Anthony Bennett has hit rock bottom and once a someone hits rock bottom, the best thing for someone to do, most of the time, is return home. When Bennett was recently released by the Minnesota Timberwolves he elected to do that and go to the franchise he rooted for as a kid and the team that Bennett’s former teammate, Tristan Thompson, said is a dream destination for all Toronto Kids.
With Bennett going home and no definite role for him on a team that could use his diverse talents, it’s probably a good sign for him to see that his coaches aren’t expecting much from Bennett. In fact, they have no expectations about Bennett going into his first season with the Raptors. His third team in his first three seasons in the NBA.
Following from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey says Bennett reminds him of Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Bass, who he coached with the Dallas Mavericks, and is impressive defensively. Casey doesn’t plan to use him at small forward.
“He came in refreshed a little bit,” Casey said. “The [pressure] is off. Just come in and play basketball. There are no expectations. We don’t expect him to come in and be the so-called No. 1 pick. Coming back to Toronto having to live up to that, I thought that would be the biggest hurdle. It hasn’t been.
“All that pressure has been lifted by being bought out, almost hitting rock bottom so to speak. Now he’s getting another chance to come out and play.”
Bennett, the former number one overall pick in the 2013 draft, has yet to really workout anywhere in his career. His rookie year with the Cleveland Cavaliers was one of the worst of all-time and while his sophomore season with the Timberwolves was a slight improvement, the team saw better options on their roster.
The current Raptors roster is clogged at the power forward position with James Johnson, newly signed Luis Scola and Bismack Biyombo along with veteran Patrick Patterson. If Bennett wants to make this team, he’s going to have to work for it and possibly switch up his game a little bit.
