Kentucky center Nerlens Noel won’t be ready until November at the earliest, December at the likeliest because of a torn ACL. Maryland center Alex Len showed up for the NBA draft with a walking boot on his left foot because of a stress fracture. Either guy, though, made sense for the Cavs.
So Cleveland took UNLV power forward Anthony Bennett, the guy who underwent rotator cuff surgery last month, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft last night.
“Being the number one pick means a lot,” said Bennett, the highest drafted native Canadian ever. “It’s history, man.
“This shows that basketball is on the come up in Canada. We have a lot of young talent, players in college right now, so the next couple of years should be good for us,” Bennett said.
Tristan Thompson, also selected by Cleveland in 2011, previously was the highest drafted Canadian, going fourth.
And the big guys waited even longer as Orlando, with the second pick, selected Indiana energizer shooting guard Victory Oladipo who vowed to “just come in and help the program, I’m going to bring a work ethic they’ve never seen before.”
Washington, picking third, selected local favorite Otto Porter of Georgetown, considered by many the most complete player in the draft.
Bennett has been compared favorably to Larry Johnson, a power forward who can stretch the defense. In his one season at UNLV, the 6-7 Bennett averaged 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds. He became the fifth player selected No. 1 by the Cavs in their history, joining former top picks Austin Carr (1971), Brad Daugherty (1986), LeBron James (2003) and Kyrie Irving (2011). Bennett’s position?
“Right now, I’m thinking stretch four but later on in my career maybe I will play the three. I feel that playing the stretch four is an advantage for me because I’m quicker than most power forwards. I can shoot the ball well. I’m efficient so I can use that to my advantage,” Bennett said.
“The Larry Johnson comparison is on the spot. I watched the game where they played against Duke in the Finals and they blew them out by 30. He was doing everything on the court, hustling, shooting the ball, dunking, setting screens for people, which is a mirror of what he did and what I did,” Bennett added.
In a draft that one team’s scouting head described only as “okay,” teams without a lottery pick were hardly complaining. And if you don’t think a guy is going to be a sure bet star, why pay him at a lottery salary scale. Rotation players figured to be found throughout the high, mid and lower first round.
“Gilbert Arenas was a second round pick,” reminded Nets general manager Billy King. “There are always going to be guys that, in this draft especially, people will look back and say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they passed him up.’”
King also said too often, teams focus on what prospects can’t do over what they can. And if they can do things on an NBA level, go for it.
“Everybody’s looking at it differently and trying to project where these young kids will go, but in the latter part where you have more four-year players, you know what they are, and sometimes people look at guys and say, ‘This guy can’t do this’ instead of saying what the guy can really do,” the Nets exec said. “Sometimes you can focus on what a guy’s strength is. If he has a professional talent, an NBA talent, then draft him for that, don’t say, ‘He’s too slow’ or whatever, because more often than not that NBA talent will shine through.”
Noel ended up going sixth to the New Orleans Pelicans, joining fellow former Kentucky star Anthony Davis.