INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Anthony Bennett takes a pass at the top of the key, then without taking a dribble, quickly spins to his left and faces away from the basket.
He spins back just as quickly, squares his shoulders and shoots.
Bennett's Cavaliers teammates have exited the gym. It's just Bennett, several coaches and the ball. He performs the drill repeatedly -- catch, hold the ball, spin, face left, spin back, face the basket, shoot.
He is standing beyond the 3-point line, the same spot from where his first NBA preseason shot was launched. It hit nothing but the backboard, about a foot to the left of the rim.
Things didn't get much better from there, as the 6-foot-8 rookie forward finished Tuesday's win over Milwaukee with a miserable 2-for-12 shooting performance. He also went 3-for-8 on free throws.
Making things worse was the fact he looked fairly winded for the majority of his 22 minutes. Making it even worse than that was Cavs coach Mike Brown pointing to Bennett as the reason for four of Brown's first five timeouts.
And with Bennett forever holding the distinction as The No. 1 Overall Pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, he is likely to be scrutinized, criticized and not cut much slack.
Fair or not (actually, it's not fair at all), this is just the way the sports world operates.
The sports world doesn't really mention the fact Bennett tied Cavs big man Anderson Varejao with a game-high 10 rebounds. Or that Varejao led the league in rebounding until his injury last season -- and that Bennett's just a rookie playing in his first preseason game.
Nor will it mention anything about Bennett missing summer play because of shoulder surgery in the spring.
To Bennett's credit, he doesn't really talk about any of that or make any excuses, either.
"Conditioning," he said Thursday, when asked what part of his game warrants attention. "I'm still working on it."
As for being last to leave the practice court?
"Mostly just to get shots up," Bennett said. "I didn't like the way I shot in the first preseason game. I'm still trying to improve on that and get my rhythm back."
Brown isn't as concerned with Bennett's shooting (although he playfully discussed Bennett's air ball at length) as he is with Bennett's overall game. Brown likes it, but he also knows nobody comes into the league and gets it figured out in a day. Or even a preseason. Or sometimes, even a season.
"The good part about it is we have guys and we don't have to rely on (Bennett) as most teams would a No. 1 pick," Brown said. "We can bring him along slowly. We'll let him grow as quickly as he does, and not put any pressure on him to get there sooner rather than later.
"It's a luxury of being around the group of guys we have here. They'll be able to carry him until he can get to a point where he's ready."
For now, Bennett will control what he can and work on the things he hopes to control someday. He'll catch, he'll spin, he'll shoot. Then he'll do it again.
"I'm a basketball player," he said. "I want to make the right plays."
Double Dribbles
• The Cavs play their first preseason road game Friday at Orlando (preview). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on FOX Sports Ohio. Jeff Phelps will fill in for play-by-play man Fred McLeod, and Austin Carr will perform his usual color commentary role.
• Centers Tyler Zeller (hip) and Andrew Bynum (knee), and small forward Alonzo Gee (hamstring) did not make the trip. Zeller and Gee, however, did participate in the entire practice Thursday.
• Magic guard Victor Oladipo was drafted with the second overall pick, one spot behind Bennett. Oladipo finished with 10 points, nine assists and five rebounds in the Magic's preseason opener, a loss to New Orleans.
Twitter: @SamAmicoFSO
