According to the Woj-bomb we were blessed with on Monday afternoon the Minnesota Timberwolves were looking to buy out Anthony Bennett‘s contract. It seemed like acase of when rather than if the T-Wolves rid themselves of Bennett, he’d first go through waivers and then be an unrestricted free agent should he clear.

Yahoo Sources: Minnesota progressing on contract buyout with former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett. He would be free agent if clears waivers. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) September 21, 2015

This was followed up on Tuesday with the news that Bennett had been bought out by Minnesota, courtesy of Woj-disciple Shams Charania:

Minnesota forward Anthony Bennett has reached agreement on a contract buyout, soon to free him on waivers, league sources tell Yahoo. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 22, 2015

I am very excited about this news. Not because I’m one of the massive legion of Bennett bashers–I’m actually in the opposite camp. I’m a believer in AB’s future in this league as a solid player, and I think this is a perfect opportunity for the Milwaukee Bucks to solidify their power forward spot.

We all know Jabari Parker has the starting spot nailed down when healthy, but the reserve spot there is suspect at best. I’m also a big fan of Johnny O’Bryant, but injecting some healthy competition is never a bad thing. The two young forwards who’ve both endured way too much criticism in their young careers could grow together.

The rumors of Bennett being terrible have been drastically overblown, by the way. Much like young JOB, Bennett was thrust into a situation that he clearly wasn’t ready for, through no fault of his own. The pressure on any first overall pick is insane and it’s obvious now Bennett wasn’t ready for it all.

That led to a rookie season that was, admittedly, very bad. There wasn’t much optimism in Cleveland around AB, so he was included in the Kevin Love trade to get him a fresh start. He did improve, although apparently not enough based on his newfound free agency.

Season Age MP FGA FG% 3PA 3P% FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2013-14 20 663 12.2 .356 2.9 .245 3.7 .638 2.7 5.8 8.4 0.9 1.1 0.4 2.6 5.0 11.8 2014-15 21 894 12.0 .421 0.9 .304 2.6 .641 2.1 6.6 8.7 1.9 1.1 0.6 1.4 3.5 12.0 View Original Table

Generated 9/21/2015. Provided by Basketball-Reference.com Generated 9/21/2015.

As you can see from his per 36 minute statistics, Bennett’s shooting improved across the board, as did his rebounding, assisting, blocking and turnovers per 36. They’re still not great, but there are improvements being made.

Despite Cleveland’s front office being pretty bad (aside from the whole LeBron thing, of course), there were still signs that AB had some sort of potential–even if he’s not an Andrew Wiggins or LeBron James, he may still have a future in the Association as a role player.

And it’s not like there’s a lot of competition out there in the free agency market. Young, capable forwards don’t grow on trees–Bennett is clearly not perfect, but he’s probably the best option out there for a young, hungry team. Plus if they can get to him before a few other interested teams, they can probably get him on a fairly cheap deal.

Also, Zach Harper agreed that it’d probably work out okay when I asked him about Bennett going to Milwaukee on Twitter, so there’s that.

He has to be healthy and he has to build some confidence. I think it's doable. https://t.co/7i13tl0V3P — Zach Harper (@talkhoops) September 21, 2015

The most important thing to keep in mind if the Bucks do end up signing AB is to not see him as a former first overall draft pick. He’s a young, rough around the edges forward who’s looking to prove he has what it takes in the NBA. Which fits perfectly with the Young Bucks.