Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

jinn · Post #281 » by **jinn** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:39 pm

Are there any news about when could he be playing again?

kennydorglas · Post #282 » by **kennydorglas** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:50 pm

jinn wrote:Are there any news about when could he be playing again?

"We don’t want to put a hard date on it, but I do think at some point – whether that’s mid-to-late March or April – that he’ll come back and play," McDonough said. "The surgery went well. His rehab up to this point has gone well. He’s off crutches. I believe he’s out of a walking boot already so it’s been a very smooth process."

jeff2020 · Post #283 » by **jeff2020** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:25 pm

Hope he is able to come back sometime this year. Our young core needs as much experience as they can get

Post #284 » by **Qwigglez** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:27 pm

jeff2020 wrote:Hope he is able to come back sometime this year. Our young core needs as much experience as they can get

Has nothing left to prove this year, I'd rather he take an extended offseason to gain strength to his core and just work on getting better.

jeff2020 · Post #285 » by **jeff2020** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:36 pm

Qwigglez wrote:
jeff2020 wrote:Hope he is able to come back sometime this year. Our young core needs as much experience as they can get

Has nothing left to prove this year, I'd rather he take an extended offseason to gain strength to his core and just work on getting better.

Bender is a lot stronger than everyone thinks. He is much much much stronger then Chriss. Watch Bender play in the post and boxing out. He doesn't get pushed around at all. Chriss gets completely bullied. Bender just needs some confidence in my opinion. Yes a little stronger wouldn't hurt but in my opinion the main thing he needs is confidence and that comes from playing

Post #286 » by **Qwigglez** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:08 pm

If we end up drafting Jackson what does that mean for Bender? Do you guys think with the way the NBA is trending that we can develop him into a stretch 5? Sure, we'd get dominated defensively by the Marc Gasol's of the league, but there really isn't many 5's I'm scared of.

jeff2020 · Post #287 » by **jeff2020** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:14 pm

Qwigglez wrote:If we end up drafting Jackson what does that mean for Bender? Do you guys think with the way the NBA is trending that we can develop him into a stretch 5? Sure, we'd get dominated defensively by the Marc Gasol's of the league, but there really isn't many 5's I'm scared of.

Really would prefer to play Bender at the 3 or 4 as a starter. Could he play a stretch 5 for 5-8 minutes of a game. Yes, but as a full time 5 there is no way he can do that 30-35 minutes a game

WeekapaugGroove · Post #288 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:18 pm

Qwigglez wrote:If we end up drafting Jackson what does that mean for Bender? Do you guys think with the way the NBA is trending that we can develop him into a stretch 5? Sure, we'd get dominated defensively by the Marc Gasol's of the league, but there really isn't many 5's I'm scared of.

Yeah I think the way the league is trending he could play a lot of 5 once his body fills out a little. You would still want to have a big like len to bang with the true big men but those guys are less and less.

There could come a point where you realize him and chriss both need to play the 4 but if the best case scenario hits and they both look like awesome starters that would be a good "problem". But chances are maybe one hits and the other is more of a bench rotation guy and thats not a terrible thing either.

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jcsunsfan · Post #289 » by **jcsunsfan** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:38 pm

WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Qwigglez wrote:If we end up drafting Jackson what does that mean for Bender? Do you guys think with the way the NBA is trending that we can develop him into a stretch 5? Sure, we'd get dominated defensively by the Marc Gasol's of the league, but there really isn't many 5's I'm scared of.

Yeah I think the way the league is trending he could play a lot of 5 once his body fills out a little. You would still want to have a big like len to bang with the true big men but those guys are less and less.

There could come a point where you realize him and chriss both need to play the 4 but if the best case scenario hits and they both look like awesome starters that would be a good "problem". But chances are maybe one hits and the other is more of a bench rotation guy and thats not a terrible thing either.

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His body is going to fill out alot. Bender could be a great stretch 5 in the future. I see a Channing Frye type of game with better D.

Post #290 » by **Qwigglez** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:50 pm

jcsunsfan wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Qwigglez wrote:If we end up drafting Jackson what does that mean for Bender? Do you guys think with the way the NBA is trending that we can develop him into a stretch 5? Sure, we'd get dominated defensively by the Marc Gasol's of the league, but there really isn't many 5's I'm scared of.

Yeah I think the way the league is trending he could play a lot of 5 once his body fills out a little. You would still want to have a big like len to bang with the true big men but those guys are less and less.

There could come a point where you realize him and chriss both need to play the 4 but if the best case scenario hits and they both look like awesome starters that would be a good "problem". But chances are maybe one hits and the other is more of a bench rotation guy and thats not a terrible thing either.

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His body is going to fill out alot. Bender could be a great stretch 5 in the future. I see a Channing Frye type of game with better D.

Hopefully better offense too. I don't want to limit his potential by saying he's going to stand around the 3 point line and that's it. Even though currently, that's what he's been doing.

sunsbum · Post #291 » by **sunsbum** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 8:20 pm

I think Bender will actually be a very very good 6th man, like one of those guys that play 30 minutes a night. I don't like him playing at the 5 but he can definitely come in and play the 3 or 4.

jcsunsfan · Post #292 » by **jcsunsfan** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:29 pm

Qwigglez wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:Yeah I think the way the league is trending he could play a lot of 5 once his body fills out a little. You would still want to have a big like len to bang with the true big men but those guys are less and less.

There could come a point where you realize him and chriss both need to play the 4 but if the best case scenario hits and they both look like awesome starters that would be a good "problem". But chances are maybe one hits and the other is more of a bench rotation guy and thats not a terrible thing either.

Sent from my SM-G930V using RealGM mobile app

His body is going to fill out alot. Bender could be a great stretch 5 in the future. I see a Channing Frye type of game with better D.

Hopefully better offense too. I don't want to limit his potential by saying he's going to stand around the 3 point line and that's it. Even though currently, that's what he's been doing.

It would be great if he could add some muscle. His frame is still immature, so I think he will. Then a little back to the basket game and he could be really really good.

NTB · Post #293 » by **NTB** » Thu Mar 2, 2017 1:04 pm

Watch on YouTube

Bogyo · Post #294 » by **Bogyo** » Thu Mar 2, 2017 5:53 pm

Any news on his progress? When will he return? It'd be nice to have him play a good month before end of the season.

Post #295 » by **ATTL** » Thu Mar 2, 2017 5:59 pm

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2017/02/26/suns-notes-bender-working-back-injury/98458534/

He had surgery February 8th and was given 4-6 week recovery time. Next Wednesday will be week 4. Unless we decide to sit him the rest of the season he'll be able to play the last 10 games or so.

maRioGrande · Post #296 » by **maRioGrande** » Fri Mar 3, 2017 9:21 am

Our NT coach, who is also poster on one Croatian basketball forum, wrote that he had a meeting with Dragan yesterday in Phoenix. Dragan will have control in two weeks and then it will be decided if he will play this season. He wrote that impressions were very good, which I think means that Dragan will play for Croatia in Eurobasket in September. Since we don't have backup PF (Šarić is starter), it is very important for our NT to have Dragan in roster.

Post #297 » by **bwgood77** » Sun Mar 5, 2017 5:18 am

maRioGrande wrote:Our NT coach, who is also poster on one Croatian basketball forum, wrote that he had a meeting with Dragan yesterday in Phoenix. Dragan will have control in two weeks and then it will be decided if he will play this season. He wrote that impressions were very good, which I think means that Dragan will play for Croatia in Eurobasket in September. Since we don't have backup PF (Šarić is starter), it is very important for our NT to have Dragan in roster.

Interesting. I hope to see him in a couple of weeks, for the last few weeks of the season.

carey · Post #298 » by **carey** » Sun Mar 5, 2017 5:59 am

Arg. I kind of don't want him playing on the national team this Summer if he isn't 100%.

Bogyo · Post #299 » by **Bogyo** » Sun Mar 5, 2017 8:50 am

carey wrote:Arg. I kind of don't want him playing on the national team this Summer if he isn't 100%.

I'm usually on the same side on issues like this, but he desperatley needs playing time in a competitive, non-practice environment.
He should return to us in the last 5-10 games of the season, so he should be fine. Even if he is not fully healed by then and does not suit up for us anymore this year, he HAS to be fully healed by august/september for Eurobasket.

maRioGrande · Post #300 » by **maRioGrande** » Mon Mar 6, 2017 11:51 am

bwgood77 wrote:
maRioGrande wrote:Our NT coach, who is also poster on one Croatian basketball forum, wrote that he had a meeting with Dragan yesterday in Phoenix. Dragan will have control in two weeks and then it will be decided if he will play this season. He wrote that impressions were very good, which I think means that Dragan will play for Croatia in Eurobasket in September. Since we don't have backup PF (Šarić is starter), it is very important for our NT to have Dragan in roster.

Interesting. I hope to see him in a couple of weeks, for the last few weeks of the season.

We all do.. :wink:

One more thing, it is expected that NT camp will start at 26th July for NBA players so Dragan will have a chance to play SL before it. I don't see any risk, if he's going to be capable for playing summer league basketball then he will probably come healthy to camp.

Would you bring back Bender?