Former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett was assigned to the Toronto Raptors’ D-League Affiliate the Raptors 905 on Sunday. Bennett is the first No. 1 pick to ever be assigned to the D-League.
Bennett won’t stay in the D-League for that long. He will play in the afternoon for the Raptors 905 and then be immediately recalled by the Raptors. Bennett will be available for Toronto’s Sunday game against the Sacramento Kings.
Bennett has hardly played since joining the Raptors at the start of the season. Playing a total of 48 minutes in nine games, Bennett is averaging 1.6 points and 1.7 rebounds while shooting 21.5 percent. Wanting to get some actual extended playing time, Bennett asked the Raptors to sent him to the D-League.
“Anthony came to us asking to use this double-header as an opportunity work on his game,” Jeff Weltman, the Raptors Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, said in a release. “This is an example of how we envisioned using our D-League team to improve our players.”
This seems like a smart decision by both Bennett and the Raptors. He has hardly been playing and now he will have an opportunity to improve and show off his skills in this one game for the Raptors 905. This was something that never happened in his previous stops with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves .
Since being drafted No. 1 in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Cavs, Bennett’s career has been very inconsistent and at times non-existent. Struggling with injuries and conditioning in his rookie season, Bennett rarely played and was then part of the Andrew Wiggins-Kevin Love trade between the Cavs and Timberwolves in 2014. With the Timberwolves, Bennett’s struggles continued and after just one season, Minnesota waived him in the offseason. Bennett then signed a one-year, minimum contract with his hometown Raptors.
So far, it has been a roller coaster-type of career for Bennett but he seems to have found an ideal situation with the Raptors, a team that will use their D-League affiliate to help Bennett grow and develop as a player.
Courtesy:CBS Sports
