Minnesota Sports Forum

That's right, he's close to signing with the Sydney Kings this offseason. Wonder if anyone here still thinks we gave up on him too early? :)

Shumway and I will be able to keep you all up to date!

mrhockey89 wrote:That's right, he's close to signing with the Sydney Kings this offseason. Wonder if anyone here still thinks we gave up on him too early? :)

Heh. I think Khans and LST were the only two real cheerleaders here for AB.

I've said this before, but I always thought he was put in a bad situation from the start, being drafted too high and then encountering all of those health issues as a rookie. I could honestly see him toiling away for a few years in the underbelly of the pro b-ball ranks and then eventually coming back to the NBA when he's 25 or 26 as a solid rotation player. We'll see how things go in Sydney!

KiwiMatt wrote:Shumway and I will be able to keep you all up to date!

Yeah, we'll keep an eye on him. I do feel for Bennett. The Kings are probably not the best landing spot for a guy like him. Years ago, they were known as the Violet Crumbles (not sure if you have that chocolate bar in the U.S) due to their purple uniforms (same colour as the wrapper) and tendency to crumble under pressure. Sydney is Australia's largest commercial market, so Basketball Australia would love to see some success in that market, but the Kings have drastically underperformed in most years.

It'll be interesting to see if being 'the man' on his team will allow him to gain confidence and thrive, or whether the spotlight and expectation will force him to crumble.

Q12543 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:That's right, he's close to signing with the Sydney Kings this offseason. Wonder if anyone here still thinks we gave up on him too early? :)

Heh. I think Khans and LST were the only two real cheerleaders here for AB.

I've said this before, but I always thought he was put in a bad situation from the start, being drafted too high and then encountering all of those health issues as a rookie. I could honestly see him toiling away for a few years in the underbelly of the pro b-ball ranks and then eventually coming back to the NBA when he's 25 or 26 as a solid rotation player. We'll see how things go in Sydney!

Hey Q! Who are you callin an underbelly???

Shumway wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:That's right, he's close to signing with the Sydney Kings this offseason. Wonder if anyone here still thinks we gave up on him too early? :)

Heh. I think Khans and LST were the only two real cheerleaders here for AB.

I've said this before, but I always thought he was put in a bad situation from the start, being drafted too high and then encountering all of those health issues as a rookie. I could honestly see him toiling away for a few years in the underbelly of the pro b-ball ranks and then eventually coming back to the NBA when he's 25 or 26 as a solid rotation player. We'll see how things go in Sydney!

Hey Q! Who are you callin an underbelly???

Well, it is down under isn't it!?

Actually Australia has produced some pretty damn good NBAers. I wouldn't be surprised if AB gets his act together down there and eventually makes his way back to the NBA. perhaps he stops in Europe along or the D-League along the way, but I suspect he'll be back.

We really missed out on a terrific player. What a shame.

The article really only said the team had interest in Bennett when they come up for Summer league. I'm sure he wil have plenty of interest from international teams.

Q had been pretty consistent in his opinion on Bennett maybe coming back after bouncing around. Bennett went the developmental route on the end of a bench on a good team in a "going home" situation and that didn't seem like it worked out. Now it's time for him to go to the next thing I suggested which is go somewhere and play basketball route. He may make it back but he never had anywhere near the success of a guy like Gerald Green did before washing out of the league but Bennett is still young I guess.

I'd be jealous of Bennett being able to go to Austraila and New Zealand to play ball. Those are 2 of the places I would LOVE to visit. I have friends from both places. I also went to college with a guy that lived in New Zealand for a year and supposedly was ballin with some of the pros there.

I lol'd at the headline, poor AB, I was a fan too. Could the Sydney Kings beat the Sacramento Kings?

To be honest playing down under is probably the best thing for AB. No US media hounding him and a fresh start. Would have loved to see the NZ Breakers sign him as they have a successful track record at developing players and winning titles.

The Sydney Kings recently had Josh Childress on their roster, but never really flourished. Jonny Flynn had a stint with the Melbourne Tigers and also never really made an impact. It's a different style of basketball - slower, more ball movement and a lot more physical which a lot of the import players struggle with.