Minnesota Sports Forum

What a mess we have at PF. Seriously the Payne trade was bad. I liked Jeff Adrien for what he brought off the bench which was toughness. I liked AB's upside more then Payne's still at this point. It seems odd he is still injured. I hope he can play shortly and get a lot of minutes. I think the defensive problems are as much coaching as players at this point. I am crossing my fingers Bjelica will come over and have a good impact like Mirotic with the Bulls.

Sure, try to trade him for a 2nd or something like that. I just don't see a team doing a move like that. And yes, I'd rather have the roster spot. That's with the thinking that we have Rubio, LaVine, Wiggins, Muhammad, Payne, Dieng, Pekovic, Martin, Garnett, Hummel, Hamilton, Budinger on the roster for next year. I expect Garnett, Hummel and Hamilton will be re-signed.

That's 12 roster spots filled up and there's three moves that need to be made this off-season. The first is our 2015 draft pick. Secondly, I think Flip wants to bring Bjelica over, and I'd like to see that move made. I expect he'll be better than Payne or Bennett. Thirdly, we still need a backup point guard, preferably a veteran. That's three bodies that need to be added to the current group.

Bennett's gotta go.

Cam, I would cut Budinger before dumping AB. AB fits more need and has a shot at upside.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Cam, I would cut Budinger before dumping AB. AB fits more need and has a shot at upside.

I don't want either of them here, but at least Bud has proven competent basketball play in the past despite his body failing on him. Bennett has the body he's just too stupid to do anything good with it. And I'll take a possible shooter in Bud, though inconsistent, over Bennett any day.

But yeah, I don't want either here. The difference is one knows what to do and the other doesn't.

While there are some outlying opinions, I think most of the board agrees that it would not be prudent to give up on Bennett at this time. It was only 24 months ago that he was dominating at UNLV, and while in retrospect it seems foolish, the Cavs though enough of him to make him the #1 pick. He has followed that up with 2 very disappointing seasons, but frankly, really only one season of games due to all his injuries. He possesses an attractive combination of size, athleticism, skill and shooting touch that you don't often find in a PF. And beyond that, he is a hard worker...lots of reports about him in the gym late at night working on his game. I'm puzzled by those who say he is a tweener, because I think PF's need two things with respect to size...length and bulk...and AB has both of these.

AB was one of my biggest disappointments this year, in a season of many disappointments, but I am far from giving up on him. I would like to see him in an offense that doesn't always start the PF at the top of the key. The explosiveness he showed on a few dunks this season showed me that he should live closer to the basket, rather than out around the 3-point line...although I do think the long-distance shot has to be incorporated into his game too.

You really don't see any team willing to give a 2nd for a 1 flyer on Bennett? Any down and out team looking to load up on talent would do that instantly as long as they had the cap space. Load up on talent and see what sticks.

I certainly wouldn't just dump him for little to nothing in return. I could see them dealing any of the young bigs/Bud/Martin/EU stashes either as a draft day trade or something in July. Barring any decent trades I'd keep them and see what they can do through the off season and preseason. If Towns joins those ranks I'd think they'd look to shop someone else, but wouldn't be surprised to roll with that whole group into preseason as well.

As far as just unloading guys.. I agree Bud should be the first to go.

Camden wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:Cam, I would cut Budinger before dumping AB. AB fits more need and has a shot at upside.

I don't want either of them here, but at least Bud has proven competent basketball play in the past despite his body failing on him. Bennett has the body he's just too stupid to do anything good with it. And I'll take a possible shooter in Bud, though inconsistent, over Bennett any day.

But yeah, I don't want either here. The difference is one knows what to do and the other doesn't.

A possible shooter over a number 1 pick? Sure Bennett will never live up to being that, but I think I'd prefer him jacking up threes over Bud at the moment.

Maybe I'm overvaluing AB, but I think every team in the league would give up a 2nd rounder for him. But I don't see Flip doing that in a million years. I wouldn't either...the potential is still there.

Well said LST and I'm a bit baffled by the "tweener" and Derrick Williams clone comments. He has the size, strength and length to play PF. Williams never exhibited that type of strength/physicality. Bennett has the tools and only time will tell.

I doubt any team, Wolves included, wasnt to pay Bennett $6M for next year. If I'm trading him, I don't want any contract in return. Just an open roster spot.

And really? You'd rather Bennett shoot threes over Budinger? Neither are huge threats right now, but Anthony has no business shooting threes in games. Not enough range.

Stop treating Bennett like he's an equal to Wiggins by calling him a No. 1 pick. It literally means nothing anymore. He's a bust and likely to remembered as just that. And he's only a top overall pick because the great Cavs front office got cute with their pick. Shall I remind you of some past top-five picks of their's? Dion Waiters? Tristan Thompson (good, but not fourth overall good)? Their judgment on drafting Bennett means zero. That'd be like the Knicks getting top pick this year and drafting Montrezl Harrell first this year. Top pick doesn't always equal top talent, and that's what needs to be remembered before saying, "you don't just throw away a No. 1 overall pick" blah blah blah. The Cavs already blew the pick to begin with and the player we have in AB doesn't need to be here any longer. Hopefully Flip agrees.

Call me a poor judge of talent, that I don't know anything about development of talent, whatever you'd like to say. None of that changes that Bennett sucks mightily and all your excuses for him won't change that.