If you are like most NBA fans you were probably sitting in front of your TV anxiously awaiting the announcement of the first pick in the 2013 Draft. Would it be Kentucky big man Nerlens Noel, Kansas forward Ben McLemore or maybe even last year’s Player of the Year from Michigan, guard Trey Burke.
NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped to the mic and said, “With the first pick in the 2013 NBA Draft the Cleveland Cavaliers select Anthony Bennett of Toronto Canada and the University of Las Vegas.”
WHAT?!?!
Yup, the Cavs selected Anthony Bennett, the 6-8 240 lbs kid out of UNLV. So who is Anthony and why was he the Cavs pick?
“He was always a guy who was highly in our mix throughout the entire season,” said team general manager Chris Grant, according to the Cleveland Cavaliers website. “He was one of those guys, when you walked out of the gym after you saw him play, you kind of went, ‘Wow!’”
Bennett spent only one year at UNLV and averaged 16.1 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game. Bennett is 6’8”, 240 lbs which puts him in between the power forward and small forward position.
Below is a highlight reel of Bennett’s play courtesy of ThatHIghlightChannel.
In this short sampling it seems Bennett will most likely play both the 3 and the 4 in the NBA. He is only 20 and can still put on some weight so playing in the post—especially in an NBA where the true big men are few and far between—should not be much of a problem for him. It also seems he can step out and knock down the mid range jumper.
Since Bennett has been characterized somewhere in between the 3 and the 4 he has been labeled a “tweener.”
He said that doesn’t really bother him.
“Everybody says I’m undersized as a power forward – they said it in high school, they said it in college,” he explained. “But at the same time, I kinda did my thing in both of those seasons. I think I have a 7-1, 7-2 wingspan to help me out. I just don’t really pay attention to being a ‘tweener’ and all. I’m just a basketball player."