David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

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David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Dee4Three on Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:50 am

Telling article about Anthony Bennett. David Griffin says:


Griffin was blunt, saying, “you fuck up sometimes,” and that Bennett “had no desire to overcome adversity whatsoever.”

More from The Athletic:


“The issue with Anthony was, and we had no way of knowing it at the time, the kid had no desire to overcome adversity whatsoever. As soon as it was hard, he was out,” (David) Griffin said. “His whole life, he rolled out of bed bigger, better, and more talented than everybody else. As soon as it was hard, it was over. And I was the one on campus at UNLV. I’m the one who got sold the bill of goods and I bought it hook, line, and sinker. You fuck up sometimes. But I feel bad Chris took it for that, because Chris was the one guy who wasn’t sure.”



http://www.slamonline.com/nba/david-griffin-anthony-bennett-cavs/#HWvDDVOLe7QGkHXS.97

Saying "as soon as it was hard, he was out" is unbelievable when you think about it. Millions of dollars on the line... you work all your life to get into the NBA, and you just... stop trying? Crazy.

Trying to think about other players who may have acted the same way... I think Beasley was one of them when he first came into the league (and maybe still?).
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby NovU on Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:21 am

You have to take this with grain of salt, my friend. Griffin's excuse is they had no idea of whom they were drafting with #1 pick. It's a nice job attempting to cover his own ass tho.

Talent was a bigger issue for Bennett imho, broken shot, poor vision, anvil for hands, just a broken basketball player especially at the highest level competition. You can't fix that. Vice versa, there have been and always will come tons of great prospect with great work ethics but still won't make it in this league. Just saying cuz some people read too much into "heart" "doesn't try" unprovable things little too much.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby BPDHoplite on Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:33 am

Lololol


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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Andrew on Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:42 am

It could be a little of both. I remember people being surprised when Anthony Bennett went first overall and questioning the selection, but it's possible he gave the impression that he had better work ethic and dedication to getting better than he really did. That's something that won't always present itself until a player is under the level of scrutiny they receive at the professional level; a case of "wow, this really is harder than I thought it would be", and then folding the tent. As David Griffin notes, he wasn't a big fish in a small pond anymore, and not everyone thrives after leaving that situation.

As for Griffin himself, it seems like he's taking responsibility for the mistake and admitting to being wrong. He's just also sharing some insight into why they thought Bennett would be better, and how he turned out to be even more disappointing. He obviously feels deceived in hindsight, which is fair, but he's quite candidly saying he screwed up.

We've seen it before in varying degrees. Joe Barry Carroll is a classic example. While he did have a better career than Bennett and many other NBA players, making one All-Star team in 1987, he was still something of a disappointment as a number one pick. He put up good numbers for his first few seasons and had talent, but was nicknamed "Joe Barely Cares" because he seemed to be somewhat indifferent and unmotivated for a player of his skill level (and expectations). There's debate as to how fair that reputation is, and whether it was just a matter of him being reserved and not one to grant interviews, but compared to someone like Tim Duncan who was quiet but definitely competitive and driven, the reputation is arguably at least somewhat deserved.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Dee4Three on Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:31 am

I agree that it's a possibility that it's a little bit of both.

Bennett could have enough talent to be a role player in the league, but not have the drive that others do to work on his shortcomings or just get better in general.

Good call on Kwame Brown and Thabeet. I heard the same about Bynum though, that he could have been even better... but it never seemed that he wanted it bad enough.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Andrew on Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:08 am

All good examples of how raw talent isn't enough, and that you have to keep working hard to sharpen your skills the higher you go and further you progress.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Sauru on Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:29 pm

there are tons of examples of players who are just happy collecting a pay check, it really only comes to light when someone selects them with a top pick.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Andrew on Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:36 pm

Higher expectations, after all.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby benji on Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:34 pm

Dee4Three wrote:Saying "as soon as it was hard, he was out" is unbelievable when you think about it. Millions of dollars on the line... you work all your life to get into the NBA, and you just... stop trying? Crazy.

Nothing was really on the line, he was guaranteed $16+ million just from being the number one pick.

And he's won a Euroleague championship!
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby NovU on Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:18 pm

I don't think neither Thabeet or Kwame fit into this discussion all that much. Kwame perhaps a little bit but under Jordan, I doubt he could have been lazy, but only broken to pieces mentally. At the end of the day, he was a solid player, yep being picked by Jordan at #1 sucks. As for Thabeet, it wasn't really his lazy or not-competitive nature that played a major force in his failure. There were news in offseason how the team was excited of his improvement as he put in work. He just sucked.

Thon Maker. Despite not being all that high pick(10th), I think this guy will disappoint. He is smart, great attitude, super athletic, looong, great work ethic/morale, and once touted as next KG, always seemed to have everything to become a star. Some still think Kidd is not giving him enuf chance/PT so who knows but I doubt he'll be a star in this league even with all that talent and great work ethic.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Andrew on Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:26 pm

I'd throw Derrick Coleman's name out there as another example. Like Joe Barry Carroll, he had a decent career and a few good seasons, but his attitude, work ethic, and competitive drive were questionable. He was an all-around talent at 6'10" and could've become one of the best players in the league, if he'd had the dedication.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby shadowgrin on Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:11 pm

Isaiah Rider. Though still won a ring.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby benji on Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:22 pm

Kwame's a bad pick because Jordan turned down trades for both Elton Brand and Pau Gasol for him. He always had small hands, he never had the athleticism of Chandler let alone the raw skills of Curry. Kwame never had game changing flashes of brilliance in his first couple years, every other high schooler who got to play did at some point. Even Darko would abuse garbage time guys at the end of the season, not Kwame. And IIRC, literally nobody but Jordan thought Kwame should go first, Jordan hadn't even really seen the kid play. Although most pundits thought Eddie Griffin was the guy so that's not saying much.

Thabeet's an interesting case because he arguably was not terrible if he had ever been placed in the proper situation. He was never athletic enough but 7-3 guys have their uses even when they don't rebound all that well or shoot. Roy Hibbert's main difference is that he was taught defense and not only is a surprisingly good FT shooter but had at least one post move even if it wasn't much. There were warning signs all over Thabeet considering 6-6 guys regularly abused him in college, most notably DeJuan Blair tore the kid apart. Twice. But Memphis was convinced they needed him for some nutty reason and he was almost the only non-Blake big drafted in the first round. Like Terrance Williams he might have had a different career had he landed someone else that could look at the pieces and put them together.

Thon Maker is way too early to talk about, he's 20, he's a defensive monster who shoots threes and plays in a lineup with the next player to probably wreck the game. And who at this point in his career was also not really much more than a bundle of potential. The main thing with Maker is that he probably should be down a position from where they eventually want to play him, ala KG (since you mentioned him) and move Monroe back into the lineup when he comes back. The main thing I want Kidd to do is stop platooning him and Henson. I want Henson-Maker-Giannis lineup data. Also I want a Henson-Maker-Giannis-Snell/Middleton-Brogdon lineup. That's 7-5/7-3/7-4/6-11/6-11 wingspans. Plus Monroe is like 7-2, Parker is 7 ft. That might be the anti-Warriors lineup everyone is looking for. Except for the whole offense part, but Giannis may render that irrelevant like LeBron does.

Derrick Coleman has two seasons that really stand out statistically, they're like none of his others and put him in the tier just below Barkley/Malone. Weird that they're also the same seasons he played under Chuck Daly. Though Coleman did have a lot of injuries that were related to his refusal to stay in shape, and unlike Shaq he never was built or stayed in shape enough that he could play his way into top form. Injuries had undermined him by then.

The three years he went to the playoffs with the Nets he averaged: 25/13/4 with almost 2 blocks and a three a game at 41%. Coleman actually has a decent playoff career compared to a lot of similar problem players, especially if you toss out the season he came off the bench as a center for Charlotte. He's also amazingly 50 years old.

A player Coleman was traded for once, Shawn Bradley actually has a sorta nuts draft process compared to what Thabeet would have gone through. He played only one college season against a then weak league, then spent two years on his Mormon mission, the Sixers then gave him #76 because HAHA GET IT! And spent a bunch of time trying to make him into a small forward for reasons that still don't make sense. Though these highlights make him look like something I might make in MyPlayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H6-FuXUfNo#t=820
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby benji on Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:24 pm

Also, in a strange way, Bennett worked out really well, had he not sucked, they might not have got Wiggins and not felt any problems with flipping the two for Kevin Love, which has gotten them three Finals and a NBA championship.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby NovU on Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:42 am

Thon Maker's age is a mystery. He went from best middle school prospect(drew KG comparison) to mediocre first rounder status in college. I kinda believe it's because of concern for his true age.




I think what really ended Bennett's NBA career prematurely was his extremely poor basketball IQ. He was a black hole even at his best, type of players teams hate these days unless you are special like Whiteside. No team wanted to give him a shot after that. Otherwise I believe he put in great effort to stay in this league. Look at his highlight reel, he's an allstar caliber player in there. Well built, athletic, spry, has range and size. But with emphasis on ball movement and team plays in today's league, even the lowly Nets didn't wanna bother with him no more. His touch meant end of possession each time, disturbingly inefficient one at that. Team morale killer stuff. But it also means he never lacked confidence and willingness to take over, mamba mentality lol. Have the ball in my hands, might as well shoot it.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Dee4Three on Wed Nov 01, 2017 2:01 am

It's a true slap in the face that the Suns waived him before the start of THIS season. A team that is truly rebuilding, he couldn't even get a spot on the Suns this year.
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Re: David Griffin on Anthony Bennett - "You F*ck up sometimes"

Postby Andrew on Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:31 am

It makes you wonder if he's blown his shot in the NBA.
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