The Cavs considered as many as six prospects for the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft, but a number of factors led the team to pass on five of them and draft Anthony Bennett, as Sam Vecenie of The Sporting News details. Nerlens Noel and Alex Len were unable to work out for Cleveland due to injury. Otto Porter and Victor Oladipo were viewed as players with limited ceilings, which didn’t entice the team and Ben McLemore showed up to workouts overweight and unprepared, which took him out of the running for the No. 1 overall pick.
An anonymous league executive tells Vecenie that the lack of quality options at the top of the draft led the Cavs “to talk themselves into a guy they knew had flaws.”
[Related: Anthony Bennett Signs With Turkish Club]
“As they were getting down to the end, I think [GM Chris Grant] wanted to find a reason for him to be the guy,” the executive told Vecenie.
Here’s more from around the league:
- One anonymous scout within the league believes the Cavs never got the full story on Bennett when they conducted their pre-draft research, Vecenie writes in the same piece. “I don’t think they got the full scoop on [Bennett],” a scout told Vecenie “UNLV’s staff would say nice things about people. They tolerate a lot. The Cavs got a rosy version of his work ethic and attitude.”
- Joel Embiid has been impressive lately, though that doesn’t mean the Sixers will lift his minutes restriction this year, as Tom Moore of Calkins Media relays (Twitter link). “I don’t believe there is a possibility Embiid’s minutes increase from 28 minutes this season,” coach Brett Brown said today.
- The Blazers are in the midst of a disappointing season, but they are not a candidate to tank and position themselves for a better draft choice, Mike Richman of The Oregonian argues in his latest podcast. Richman believes the team has too much talent to lose enough games to make tanking a worthwhile cause.
Little excuse for taking Bennett imo. Noel and Oladipo would’ve fit just as well looking into that roster situation. Porter Jr. would’ve been a little reach but he didn’t fall low from number one either.
Limited ceiling or not, Oladipo looked just as good in college as Kyrie did and he actually showed more of himself too since he wasn’t injured. Would’ve been nice to look back on this pick with dignity but in the grand scheme of things, whoever they took was going to Minnesota for Love anyways.
I still can’t believe they didn’t take Oladipo. I know what they were hoping from Bennett. He had the shoulder injury, but I don’t think he would have been a draymond green type of player at the 3/4 like they were hoping, mostly b/c at that time, there was no leadership on that Cavs team. Teammates were having issues over petty things. Kyrie had gone in total reverse of what he looked like his first 2 years. I don’t remember if it was that season, or the one before it, but there was the Bynum issue as well.
I just feel like Bennett never really regained confidence after his shoulder injury and the issues with his conditioning during his first year. We’ve seen little stretches where he has looked good, but he hasn’t been able to be consistent, and stay on the floor with consistent minutes enough to see what he has at this point. He has talent. Hopefully, he goes oversees, and figures it out
I just remember watching the draft and being like “who the he…?” Bennett was a throw-in to make the trade work money wise – he had no value and everyone knew that. If they had selected Noel/Dipo there’s no chance they got included in the Love deal.
I knew Bennett was a bum. Huge UNLV fan, I watched him and saw how soft he played. It is not a surprise that the Rice coached UNLV team would say nice things about him, they only cared about getting great talent, but never coached them up.