Before Cleveland had the first pick and had the opportunity to draft Noel, I was all aboard the Bennett bandwagon. At 6’8”, 240 pounds (although he’s currently at 260 because of a surgery he had that kept him fairly inactive) with good athleticism, great shooting range and touch, and a scorers mentality, he offers Cleveland something that they haven’t had, and wouldn’t have gotten from Nerlens; versatility.

Anyone who watched the playoffs (and the finals in particular) saw the need to not only to be able to go small, but to also play big. Miami and San Antonio’s small ball lineups put up huge numbers, but because of important bigs like Tiago Splitter, Roy Hibbert, David West, and of course, Timmy, the Heat were pushed to a game 7 in two straight series.

The Cavaliers, with a healthy Anderson Varejao (and likely a veteran FA center signing) have the ability to play big. But any small lineup the past two years would either involve Alonzo Gee, C.J. Miles, or Luke Walton playing the four. And that just… isn’t good. That’s where Bennett comes in. He can come off the bench and be an instant stretch four who will help Cleveland with floor spacing (which it desperately needs) and will add more athleticism to their lineup. This then allows either Tristan Thompson, Varejao, or Tyler Zeller to play center. TT at the five makes for one of the most interesting Cleveland lineups possible, as there wouldn’t be a player on the court taller than 6’9”. The five-man group of Irving-Waiters-Karasev-Bennett-Thompson is something that could play for stretches and has huge offensive potential, similar to those Spurs and Heat lineups we saw in the finals.

If the Cavs take Nerlens Noel? Now they have three centers and a power forward who all can’t stretch the floor. This is so crucial to success in the NBA today that it’s worth reaching for a player who, despite being a clear top 5 talent, was probably going to go between picks 6-8. Noel would have added awesome defense inside, but with the hiring of Mike Brown as the new head coach, they might not be as concerned about acquiring elite defensive talent, but instead developing the players they have into the best possible defenders they can be. Think of Tom Thibodeau in Chicago. Other than Joakim Noah, there wasn’t really a Bull who people considered to be an excellent defender. But he turned guys like Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli into plus defensive guys (in his system), so why can’t Mike Brown do the same thing with the talent in Cleveland? When Brown was head coach previously for the Cavs, the best defensive player was Anderson Varejao, and it wasn’t really close. Andy is quite clearly a better player now than he was two to three years ago (again, when healthy) so there’s no reason to believe that they can’t reach near the same levels of great team defense once more without the aid of an elite defender like Nerlens.

The pick of Anthony Bennett shocked the basketball world. He might not start a game all year long. But given the situation Cleveland was put in, with the pick they had and the players that were available, I truly believe that Chris Grant & co. made the right call. And while they would have liked to trade down and simply grab him at a lower pick, the return teams were asking back for their offers would have taken the Cavs out of the running for Karasev, whom I’m in love with. So hats off to Cleveland management for making one hell of a ballsy move. I’m obviously a little biased when I say that I hope it works out, but it’s not just for the benefit of seeing my team do well. But if this pick pans out, then the Cavs are one freaking exciting team to watch.

Nerlens Noel has constantly been getting compared to Anthony Davis ever since he committed to Kentucky, but always with a mention that he is a lesser version. I’m here to argue against this notion. Not to say that he’s better than Davis, or that the ‘Brow wasn’t as elite as a prospect as some thought him to be, just that Noel, despite being the projected number one overall pick in the draft to Cleveland (woooohoooo!!!!), is still underrated. If Nerlens and Anthony had swapped teams (Nerlens playing on the ‘11-12 National Champion Wildcats and Davis on this past year’s clusterf*** of a team) that there would have been very little, if any difference between these two players.

In the first 24 games of their college careers (the 24th was Noel’s last after he tore his ACL)

Anthony Davis
31 minutes, 13.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.8 blocks, 1.5 steals

Nerlens Noel
31 minutes, 10.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.4 blocks, 2.1 steals

Very little difference here. Anthony looks slightly better at blocking shots, but Nerlens might be more adept at disrupting lanes. Rebounding is essentially the same, as reflected by their rebounding percentages (18.2% and 16.8%). The biggest thing separating them would be the offensive side of the ball, as Davis posted 62% from the field while Noel managed 59%. Keep in mind, Noel played on a vastly inferior team. Davis’s Wildcats had 4 first rounders drafted in 2012 while Nerlens is the only player likely to go in the first, with Archie Goodwin the only other play on NBA team’s radars. Let’s look at some more statistics…

Davis/ Noel
Block%: 13.8 / 13.2
FG%: 62 / 59
Usage %: 18.8 / 17.4
Defensive Rating: 80.3 / 81.8
Team Assists: 481 / 403
FT%: 71 / 53
FTApG: 5.1 / 4.3

As you can see, when it comes to their offensive production, (the perceived biggest difference) Davis averaging roughly 3 more a night can be argued to be essentially irrelevant, as Davis had far superior guards getting him the ball and was also nearly 20% better from the charity stripe than Nerlens. Anthony was also used more often, and more efficiently, due to the better supporting cast. That, on top of the free throw shooting, easily makes up for that 3 point disparity.

Another thing to remember is that Nerlens wasn’t as good as Davis right away- he walked into Kentucky a much rawer player. If it weren’t for Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, it probably wouldn’t have been a horrible decision for him to stay at Kentucky, rehab, and dominate college basketball when he comes back. But he isn’t. Instead of silencing any doubt of his status as an elite prospect, he’s chosen the riskier route, although it has a much higher reward (first overall pick) than sticking around for the ‘14 Draft.

To sum it up, Nerlens deserves a lot more respect than he’s been getting, and should be the number one pick to Cleveland without a doubt. Out of all the questions and concerns posed towards him, the only with any traction is the ACL tear. But he’s supposedly weeks ahead of his schedule, and doesn’t have any other history of injuries. So despite the fact that Noel’s career started off on some struggles, he still replicated similar numbers to Davis. And if it weren’t for his knee injury, who knows what the second half of the season would have brought for him. For one, Kentucky probably would have made the NCAA tournament. It’s not outlandish to think that he would have even surpassed some of Anthony’s statistics.

Next Thursday, one player is going to be the last first overall pick to shake David Stern’s hand. Might be Alex Len, or Otto Porter, or a darkhorse like McLemore and Bennett. But if the commish hugs anyone other than the high-top faded 7-footer from Everett, Massachusetts, this Cleveland fan will be very upset.