Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:Young as a fourth option means your starting lineup is really stacked. He's a really good third option on most, if not all, teams. I'd bet that he's our second best scorer next year.

Bennett won't beat out Young for a starting spot. I'm 100% sure on that and we can look back on this post if needed. Two reasons for that: 1. Young's on a completely different (positive) level on defense. Elite guarding the P&R. Can switch on perimeter players without causing concern. Great at creating TOs. Bennett can't do anything defensively. 2. Young's much more efficient on offense. Better finisher at the rim, better off ball and not a black hole on offense.

Underrate Young as people have his whole career. Seems like he feeds on it anyway. I'm really glad Flip acquired him.

Cam you are comparing a rookie to a 7 year vet. Give Bennett another season before you write him off.

KiwiMatt wrote:

Camden wrote:Young as a fourth option means your starting lineup is really stacked. He's a really good third option on most, if not all, teams. I'd bet that he's our second best scorer next year.

Bennett won't beat out Young for a starting spot. I'm 100% sure on that and we can look back on this post if needed. Two reasons for that: 1. Young's on a completely different (positive) level on defense. Elite guarding the P&R. Can switch on perimeter players without causing concern. Great at creating TOs. Bennett can't do anything defensively. 2. Young's much more efficient on offense. Better finisher at the rim, better off ball and not a black hole on offense.

Underrate Young as people have his whole career. Seems like he feeds on it anyway. I'm really glad Flip acquired him.

Cam you are comparing a rookie to a 7 year vet. Give Bennett another season before you write him off.

Right... So why are some believing Bennett can beat out Young for a starting job?

I agree that Young will be the starter on day 1. 7 years of experience (including several years as a starter) vs. a guy who struggled in his rookie year makes it a no brainer (unless Bennett really dazzles Flip in pre-season). But I expect that Bennett will be starting by the middle of the season. Bennett is a thoroughbred with enormous upside, and will be able to help provide some of the rebounding we're losing with Love and also contribute superior interior defense (although Young is likely a better defender on the perimeter). Young is a terrific energy guy, and as some others have mentioned on this board, an ideal player to come off the bench as a 6th or 7th man. He's a great pickup by Flip, especially since we gave up so little, but I will really be surprised if Bennett isn't our starting PF later this season.

I posted this on the Young thread.

I look at Bennett's splits and know that he was injured coming into the season and think he had his worst season last year.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/splits/_/id/2991473/anthony-bennett

Look at his post all-star game numbers.

5.7- pts
3.6 boards
47.3% shooting
13.6 Minutes a game
5.0 shots
0.5 assists
0.3 steals
0.1 blocks
0.9 TO

project Thad to that amount of time.
6.9 - pts
2.3 boards
45.4% shooting
6.3 shoots
0.8 assists
0.8 steals
0.1 blocks
0.8 TO

I think Bennett will be every bit as good as Young in time. I would love to see what he can do with 20-25 minutes a night for us next year. It doesn't hurt that Wiggins is his national teamate.

If you project Bennett's post all-star break numbers to 24 minutes a night we would be looking at.

10.1 points
6.4 boards

I think Young and Bennett could spend time together on the court since Young can play both SF and PF.

I knew he had a historically bad year but after looking at his game log I couldn't believe the stretches of DNP and limited minutes he got over the season. I know he spent some time in the d-league it was surprising how little he played.

Bennett will only start if Young is injured, and Young has a pretty good track record of staying healthy.

Bennett has better interior defense than Young, LST? Absurd.

Nothing wrong with Thad being a 3rd or 4th best option even on this current team we don't need him to be better than that. Not everyone on the team needs to be superstars or all-stars.

One thing I'll add about Thad is the lack of rim protection and block numbers. What if he averages 2.1 blocks and .7 steals? We would be THRILLED right? This is too simple but steals actually result in a gained possession and blocks do not always do that. Furthermore on Thad's D I believe the Wolves transition D has been a problem at least last year and farther and my guess is Thad will help in that department. He will help as a team defender too. If he is paired with Dieng and Pek his rebounding may not be as big of an issue. He isn't uber talented but I think he is sort of a unique player that may not be getting his due because of a bit of a different skillset than what you would typically see from a PF. He looks awesome in trasition which is something this team needs.

Camden wrote:Bennett will only start if Young is injured, and Young has a pretty good track record of staying healthy.

Bennett has better interior defense than Young, LST? Absurd.

Not so absurd, cam, as according to a paragraph in the attached article, Young was the worst PF in terms of interior defense last year, yielding 60.2 % on shots within 5 feet. Bennett has greater length and bulk than Young. It would really be a shocker if Bennett put up worse numbers than Young. Thad is a better transition and perimeter defender, but don't try to paint him as a competent interior defender. Only one guy can be worst in the league.

http://grantland.com/features/kevin-love-lebron-james-trade-minnesota-timberwolves/

Meh. That's not what my eyes tell me, which is subjective. Young's still better than Bennett at pretty much everything on defense. If you're not a shot-blocker, chances are your % against at the rim isn't going to be too pretty, but I still believe you can make positive impacts without blocking shots. For example, Pekovic has a horrible % against at the rim, but he plays pretty good post defense and makes his opposition earn everything. They hate playing against him. I see the same for Young (without the sheer size and strength Pek has).

I just realized I've been spending too much time watching Sixers games. :dizzy: