The Anthony Bennett Fiasco

About six months ago, Anthony Bennett became the first Canadian basketball player to be drafted first in the NBA Draft, getting a rise out of Bill Simmons. Scouts compared him to Larry Johnson, a tweening big man with a soft scoring touch. The selection surprised the experts. It wasn't a standout draft by any means, but Bennett was in the top 10 conversation, top 5 for some. He was never in a million years expected to go #1 on draft night.

Fast forward to January, Bennett averages 2.4 points a game and barely sees the court anymore. Media are starting to call him ''the great bust in NBA Draft history'' halfway into his first season. His numbers sure are really bad, but what exactly went wrong here? Who is responsible for this monstrous fiasco? The easy answer is to blame Anthony Bennett for everything, but it's not that simple. Bennett was balling hard last year in UNLV. Let's examine the situation to determine who fucked up here.

Culprit #1 - Dan Gilbert

If you watched NBA's #1 drama-mongering owner turn the draft lottery into a freak show, featuring some white rapper from Cleveland, funny-looking suits and starring his son Nicky as his good luck charm, you know something weird was bound to happen. He's like that creepy ex who cannot get over LeBron. The selection of Anthony Bennett at #1 must have come from him.

The logical answer here was to select Nerlens Noel, be patient with him and groom him to become a Tyson Chandler-like stay at home center. But that was too easy for the Cavaliers, wasn't it? Instead, they went for the best offensive big available and signed Andrew Bynum on the free agents market. Six months later, the Cavs unloaded the troublesome Bynum for a song and aren't that far from where they used to be in the rankings.

Dan Gilbert is an abusive father figure who entertains a toxic culture of quick fixes and empty promises with his team. Selecting Anthony Bennett didn't make any sense for Cleveland, as their lineup was already clogged at the power forward position. Tristan Thompson was taking care of business last season and Tristan Thompson is still taking care of business this season. Anthony Bennett was the wrong pick for Cleveland and put in a position to fail.

Culprit #2 - Chris Grant

There would be no Chris Grant on this list without Dan Gilbert and his ''I told the fans we would win now, so win now'' mentality. There is a reason why Danny Ferry was tared and feathered in Cleveland, but is doing good for himself in Atlanta. But holy shit, what a mess Grant created with this team. He literally hoarded every asset available on the free agents market and created an unsolvable puzzle of a team.

The merciful thing to do in Bennett's case is to send him to the D-League and have him forgotten by the masses, but it would be an admission of defeat. Bennett is now playing under 10 minutes a game, has no confidence in his skills whatsoever and is getting his love of the game beaten out of him. There is something fucked up with your team when your #1 overall pick screen like that. Get the kid some freakin' playing time and show some long-term vision for once.

Culprit #3 - Mike Brown

There would be no Mike Brown on this list without Dan Gilbert and Chris Grant. Why the fuck was he re-hired in the first place? Was it an emotional move, aiming for the fans to relive parts of the LeBron era? It didn't make any sense. Everybody is underproducing under Brown, this year. Even superstar point guard Kyrie Irving. The Cavaliers are playing without a game plan every night and rely on Irving's pick and roll to get them through the night, like they used to rely on LeBron's God-given abilities.

Where does that put Anthony Bennett? On the bench. The lack of leadership eating away at the Cavaliers is chewing its first overall pick alive. Brown first tried him at small forward, didn't work. He tried him at power forward after that, he wasn't better than Tristan Thompson so Bennett got benched. What kind of strategic thinking is that. Saying ''Win now'' isn't a magic word that'll transform your team into a contender. If Bennett is looking like a lost puppy 3 to 8 minutes a night, the coach is heavily to blame. I don't know what it is that Mike Brown does, but he's clearly not a leader.

Culprit #4 - Anthony Bennett

I love Bennett's talent, but he has his fair share of blame to shoulder in this situation. He's not exactly beating the odds here. He's just going with the flow, accepting everything that is coming his way, trying to deal with it. He's visibly out of shape and he is letting adversity get to him. The kid is 20 years old and as raw as it gets, so it's hard to fully blame him, but better shows of determination have been seen.

But see what I did here? The Cavaliers have a rotten structure, starting from the top. Anthony Bennett is turning into a humiliating failure, but he is only one thing gone wrong in a season where everything has went wrong since Dan Gilbert promised to his fans last May that is would be their last turn to the NBA lottery. The result speaks for itself. The Cavs are most likely going back to the lottery this year and HOPEFULLY won't fuck this up. I don't have much hope, though. I just hope Anthony Bennett can bolt out of this notoriously toxis sports city and find a niche elsewhere.