OT Minnesota progressing on contract buyout with former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett.

Wes used to say Victor Claver couldn't miss from deep in practice and was way better shooting the ball than the small sample size we say in 2 minute stretches of games

 

It's mental. Sadly, some of these guys psych themselves out. There's so much pressure to perform that they choke when they time PT. That's why it's important to give the young guys minutes so they can play through it, but when you're fighting for a playoff spot, or for HCA, it's hard to let a young guy play through his mistakes and jitters. Case in point: Jermaine O'Neal.

 

All this said, I hope Bennett is not picked up. I'd rather pay the other guys extra.

 

I think if we're going to use some cap space and have to drop players, we could do better by getting another wing instead of a tweener big

 

The only reason why I would consider signing him at this point is that he could be a trade chip. Or maybe he makes someone else expendable. We just suffered a complete teardown for the most part, and this team needs assets.

With that said, I really like our young bigs. I'm a fan of Vonleh, and I think Plumlee is extremely underrated. Meyers showed a lot of promise as well. Davis is a bit of an unknown for me. I hardly watched any Laker games last year. If Bennett could play small forward I would be a much bigger fan of this move.

 

But maybe we could turn around in a couple months and trade him to the Raptors as part of a package for DeRozan? He's only a couple years removed from being the #1 overall pick. He has value. If we can pick him up without giving anything other than money, that's a pretty good investment.

 

Montero may have a real advantage here in that neither Frazier or Pressey can shoot from long range. Montero is thin and young, but he can already shoot the long ball, and will likely always be a better defender than the other two because of his length. The big question is his ball handling under pressure and his ability to initiate and play within the offense.

 

Call me crazy but getting rid of him for someone I think is a bust and costs too much wouldn't make me feel well. He has a much higher upside IMO.

 

Montero is very intriguing. Reminds me a bit of a VERY raw Penny Hardaway. I think he's very worth the time and effort to develop him. He could be the perfect backcourt mate with Dame.

 

Claver seemed like he should have been a decent player what they call a "3/D" guy. He seemed to be active and alert on defense, had good size, but never got PT>

 

Wouldn't that be the perfect fit? If Bennett was a more committed defender at the SF position then he could be a very good fit. He just doesn't seem to care about the defensive end at this point. In college he had a decent defensive rating, but his 111 last year was worse than Meyers first year in the league and Carmelo's worst rating.

One thing I am sure of, if he ends up a Blazer, then Triano had some inside information that we don't and Bennett will probably end up working out.

 

I would completely understand why we would pick up Bennett as a move to acquire assets and give him a chance to compete for a spot...the thing I forget about him is he's only 22 years old. He's going into his 3rd season...Meyers wasn't a sure bet his first two seasons either. I'm sure the coaching staff will sort this out

 

Still not a sure bet. Still below the PER on an average NBA player

 

The same was said of Meyers, even when people here ragged on him for working on his 3-pt shooting. Now, he's being half-seriously compared to Larry Bird of all people.

 

Yeah, if we sign him, it's totally because of Triano, which I'm fine with.

 

By who?

Name one person outside this forum or a blazer employee that compared him to Larry Fucking Bird.

Dude has a below average PER and offense is his strong point.

 

Lots of folks blame Stotts that he never got PT but you have to earn it. He's currently sucking on the Spanish team now. He's never really put up any good numbers anywhere.

 

I compared him to Tom Chambers when nobody liked him

 

except for practice..he rocked practice!

 

We have a lot of bigs, there isn't any room for Bennett unless we cut Alexander. I'd much rather have Montero than Bennett. I don't buy signing Bennett as a trade asset; more likely Montero or Alexander blow up and become an asset. We've seen Whiteside, Chandler Parsons, Pat Beverly blow up and become valuable players on near minimum contracts. That's more likely than Anthony Bennett fulfilling his draft spot. Bennett has displayed less than Hashim Thabbeet or Michael Beasley did.