The Wolves have brought up Anthony Bennett‘s name in trade discussions, league sources tell Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link), and they’ve been in pursuit of Kevin Seraphin, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. It’s unclear if there’s any link between the Bennett talk and Minnesota’s attempts to trade for Seraphin. In any case, it’s unlikely that Seraphin will leave the Wizards, Michael adds, noting that he has a de facto no-trade clause and suggesting that it would make little sense from a basketball standpoint for Washington to part with the center.
Bennett arrived in Minnesota this past summer via the Kevin Love trade, a little more than a year after the Cavs made him a surprise No. 1 overall pick. The combo forward has notoriously failed to live up to that distinction, though this season has been somewhat of an improvement, as he’s shooting a higher percentage on more shot attempts in increased minutes, and his PER is up to 11.0 from a woeful 6.9 last season. Still, Bennett’s PER is indicative of below average efficiency, and the Wolves just acquired Adreian Payne to play at power forward, Bennett’s primary position. Bennett is on a rookie scale contract, but it’s a relatively expensive one that gives him nearly $5.564MM this year and almost $5.804MM next season.
The Wizards are willing to give up a first-round pick to make a trade of some sort before the deadline, a source tells Michael, who nonetheless cautions that a free agent addition is still more likely for the team than a trade is. As Michael writes, Washington continues to prioritize cap flexibility for the summer of 2016, when D.C. native Kevin Durant is a free agent, and that would complicate potential trades.
Seraphin is set for unrestricted free agency this summer after signing his qualifying offer, worth nearly $3.899MM, this past summer. The 25-year-old has the best back-to-the-basket game of any player on the Wizards’ second unit, Michael observes, and he’s seeing 15.8 minutes per game this season after only getting 10.9 MPG last year.
I wish someone would give this kid the chance he deserves. While very raw he has the skill set to be a match up nightmare, too powerful for small guys to quick for bigs, and the potential to be a floor stretcher. He still needs to work on his conditioning, and often struggles with where to stand on the floor, but the talent is there. At the end of the day i can’t blame the guy for being lax at times when every team he gets stuck on continues to bury him on depth chart and make no attempt to develop him.
The only way a 21 yr old former #1 pick doesn’t get regular minutes on a terrible team is because he hasn’t earned it. It’s nuts to think that Bennett isn’t being properly developed.
That would be easy to assume that if your talented you play and if your not you don’t, however its often not the case in this league. We see it all the time young raw talent breaking out after years in the league when they reach a better position. You can’t play rookies based on what they earn, they are rookies they are there for their potential not for their production. He was drafted coming off an injury that kept him out of training camp, to a team that drafted his same position with a 4th overall pick the year before. That entire team was in shambles between the failed free agent signings (Bynum, Clark, Jack), their fundamental flaws (no rim protection, no spacing), and the rehire of a coach who has never developed a single young talent in all his years as a head coach. He was regulated to a 12 minute role before he even had a chance to get healthy and learn the system causing massive psychology problems that weren’t addressed. They were more worried about protecting his ego then fixing his issue so they wouldn’t consider a d-league stint to help him get his conditioning and confidence back. Then the following summer he’s traded to a team who immediately trades for a vet in his prime at his position despite already having a crowded back court featuing Pek (5yr / 60m), and an exciting young shot blocker already guaranteed minutes in Dieng. I’m not saying he’s a future MVP by any means, I just feel like from the flashes he has shown he has the potential to be a 15/8 guy who can slip out to the corners for a 3, work the pick and pop game, or challenge the rim coming off boards.
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sorry just adding this because i replied to the wrong comment earlier and now it wont let me post it in the right spot .
He needs to play the game within his skill set. No 25 footers for no reason.
Agreed that drove me nuts watching him when he would pull up at take a deep 3 6 seconds in the shot clock. That’s the kind of thing i feel like could be corrected if he was more comfortable with his role in the offense. I feel like that the sort of thing you see when your looking at a young kid struggling to find his place, and properly use his talents.
Completely agree. I was saying the same things to someone recently. When they got him in the trade, I was envisioning the things you outlined