Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

Post #521 » by **ATTL** » Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:29 pm

The Ukraine is weak, expected more from Dragan.

jcsunsfan · Post #522 » by **jcsunsfan** » Wed Aug 16, 2017 1:55 pm

AtheJ415 wrote:Comparing Bender to Doncic is beyond unfair. Doncic is considered the greatest European prospect EVER. There are people who think he is the best prospect since Lebron. Bender isn't supposed to be better than him. Not now, probably not ever. Outside of Booker I'm not sure there is a single player on this team I wouldn't trade for Doncic. That includes Jackson.

I would trade Booker for Doncic without much hesitation. Doncic has a complete game. Booker has some significant holes in his game.

Bender is interesting. He really puts out effort in d. All the fouls are concerning. Have to wonder how he is being coached in these games. Is he being instructed to play shut down d no matter the foul cost? The thing about Bender when you watch him is that you can see the potential and it is not far away. It's right there, just under the surface.

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darealjuice · Post #523 » by **darealjuice** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 6:12 am

Read on Twitter

Looks like Bender played today. He played 19 minutes and put up 13/4/1/1 on 5/9 from field and 3/7 from 3. Didn't get to catch any of it, but not too bad of a stat line.

Bogyo · Post #524 » by **Bogyo** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 7:03 am

darealjuice wrote:

Read on Twitter

Looks like Bender played today. He played 19 minutes and put up 13/4/1/1 on 5/9 from field and 3/7 from 3. Didn't get to catch any of it, but not too bad of a stat line.

Yeah, thats a nice line for a 19 year old playing in europe where seniority is even more important than the NBA.

My question is - for anyone, but mostly who are good at shooting - why isn't his 3 ball dropping more? I see him having a nice stroke, good rythm, no hitch in the shot, and the outcome is around 30% not 40% or over as it "should be" by the looks of it. I can't really put my finger on it and it's puzzling for me. I think if that shot went in more regularly he would be much better. More confidence to do other things, more playing time, etc...

Anyone?

Midnight_Suns · Post #525 » by **Midnight_Suns** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:32 pm

Bogyo wrote:
darealjuice wrote:

Read on Twitter

Looks like Bender played today. He played 19 minutes and put up 13/4/1/1 on 5/9 from field and 3/7 from 3. Didn't get to catch any of it, but not too bad of a stat line.

Yeah, thats a nice line for a 19 year old playing in europe where seniority is even more important than the NBA.

My question is - for anyone, but mostly who are good at shooting - why isn't his 3 ball dropping more? I see him having a nice stroke, good rythm, no hitch in the shot, and the outcome is around 30% not 40% or over as it "should be" by the looks of it. I can't really put my finger on it and it's puzzling for me. I think if that shot went in more regularly he would be much better. More confidence to do other things, more playing time, etc...

Anyone?

Too flat. Your margin of error is quite a bit smaller when the ball approaches the hoop from a small angle. Learning to arc your shot is probably harder when you're 7' tall but he really needs to work on it.

Bogyo · Post #526 » by **Bogyo** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 6:48 pm

Probably. It might be fooling me that he is so tall, and his release is so high becouse of that, that the shot does not "look" flat, when in reality it still is a bit more flat... Hopefully he picks that up this summer while training. It would do wonders for his all-round game, not just his shooting.

carey · Post #527 » by **carey** » Sat Aug 26, 2017 3:45 pm

jcsunsfan wrote:I would trade Booker for Doncic without much hesitation. Doncic has a complete game. Booker has some significant holes in his game.

Bender is interesting. He really puts out effort in d. All the fouls are concerning. Have to wonder how he is being coached in these games. Is he being instructed to play shut down d no matter the foul cost? The thing about Bender when you watch him is that you can see the potential and it is not far away. It's right there, just under the surface.

Sorry to reply to an old post, but.. you'd trade Booker for a kid who hasn't stepped on an NBA court yet? That's... something.

Anyway, I'm just as curious about you. I can imagine Bender on the Spurs turning into an absolute beast due to proper coaching.

SSOL · Post #528 » by **SSOL** » Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:27 pm

Bender just doesn't have it. Sorry guys.

Stix · Post #529 » by **Stix** » Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:37 pm

SSOL wrote:Bender just doesn't have it. Sorry guys.

He is 19.

darealjuice · Post #530 » by **darealjuice** » Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:39 pm

Zero Tolerance wrote:
SSOL wrote:Bender just doesn't have it. Sorry guys.

He is 19.

Nah his career's over just accept it

ImNotMcDiSwear · Post #531 » by **ImNotMcDiSwear** » Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:59 pm

darealjuice wrote:
Zero Tolerance wrote:
SSOL wrote:Bender just doesn't have it. Sorry guys.

He is 19.

Nah his career's over just accept it

What's weird is that it appears Dragan's core strength at this early stage of his career is his ability to put up 3FGAs in bulk at a decent clip while also avoiding turnovers - that is, his core talent seems to be for scoring. Not a strong rebounder. Makes sense, I guess, when you consider that his idol was Toni Kukoc.

Thespianoid · Post #532 » by **Thespianoid** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:32 am

cosmofizzo wrote:
darealjuice wrote:
Zero Tolerance wrote:
He is 19.

Nah his career's over just accept it

What's weird is that it appears Dragan's core strength at this early stage of his career is his ability to put up 3FGAs in bulk at a decent clip while also avoiding turnovers - that is, his core talent seems to be for scoring. Not a strong rebounder. Makes sense, I guess, when you consider that his idol was Toni Kukoc.

I'd argue that's actually a weakness. He puts up too many possession ending 3PTA in favor of higher percentage decisions that keep the possession alive and, more importantly, make use of his strengths. He looked so much better in SL when he didn't settle for the first option of putting up a shot, and instead was patient, read the defense, and attacked their closeouts.

IMO his core strength (really, only offensive strength at this stage) is his passing/vision, but from an X's/O's perspective he's rarely put in a position to take advantage of it. Not enough half court elbow/horns touches, and has to find some confidence to grab and go with more regularity. Right now he's a defender/passer with flashes of floor spacer potential, but is only used as a floor spacer.

Post #533 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:08 pm

Zero Tolerance wrote:
SSOL wrote:Bender just doesn't have it. Sorry guys.

He is 19.

Hopefully they don't give up on him after a little more than a half season as the youngest guy in the NBA, adjusting to a new country, court, rules, etc.

maRioGrande · Post #534 » by **maRioGrande** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:54 pm

Dragan gave an interview to Croatian media few days ago, I'll post parts that you may find interesting.

He said that he likes to play offense more in Europe than in NBA because in Europe there is more team play and they share the ball more while in NBA the offense is more based on individual talent.

He also said that he is in process of developing interior game and he is glad that he is in team with Šarić who likes to play in post and understands that position very well. Would like to be versatile as his idol Toni Kukoč and make small things that make his teammates better.

He would like to have ball more at the top of the key as he thinks he has good court vision and could share good passes to teammates bringing them in good position to score. He would like to play p'n'r with centers since that's a situation that most bigs are not used to defend.

You can find whole interview here, google translates it pretty well, maybe better than me.

https://www.vecernji.hr/sport/dragan-bender-uzivam-i-ucim-uz-sarica-1190584

I would also like to post video of Kukoč which I like the most, it would be tremendous if Dragan could become offensive player like "The Waiter".

Watch on YouTube

Saberestar · Post #535 » by **Saberestar** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:32 pm

There is a big difference between Dragan and young Kukoc.

Dragan needs to improve his ball handling A LOT to create offense. He does not project to be a good one at this point.

Kukoc was a terrific ball handler for his size (around 6'10-6'11) since his Jugoplastika's days. He was the european Magic.

And Dragan is a couple inches taller than Kukoc at least, so that is not gonna help in that regard.

We will see how he plays at the Eurobasket, hopefully he shows improvement like in the last couple of games from Summer League. He played great in those games.

maRioGrande · Post #536 » by **maRioGrande** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:59 pm

Saberestar wrote:There is a big difference between Dragan and young Kukoc.

Dragan needs to improve his ball handling A LOT to create offense. He does not project to be a good one at this point.

Kukoc was a terrific ball handler for his size (around 6'10-6'11) since his Jugoplastica's days. He was the european Magic.

And Dragan is a couple inches taller than Kukoc at least, so that is not gonna help in that regard.

We will see how he plays at the Eurobasket, hopefully he shows improvement like in the last couple of games from Summer League. He played great in those games.

I agree with all you wrote, was thinking more about passing ability and court vision than ball handling since he's never gonna be as good as Kukoč. But I do think he can be above average ball handler for a player his height.

And as much as I would love to see him in extended role on Eurobasket, I don't expect that to happen. He will probably wait in the corner and shot threes since there is not any system in our offense, just bring the ball to Šarić or Bogdanović and wait for them to do something. Maybe in games against Romania or Hungary who are weak teams he will get the ball more. I hope I'm wrong but don't get too hyped.

Bogyo · Post #537 » by **Bogyo** » Fri Sep 1, 2017 6:35 am

Dragan will be playing against my (pretty lame) team today, 14:00 CET. I'll watch and write about it - if there is anything to write about.

Bogyo · Post #538 » by **Bogyo** » Fri Sep 1, 2017 1:43 pm

Nothing to see. He did not get too much playing time, as game was much closer for most of the time than it was anticipated.
He moved OK in limited minutes and missed a corner 3 - becouse the shot was too flat.

realEAST · Post #539 » by **realEAST** » Fri Sep 1, 2017 2:23 pm

Bogyo wrote:Nothing to see. He did not get too much playing time, as game was much closer for most of the time than it was anticipated.
He moved OK in limited minutes and missed a corner 3 - becouse the shot was too flat.

Hey, I hope you don't mind me burging in like this, but just wanted to add that he was on the floor for the whole 4th quarter, and his good penetration defense is big part of the reason why Croatia allowed only 3 points in first 9 mins of the last quarter, which basically won them the game.

On off he was mostly invisible, but Croatian offense was completely out of flow today, they rely too much on Saric and Bogdanovic individually.

maRioGrande · Post #540 » by **maRioGrande** » Fri Sep 1, 2017 2:32 pm

Just as I expected, he wasn't involved in offense. I remember one missed 3-pt and thats about it.

On a bright side, he played great defense in fourth quarter on C spot, when we finally made a difference. If our coach has anything in his head (probably not), he will be starting center in the next game tommorow.

Would you bring back Bender?