
What about the first QB drafted by an NFL expansion team?
Cleveland-Tim Couch
Houston-David Carr
But I guess the Jaguars drafted Steve Beuerlein and he won a Super Bowl... as Troy Aikman's backup
November 22nd, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
But he actually played in a couple games when Aikman was hurt.
November 22nd, 2013 at 9:24 AM ^
I think Anthony Bennett is the worst #1 pick ever. I will make an excuse for any player shown to be worse. I will also refuse to accept the excuse that he is 12 games into his professional career.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
Except I specifically said that injuries were excluded so that's not really an excuse. I'm just saying that if you look at the performance of ALL other players mentioned on the list, none (with the possible exception of Jamarcus and he was more drug related) have shown a complete inability to play the game for which they were drafterd.
I mean have you seen Bennett play? I have - and it's NOT pretty. I agree 12 games is hardly a representative sample size but if you get a chance to see a Cavs game and he manages to hit the floor while you're watching let me know what you think. Based on on what i've seen I doubt he would make any team's roster, much less warrant a #1 pick - he is that bad right now.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:46 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
LOL. I think I even got that excllent new word wrong.
I just have written "drafturd".
November 22nd, 2013 at 1:27 PM ^
You keep using peoples ability to stay in the league for multiple years as an excuse for them not being worse. How does anyone with any common sense accept that excuse over a guy whos been in the NBA for 12 games?
If anyone cites a QB that was terrible, you suggest, oh he wasnt that bad, he just didn't have a good offensive line.
Carr and Couch were not good and just had bad offensive lines. That is why they never went on to be successful with other teams they played for. Carr was so bad that he was replaced by the Falcons Backup. Couch got replaced by NFL stars such as Kelly Holcomb, Doug Pederson, and Spergon Wynn.
1988 NFL Draft Aundray Bruce. Played 11 NFL seasons, finished with a mind blowing 32 sacks.
Pretty much all he has to do is last 6 years in the NBA and he has passed Tim Couch.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:04 AM ^
And the topper is the Cavs found out after the selected him that he suffers from both sleep apnea and asthma making it difficult for him to stay on the court for more than five minutes at a time.
This seems like something the Cavs would find out when vetting a lottery pick, no? Unless Bennett himself didn't know until after draft, in which case, facepalm.jpg.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:05 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
He was hurt most or preseason and is still working his way back into shape. Word out of practice is he looks elite when the lights arent on. So, once he adjusts to the speed on the NBA he is going to look a lot better.
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:25 AM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
His senior year when the Big East was tough, and he was 7'3".
Saying he should not have been taken #2 is valid, but saying he had no business playing PRO basketball is harsh.
That also may have been the weakest draft for Centers in history, the only other center drafted that had any visible talent was Byron Mullens.
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:05 PM ^
had no business being in the NBA. He was never that good at Georgetown. He wasn't athletic and coordinated. He's just big.
Hibbert has developed into one of the premier big man in the league thanks to his improving post up game and ability to play defense.
Big guys have different rate of development and they take the longest to develop because they rarely get the ball and it's hard to move in a big body. Hibbert is a great example. He was mediocre in HS at best. Just decent in college. Awesome in NBA.
Teams want to go after a big guy with potential because if they develop, they're pretty much set for years.
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^
I hope not.
November 22nd, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
Steve Emtman . . .
November 22nd, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
And his right knee the next year. Then he ruptured a disk in his neck when he came back from that. Hard to say what would have happened if he had been healthy.
As a rookie he did intercept a Dan Marino pass and return it 90 yards for a touchdown.
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^
I mean, nobody in this draft has been overwhelmingly good. However, a guy like Darko (I know he wasn't number 1 but it's just making my point) got taken over Melo, D-Wade, Bosh...hell even Chris Kaman turned out better than him. Sam Bowie only went number 2, but he went before arguably the greatest player of all time.
Based on that, I would probably go with Kwame Brown.
November 22nd, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
when his rookie year isn't even over. Wait 3-4 years down the road before making judgement. Saying that he's the worst already is just silly
November 22nd, 2013 at 3:21 PM ^
MGrowOld great post...
You might find worse performers then Joe Barry Caroll (Joe Barley Cares) but as for talent wasted he might never be surpassed.
November 22nd, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^
November 22nd, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
This is extremely premature.
November 22nd, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
Logically you are correct. 12 games would seem like an insanely small sample size from which to make such a prediction. But i absofuckinglutely guarantee that anyone scoffing at my calling him the worst #1 pick ever has never actually watched him play basketball for the Cavs. It's beyond brutal.
Put it this way I would rather have THIS guy shooting than Bennett right now:
November 22nd, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
Biggest bust ever. But he was a Sig Ep before the house burned down.
November 22nd, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
but some other memorable NBA busts (80-present):
Talent Wise:
(89) Pervis Ellison- Kings
(98) Michael Olowokandi- Clippers
(00) Kenyon Martin- Nets, even though it was the right pick he just didn't live up to expectations (2000 draft class is the worst ever in my opinion)
(01) Kwame Brown- Wizards
(06) Andrei Bargnani- Raptors (though was a productive starter, never even an all-star contender)
What Coulda been:
(80) Joe Barry Carroll (or 'Joe Barely Cares', whichever you prefer) taken 2 spots ahead of Kevin Mchale
(84) Olajuwon over MJ, but really wasn't a bad pick at all, as obviously Hakeem was a HOF player
(89) Ellison over Rice, Hardaway, Shawn Kemp
(95) Joe Smith over Kevin Garnett
(98) Olowokandi over Carter, Dirk, and Pierce (although Carter is a giant Ahole)
(01) take your pick, Chandler, Gasol, Joe Johnson, Randolph, Tony Parker, Arenas
(05) Bogut over Williams, Paul, Bynum
(06) Bargnani over Aldridge, Roy and Rondo
(07) Oden over Durant
Leaving out injuries. Also its nice to look back in perfect hindsight to see that all of these decisions were wrong. There was no way a Gm would have known Kwame wouldn't pan out, so it sometimes just doesn't work out. However Bennett may turn out to be a class-A bust, but we'll have to wait to see the results. They needed a big man, so that took Oladipo, Burke, KCP out of the equation but I don't get the decision to not take Noel (even though he's injured). Don't get too hard on yourself though, 2013 is one of the worst draft classes of all time.