The minor lift and major fall of Anthony Bennett

"With the first pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, The Cleveland Cavaliers select....*David Stern does his best Roger Goodell impression* Anthony Bennett of-"

"WOAH!" - Bill Simmons.

- Nerlens Noel

Does anyone remember what David Stern said after that? I don't think so. Bill Simmons' exclamation was a microcosm of what most NBA fans were thinking; and at the very least Cavalier fans. The 2013 NBA Draft was supposed to be a turning point for the Cleveland Cavaliers after the "post-LeBron" rebuild (and in a way it kind of was). The Cavs won the lottery in 2011 snagging themselves a young and promising point guard out of Duke in Kyrie Irving, along with Tristan Thompson from Texas. In 2012, the Cavs drafted the dynamic wing player from Syracuse, Dion Waiters, and Tyler Zeller from UNC. With the 4 "youngbloods" along with veterans like Andy, Boobie, CJ Miles, and Wayne Ellington, the hope was that the 2013 NBA Draft would secure the Cavs with one or two final pieces to create a true playoff contender. I mean, winning the lottery every year is fun, but you know what's even more fun? NBA purgatory. That's right 7/8/9 seed, the Cavs were coming for you.

For almost the entire 2012 NCAA basketball season, Nerlens Noel was the consensus best player and future #1 pick in the NBA Draft. His 24 games at Kentucky were impressive; 10.5PPG/1.6AST/9.5REB/4.4BLK. The Cavs were looking for that player to come in right away and, despite Noel missing his entire rookie season rehabbing his knee, had Nerlens not torn his ACL on February 12, 2013, it seems quite likely the Cavs would have looked like this:

instead of

The other prospect rumored to be in play at #1 was Alex Len, the 7'1" Center from Ukraine, who had played two years at Maryland. While many considered Len to be more skilled offensively than Noel, who was an elite defensive prospect, Len too had some injury concerns. On April 27, 2013, just two months before the NBA Draft, Alex Len underwent surgery to stabilize a partial stress fracture in his left ankle. That meant no combine, no pre-draft workouts, just rehab. The Cavaliers were all too familiar with drafting 7-foot-tall European centers with foot injuries. Len, too, missed a good portion of the 2013-2014 NBA season; playing in only 42 games and starting in only 3. The injury concerns of both Noel and Len were legitimate, and with the Cavaliers pushing to become a playoff team, their #1 pick would need to be able to contribute right away.

Victor Oladipo was a solid prospect, but the Cavs had the 1 and 2 position solidified with Kyrie and Dion (I'm man enough to admit I was on the "Kyrie-Dion best backcourt in the NBA fight me" train for a while there). Otto Porter was mentioned in passing but considered a reach at #1, and Ben McLemore was dubbed "the next Ray Allen" a la Bradley Beal a la Jimmer Fredette a la any-above-average-3-point-shooting-guard-coming-out-of-college-that-year. Despite their being almost zero rumors connecting Bennett and the Cavaliers, there Anthony Bennett stood. The #1 pick. Think Larry Johnson or Draymond Green crossed with Andrew Bynum crossed with a three-toed sloth. The archetype of a 3/4 tweener who could use his athleticism to guard most positions, and who had a decent enough jumper to spread the floor. Bennett was a reach, and I don't need to put on my tinfoil hat to see the connection between the Cavs old-new-old Head Coach Mike Brown making recruiting visits with his son, Elijah, to UNLV and later that year Mike Brown was coaching Bennett in Cleveland. While he often appeared to be out of shape his 1st year in Cleveland, don't watch these Anthony Bennett Summer League Highlights and tell me you don't see a little Draymond in him. (That 2nd highlight is going into his 2nd year, but in the not-so-grand scheme of his career it's all the same). Perhaps I'm looking back at his time on the Cavs with Dray-colored glasses, but I sincerely understand the appeal of Anthony Bennett at #1.

Eventually, in a weird twist of fate, Bennett ended up playing a role in the Cavs Championship roster as a "throw in" (not the JR Smith kind) in the Wiggins for Kevin Love trade. The Timberwolves seemed like a solid fit for Bennett, a young athletic team that, with proper coaching, could access some of that potential and bring it to good use. The sluggish, lazy, Bennett we had seen in Cleveland appeared to be a thing of the past. Bennett had lost significant weight and had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids to help with his asthma and sleep apnea, which would make it difficult for him to breathe. He also had laser eye surgery to help fix his vision. After coming off arguably the worst rookie season a #1 overall pick has ever had, Bennett had 2 surgeries and lost weight to try and improve his game. Those are significant steps in the right direction, especially for a 21-year-old. Unfortunately, this is how Anthony Bennett's career has played out since being sent away for Kevin Love (the NBA Champion) in the August of 2014:

• -Waived by the Timberwolves on September 23, 2015.
• -Signed by the Toronto Raptors on September 28, 2015.
• -Waived by the Raptors on March 1, 2016.
• -Signed by the Brooklyn Nets on July 14, 2016.
• -Waived by the Nets on January 9, 2017.
• -Signed by of the Turkish Basketball Super League on January 13, 2017.
• -Cut by on May 2, 2017.

What does pressure do? It bursts the pipe.