Wolves' Bennett throws weight around in win over Sixers

The closest the Timberwolves come to an international man of mystery made his Wolves' debut in Friday's 116-110 preseason victory over injury-depleted Philadelphia at Target Center, only he didn't wear a mask.

Second-year forward Anthony Bennett — he is from Canada, you know — wore goggles instead.

The 2013 NBA draft's No. 1 pick whose rookie season was buried beneath injury and flab, Bennett played for the Wolves for the first time since the August trade that brought him and 2014 No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota and sent Kevin Love to Cleveland.

Even Wolves new coach Flip Saunders said before the game he wasn't sure what to expect. But he was pleased with what he saw when Bennett delivered an efficient 25-minute, 13-point, eight-rebound performance off the bench.

Afterward, Saunders said Bennett "might have been the best player when he was on the floor" and praised his intellect for grasping the team's offensive concepts despite missing a little time in training camp because of cramps and Tuesday's preseason opener because of a hip-flexor injury.

"Just his composure and demeanor," Saunders said. "He understood everything we were trying to do offensively. He got his hands on a lot of balls."

Bennett showed his shooting range against a 76ers team missing injured star guard Michael Carter-Williams and lottery picks Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid by making a couple of midrange shots in the first half.

In the second half, he used his big — if slimmed down — body to score on layups and dunks, including one Saunders called a "man" rebound in which he pulled the ball out of a tangle of players and scored on a powerful two-handed dunk.

That repelled the Sixers with 3 minutes, 5 seconds left in the game, after Philadelphia had turned a 13-point deficit with under six minutes left into a seven-point game.

"I'm just trying to get back to my UNLV playing days," Bennett said afterward.

When told Saunders called him the best player on the floor and praised him for quickly grasping the team's concepts, Bennett said, "The system is pretty easy if you really pay attention. I sat down a couple times and reviewed all the plays with my teammates and got it down."

Bennett is wearing goggles here in preseason's opening weeks — at least one more week — to protect his eyes after he underwent summertime corrective-eye surgery.

He played Friday against a Philadelphia team with which he once was supposed to play, if you wrongly believed multiple media reports last summer that said Bennett was headed to the Sixers for Thaddeus Young in the three-way Love trade.

Both Saunders and Sixers coach Brett Brown on Friday said no such particulars were seriously discussed. Instead, the Wolves sent Miami's 2015 protected first-round pick, obtained from Cleveland, to Philadelphia for Young, who on Friday played against the team for which he played his first seven NBA seasons.

"It was one of those things that just gained momentum and moved around and never really got to a stage where it was real," Brown said.

Bennett shrugged his shoulders before the game when asked about all the speculation that he'd end up a 76er.

"I didn't really care about it, I just wanted to go to a team and play," he said. "New uniform, new year for me pretty much. I just want to go out there and try to have fun."

Doing what Mo does

Veteran Mo Williams, signed as a free agent in July, played 29 minutes off the bench, including the entire fourth quarter with youngsters Bennett, Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng and Andrew Wiggins. He scored a game-high 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting and had seven assists and six rebounds, too.

He also settled down the young guys when they needed it.

"We brought Mo here because of what he does," Saunders said. "That's what he does."

Playing on without …

The Wolves didn't play veteran guard Kevin Martin or second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad Friday because of injury and sat veteran guard J.J. Barea as well.

Martin remains out because of a groin injury sustained last week in Mankato and Muhammad didn't practice much on Thursday because of a sore Achilles' tendon, although Saunders said he was more active and feeling better Friday. Barea sat Friday so Williams, who didn't play Tuesday in Indiana, could.

Etc.

• Wiggins chatted with former Kansas teammate Embiid before the game.

"It's just crazy," Wiggins said. "We had a dream back in Kansas and see each other now, our dream came true."

• The 76ers brought former Wolves players Alexey Shved, Luc Mbah a Moute and Malcolm Lee to town. Shved is wearing No. 88 rather than the No. 1 he wore in Minnesota. He said Friday he chose the number because that's the year (1988) he was born.