Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

[Revived]

Bender reminds me of Dragic when Dragic was first here. He has issues with confidence but he has the actual skill set and high basketball IQ (which is the hardest thing to teach).

Once Bender gains that confidence (like Dragic eventually did), this kid will be special. I think he can have a role similar to that of Lamar Odom during his prime years with the Lakers.

[Fo-Real]

I really hope the orginazation did something really cool before the game for his birthday and I hope after the win his teammates celebrated with him. Would go a long way toward team togetherness and bonding.

[NTB]

Is it just me or Bender has bulked up? Maybe it is the purple jersey

[STEV13]

Read on Twitter

Seems like it. He’s vocal on Twitter, and he interacts with fans too

Woops didnt notice that this was already posted on the game thread.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Biggest complaint about Bender is that he isn't as aggressive as he should be, doesn't look like he's playing hard too much of the time. I hope it's temporary.

[NTB]

Read on Twitter

Bender at 7

[bobbeaver]

Im really glad he has improved alot since last year in certain aspects of the game. His 3pt% has gone way up (currently 36.5% from last years 31 %) and his outside off ball movement has improved. But this out in instead of in out learning of the game im not sure its the best for him. I think makeing him play the inside game more and makeing him battle (and teaching him post ups ofc) will both get him used to the physicality and toughen him up make him be more agressive. So he is not scared to drive to the hoop later on with force through contact or act as a slasher. He settles for 3s far to often or passes opportunities to drive. Not only that but he could be a (very) good facilitator down low. Right now he is not part of creating the offense. That part is not being nurtured while he is young. Sure he is still developing his body but teach him (force him) to get used to the contact while he is young.

[bwgood77]

After a difficult rookie season in 2016-17, Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender has improved in his second year. In his past nine games, he's made 15-of-29 shots from behind the 3-point line. Will interim head coach Jay Triano consider promoting Bender to the first unit to help improve the spacing on offense?

Rumor Central"I can't say I haven't thought about it," Triano told azcentral sports. "But I think he's been thriving in his role right now."

http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/rumors/post/_/id/46307/rumor-central-can-dragan-bender-earn-spot-in-starting-lineup

[bobbeaver]

ok i am officially worried about Bender. Its not the fact that he only relies on 3s during his games and is allergic to drives and contact (afraid?). Its the fact that he doesnt try anything at all new. He doesnt even crash the boards and he collects so few rebounds at 215cm height. in last few games he is just there. His stat sheet is empty. Granted his body is far from being developed and his age, but still he should put in the effort and fight and make mistakes so he can learn.

[jcsunsfan]

His play declined markedly when he started wearing that mask.

[Ettorefm]

Can we please stop pampering him and admit he's a bust?

How can a guy play 21 minutes and have a statline of 0-2 FG 2 points 3 rebounds? Enough about lack of opportunity, he's just garbage.

I get being young and still developing, but he has shown NOTHING. Two straight 3 pointers a few games ago or two nice passes we didn't expect is not enough.

Bender is on the clock. I'm already done with him, and it's not because it's been too long, because it hasn't. IT's because in two years I have seen nothing that makes me impressed with him.

MArkkanen is what Bender should've been. And it took him what, 3 or 4 games to show some balls and take over games like a real top 5 prospect?

It's either lack of skill or lack of balls (most probable). Either way, not interested. If being a highly touted prospect in a bad team with every opportunity to be a cornerstone player for the Suns is not enough to make him actually TRY on the court and get scrappy, I'm sorry but let's just move on from him and focus on other guys.

Chriss is not nearly as talented, but dude at least tries. He straight up gives everything on the court, even though he has tons of flaws, specially on defense.

[RaisingArizona]

What worries me is his drive. He doesn't play aggressive on the court.

[WeekapaugGroove]

ok i am officially worried about Bender. Its not the fact that he only relies on 3s during his games and is allergic to drives and contact (afraid?). Its the fact that he doesnt try anything at all new. He doesnt even crash the boards and he collects so few rebounds at 215cm height. in last few games he is just there. His stat sheet is empty. Granted his body is far from being developed and his age, but still he should put in the effort and fight and make mistakes so he can learn.

They rebounding is a concern especially since I think rebounding is much more an innate skill than something guys learn and get better at. Some dudes (like say Big Sauce) are just natural rebounders and some dudes aren't. Dragan falls in that second category. So if he's going to be a below average rebounder at the 4 he needs to reach his potential at other areas. While I don't think he'll ever be a great scorer he needs to hit 40% of his threes and develop some other offensive moves. I would like to see the Suns run a little high post action with him where they let him show off his passing ability and feel for the game. Defensively he's good and moves his feet as well as any big man so there is some foundation to build on but he needs to really hit on the area's he can improve.

[bobbeaver]

Can we please stop pampering him and admit he's a bust?

How can a guy play 21 minutes and have a statline of 0-2 FG 2 points 3 rebounds? Enough about lack of opportunity, he's just garbage.

I get being young and still developing, but he has shown NOTHING. Two straight 3 pointers a few games ago or two nice passes we didn't expect is not enough.

Bender is on the clock. I'm already done with him, and it's not because it's been too long, because it hasn't. IT's because in two years I have seen nothing that makes me impressed with him.

MArkkanen is what Bender should've been. And it took him what, 3 or 4 games to show some balls and take over games like a real top 5 prospect?

It's either lack of skill or lack of balls. Either way, not interested.

No hes not a bust not even close to that time yet. Nor skill i would say. Development of skills for inside positions varies and can come at later date, although he has shown flashes of the talent. I am doubting they at the Suns are even teaching him the inside game even. Its heart i think with him and what most i have a problem with. He plays scared. Plenty of possible reasons why. But despite of everything its like he is scared of getting hurt. Best show of it is the mask thing. why on earth would you wear it on a healthy face, just cause you got smacked once in the game. Yeah he still has a body of a teenage girl and that doesnt help, but he needs to be more fearless. Even if the coach tells him to play outside for now (outside in) you should still run in crash the boards or do drives even if you screw up. He is doing too many 3s. He should do everything he managed before when he showed some inside games.
But to say he is a bust, no not even close yet. He is to young for that. A freaking teenager. He has to mature. His body has to mature. He needs to toughen up and take charge. Being a team player doesnt mean being a wet rag on the floor. And he needs to be taught inside game aswell.
I will say he made a difference in his 3 pt pct , what coaches wanted of him the most. But he uses it far to often now. Thats why i said i dont like they are teaching him the game ouside in instead of equally. Or even inside out. The head issues and how you approach the game can be changed though. He is still a kid after all.

[bobbeaver]

ok i am officially worried about Bender. Its not the fact that he only relies on 3s during his games and is allergic to drives and contact (afraid?). Its the fact that he doesnt try anything at all new. He doesnt even crash the boards and he collects so few rebounds at 215cm height. in last few games he is just there. His stat sheet is empty. Granted his body is far from being developed and his age, but still he should put in the effort and fight and make mistakes so he can learn.

They rebounding is a concern especially since I think rebounding is much more an innate skill than something guys learn and get better at. Some dudes (like say Big Sauce) are just natural rebounders and some dudes aren't. Dragan falls in that second category. So if he's going to be a below average rebounder at the 4 he needs to reach his potential at other areas. While I don't think he'll ever be a great scorer he needs to hit 40% of his threes and develop some other offensive moves. I would like to see the Suns run a little high post action with him where they let him show off his passing ability and feel for the game. Defensively he's good and moves his feet as well as any big man so there is some foundation to build on but he needs to really hit on the area's he can improve.

You d be surprised that he was a good rebounded in juniors, even in Maccabi he fought for the ball. He does have it in him. i mean he is huge so even if its not innate he should be able to catch them. I honestly think he is scared to crash the boards and be down low around the much stronger guys. I dont get why. He started to drive and stuff. Than he got hit, got the mask and now... i dont know.
Has it got to do with the coaching or just him or mixture of a few things?

[Ettorefm]

Can we please stop pampering him and admit he's a bust?

How can a guy play 21 minutes and have a statline of 0-2 FG 2 points 3 rebounds? Enough about lack of opportunity, he's just garbage.

I get being young and still developing, but he has shown NOTHING. Two straight 3 pointers a few games ago or two nice passes we didn't expect is not enough.

Bender is on the clock. I'm already done with him, and it's not because it's been too long, because it hasn't. IT's because in two years I have seen nothing that makes me impressed with him.

MArkkanen is what Bender should've been. And it took him what, 3 or 4 games to show some balls and take over games like a real top 5 prospect?

It's either lack of skill or lack of balls. Either way, not interested.

No hes not a bust not even close to that time yet. Nor skill i would say. Development of skills for inside positions varies and can come at later date, although he has shown flashes of the talent. I am doubting they at the Suns are even teaching him the inside game even. Its heart i think with him and what most i have a problem with. He plays scared. Plenty of possible reasons why. But despite of everything its like he is scared of getting hurt. Best show of it is the mask thing. why on earth would you wear it on a healthy face, just cause you got smacked once in the game. Yeah he still has a body of a teenage girl and that doesnt help, but he needs to be more fearless. Even if the coach tells him to play outside for now (outside in) you should still run in crash the boards or do drives even if you screw up. He is doing too many 3s. He should do everything he managed before when he showed some inside games.
But to say he is a bust, no not even close yet. He is to young for that. A freaking teenager. He has to mature. His body has to mature. He needs to toughen up and take charge. Being a team player doesnt mean being a wet rag on the floor. And he needs to be taught inside game aswell.
I will say he made a difference in his 3 pt pct , what coaches wanted of him the most. But he uses it far to often now. Thats why i said i dont like they are teaching him the game ouside in instead of equally. Or even inside out. The head issues and how you approach the game can be changed though. He is still a kid after all.

This was the best "thanks for proving my point for me" post I've ever seen. So basically he has no heart, plays scared, isn't fearless, doesn't take chances, needs to toughen up and settles for 3 pt shots. This is the worst possible scenario for a prospect, even worse than being unskilled.

He doubts himself, has no balls, is always afraid of contact or big moments...why should we develop him again?

Dude, as I said, it has nothing to do with time. Of course he's just 20/21, we know that. Nobody is a finished product during their rookie scale contract. The thing is, even if the dude is bad, he has to show something so we have an incentive to develop him.

Heart? No. Scrappy? No. Bad rebounder. Lazy? All the time. Settles for jumpers.Won't drive. Bad motor. Doesn't like contact. Is scared of injuries. Soft as hell.

Just because he has a great BBIQ, passing and POSSIBLY a reliable 3pt shot (which I'm not convinced yet) we should be hopeful?

I'll take untalented, high motor scrubs over a dude with every single physical tool and skill with no heart.

Again, 20+ minutes with 2 shots and 2/3 rebounds, maybe 2 assists is laughable. He has every single opportunity to prove himself, nobody cares if he shoots 90 shots a game, as long as he develops. Booker always took risky shots and nobody ever criticized him for it, we understand that in a tanking team it's trial by fire.

It's amazing to see an average guy like Mike James give everything on the court and more even though he knows he'll never be anything special in the NBA and watch Bender pass open shots or open dunks because he's afraid someone might contest his shot and hit his pretty little face. Jeez...

Maybe he should talk to Jonathon Simmons or Brandon Paul on what it takes to become an NBA player. Bender probably takes if for granted.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

This is all an overreaction.

It's like if we're not ****ting on one 20 YO PF, we gotta **** on the other.

[Saberestar]

I am disappointed with his overall play as a Sun.

On his second season, after 27 games, he has shown some flashes here and there but he is invisible on the court for the majority of the time.

He plays soft and does not show that he is 7'1 at all. He just does not fight and does not play hard...I want to watch him around the rim fighting for rebounds for one time at least.

He can not dribble at the NBA level, and he can not post up. Has he ever shoot a mid range shot??

Hopefully he improves, but I am really bothered about his future.

[RaisingArizona]

This is all an overreaction.

It's like if we're not ****ting on one 20 YO PF, we gotta **** on the other.

I don't think it is, though. Will he ever give us more than 5 points a game? He is finally averaging a decent amount of minutes. Well at least he was until his recent play which has really dropped off.

[darealjuice]

Will he ever give us more than 5 points a game... lmao