Roy Hibbert Defends Anthony Bennett On Twitter

The Cavs are in disarray, especially in the wake of the New York Daily News piece published this weekend, which detailed how new Cavalier Luol Deng is unhappy with the organization. But it’s their No. 1 pick in this past June’s draft, Anthony Bennett, that’s inspired the most mockery and enmity from fans. He’s been a huge disappointment so far in his rookie season, but Pacers big man Roy Hibbert came to the defense of Bennett after an unflattering photoshop started making the rounds on Twitter.

Bennett is the No. 1 pick, so many expected him to be on the court right away helping Kyrie Irving and Co. lead the Cavaliers back to the playoffs for the first time since LeBron James called an ill-fated press conference. That has not happened at all. Through 35 games this season, Bennett is averaging 2.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game while shooting a dreadful 27.5 percent from the floor and 17.6 percent on three-pointers. His PER is 2. Just 2. The NBA average for PER every season is 15.

But when the Pelicans came to town last week, Bennett scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 2-of-3 from deep. It was the first time he cracked double-figures all season. Throw in eight rebounds and it was the best game of his short career, so many wondered if the floodgates had finally opened on the talent that led the Cavs to select Bennett No. 1 overall out of UNLV in June. Nope, he’s scored just six points combined in the next two games.

The Internet, being the cold-blooded entity we all know and love, decided to make a little photoshop of Bennett. They placed his head on top of the famous photo taken of Wilt Chamberlain after he scored 100 points in 1962. Here’s the original photo of Chamberlain we’re talking about:

Now here’s Hibbert retweeting the photoshopped edition while asking fans to cut Anthony Bennett a little slack during his so-far abysmal rookie campaign.

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(h/t: All Ball Blog)

Is the criticism of Anthony Bennett unfair?

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