Dragan Bender - 97 born Croatian prospect

Kevin Willis · Post #161 » by **Kevin Willis** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:21 pm

I can see Kirilenko in his game for sure. Andrei was more athletic, aggressive and about 3-4 inches shorter but Kirilenko was a great defender, rebounder, decent ball handler, etc. There are a lot of similarities.

Mirotic12 · Post #162 » by **Mirotic12** » Sun Dec 27, 2015 5:14 pm

Kevin Willis wrote:I can see Kirilenko in his game for sure. Andrei was more athletic, aggressive and about 3-4 inches shorter but Kirilenko was a great defender, rebounder, decent ball handler, etc. There are a lot of similarities.

He is nowhere as skilled, athletic, nor smooth of a player as Kirilenko was. He is a better shooter than Kirilenko, and while he's a good defender, it's size based defense, not just being able to make a defensive play in any way like Kirilenko would do.

The two players are very far away from each other, and this is like the laziest just compare any white European player NBA liked to any other European player NBA liked. It's at the level of Draftexpress.com or NBADraft.net comparisons, or even worse.

And on the height difference, Kirilenko had draft measurements of 6-10 in shoes (he was listed by height without shoes by the NBA) and 7-6 wingspan. Bender supposedly has a measurement of 7-1 in shoes, but a 7-2 wingspan. So Bender might be 3 inches taller than Kirilenko, but that 7-6 wingspan Kirilenko had made him a completely unique kind of player for a 3/4.

Kevin Willis · Post #163 » by **Kevin Willis** » Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:47 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:
Kevin Willis wrote:I can see Kirilenko in his game for sure. Andrei was more athletic, aggressive and about 3-4 inches shorter but Kirilenko was a great defender, rebounder, decent ball handler, etc. There are a lot of similarities.

He is nowhere as skilled, athletic, nor smooth of a player as Kirilenko was. He is a better shooter than Kirilenko, and while he's a good defender, it's size based defense, not just being able to make a defensive play in any way like Kirilenko would do.

The two players are very far away from each other, and this is like the laziest just compare any white European player NBA liked to any other European player NBA liked. It's at the level of Draftexpress.com or NBADraft.net comparisons, or even worse.

And on the height difference, Kirilenko had draft measurements of 6-10 in shoes (he was listed by height without shoes by the NBA) and 7-6 wingspan. Bender supposedly has a measurement of 7-1 in shoes, but a 7-2 wingspan. So Bender might be 3 inches taller than Kirilenko, but that 7-6 wingspan Kirilenko had made him a completely unique kind of player for a 3/4.

I did say Andrei was more athletic and aggressive with a difference in height. I originally had Noah as 7 footer who rebounds, passes, handles the ball and can defend. Choker mentioned Draymond Green who is also a multi-faceted big, but shorter. I still like Noah - with a jumpshot - and I think Porzingis is a lazy comparison. Very different players.

Granted I last saw him play when he was 16 so his game may have evolved.

Mirotic12 · Post #164 » by **Mirotic12** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:21 am

Kevin Willis wrote:
Mirotic12 wrote:
Kevin Willis wrote:I can see Kirilenko in his game for sure. Andrei was more athletic, aggressive and about 3-4 inches shorter but Kirilenko was a great defender, rebounder, decent ball handler, etc. There are a lot of similarities.

He is nowhere as skilled, athletic, nor smooth of a player as Kirilenko was. He is a better shooter than Kirilenko, and while he's a good defender, it's size based defense, not just being able to make a defensive play in any way like Kirilenko would do.

The two players are very far away from each other, and this is like the laziest just compare any white European player NBA liked to any other European player NBA liked. It's at the level of Draftexpress.com or NBADraft.net comparisons, or even worse.

And on the height difference, Kirilenko had draft measurements of 6-10 in shoes (he was listed by height without shoes by the NBA) and 7-6 wingspan. Bender supposedly has a measurement of 7-1 in shoes, but a 7-2 wingspan. So Bender might be 3 inches taller than Kirilenko, but that 7-6 wingspan Kirilenko had made him a completely unique kind of player for a 3/4.

I did say Andrei was more athletic and aggressive with a difference in height. I originally had Noah as 7 footer who rebounds, passes, handles the ball and can defend. Choker mentioned Draymond Green who is also a multi-faceted big, but shorter. I still like Noah - with a jumpshot - and I think Porzingis is a lazy comparison. Very different players.

Granted I last saw him play when he was 16 so his game may have evolved.

I see zero similarity between Noah and Bender, other than like body type. Aside from a similar body type, I can't think of anything similar about those two players.

Personally, I think Bender is way more gifted and talented than someone like Noah is. However, before Noah had physical problems, he had a superb motor, which Bender definitely does not have. In fact, both Noah and Kirilenko had much better motors than Bender.

As far as the Draymond Green comparison..quite frankly, that's just absolutely perplexing and baffling to me. Draymond Greene is one of the last players I would ever imagine to compare to Bender.

Kabookalu · Post #165 » by **Kabookalu** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:35 am

Mirotic12 wrote:
Kevin Willis wrote:
Mirotic12 wrote:
He is nowhere as skilled, athletic, nor smooth of a player as Kirilenko was. He is a better shooter than Kirilenko, and while he's a good defender, it's size based defense, not just being able to make a defensive play in any way like Kirilenko would do.

The two players are very far away from each other, and this is like the laziest just compare any white European player NBA liked to any other European player NBA liked. It's at the level of Draftexpress.com or NBADraft.net comparisons, or even worse.

And on the height difference, Kirilenko had draft measurements of 6-10 in shoes (he was listed by height without shoes by the NBA) and 7-6 wingspan. Bender supposedly has a measurement of 7-1 in shoes, but a 7-2 wingspan. So Bender might be 3 inches taller than Kirilenko, but that 7-6 wingspan Kirilenko had made him a completely unique kind of player for a 3/4.

I did say Andrei was more athletic and aggressive with a difference in height. I originally had Noah as 7 footer who rebounds, passes, handles the ball and can defend. Choker mentioned Draymond Green who is also a multi-faceted big, but shorter. I still like Noah - with a jumpshot - and I think Porzingis is a lazy comparison. Very different players.

Granted I last saw him play when he was 16 so his game may have evolved.

I see zero similarity between Noah and Bender, other than like body type. Aside from a similar body type, I can't think of anything similar about those two players.

Personally, I think Bender is way more gifted and talented than someone like Noah is. However, before Noah had physical problems, he had a superb motor, which Bender definitely does not have. In fact, both Noah and Kirilenko had much better motors than Bender.

As far as the Draymond Green comparison..quite frankly, that's just absolutely perplexing and baffling to me. Draymond Greene is one of the last players I would ever imagine to compare to Bender.

For one, you're underrating Noah's skills. He may not be skilled in the way that most players are skilled, but he's exceptionally fundamentally sound and is the second best passing big man this side of Draymond Green. He has every passing skill in the book. He may not be a skilled scorer or shooter, but he's skilled everywhere else.

And two, no comparison is going to ever be spot on. I chose Draymond Green because the way I see Bender, he projects to be a similar player as far as impact goes. Green is highly skilled and plays like a guard, but he can also go big if needed and bang in the post. Same with Bender. He also guards like a guard the way he can switch on anyone and defend the pick and roll. Same as Bender. Ultimately they're going to be much different players, but I can see Bender affecting the game the same way Green does. Green has a tremendous impact for the Warriors because he's a power forward that facilitate like a point guard. Bender has the perimeter skills and the court vision to do the same.

Dr Positivity · Post #166 » by **Dr Positivity** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 7:28 pm

How about Hedo Turkoglu?

Stackey · Post #167 » by **Stackey** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:07 pm

If people can compare him with a Noah or Turkoglu, then I will go with Nate Robinson. Close enough.

Dr Positivity · Post #168 » by **Dr Positivity** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:13 am

Might not be perfect but Bender is playing far more like a SG than C I believe. He is at 5.4 rebounds per 40 minutes and 40% of his shots are 3pters. His role in the NBA could be a SF who shoots 3s and has unusual point forward skills

Dcebucks11 · Post #169 » by **Dcebucks11** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:29 am

Looks like a 4 to me...

Mirotic12 · Post #170 » by **Mirotic12** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:49 am

Dr Positivity wrote:Might not be perfect but Bender is playing far more like a SG than C I believe. He is at 5.4 rebounds per 40 minutes and 40% of his shots are 3pters. His role in the NBA could be a SF who shoots 3s and has unusual point forward skills

He is miles away from a Hedo type player. And I can assure you he is never going to be a 2 or 3 in either Euroleague or NBA. He does not have any point forward skills either. I can say for sure that he is not going to be a point forward in Euroleague or NBA.

No-Man · Post #171 » by **No-Man** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:47 pm

For me he looks a lot like Kawhi but just way bigger, thats why a Kirilenko-Gasol is accurate.

Mirotic12 · Post #172 » by **Mirotic12** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:57 pm

Fischella wrote:For me he looks a lot like Kawhi but just way bigger, thats why a Kirilenko-Gasol is accurate.

Well, he's way more similar to Gasol than players people keep mentioning here, including Kirilenko. There is very little comparison at all to Kirilenko.

As for comparing him with Gasol, I think he's definitely more athletic than Gasol, and he's a better shooter also. However, Gasol is so superior in offensive ability, skills, low post, high post, face up game, scoring ability, that it still seems like a very strange comparison to me.

pohani komarac · Post #173 » by **pohani komarac** » Sun Jan 3, 2016 3:33 pm

16pts in last game. last 3 games he has 13,6 pts per game. hope he continiue to get minutes

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhptCr47uA&app=desktop[/youtube]

thr3ep01nte4 · Post #174 » by **thr3ep01nte4** » Sun Jan 3, 2016 3:37 pm

The Spurs are interested

https://twitter.com/IAmDPick/status/682665588636938241

Stackey · Post #175 » by **Stackey** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 2:23 pm

For one sports magazine in Croatia, Toni Kukoc mentioned Bender couple of times. When the reporter asked him should Saric and Hezonja become leaders of the new, rejuvenated Croatian team, his response was like this: "Yea, they're good. But the player I really like is Dragan Bender. I think we should immediately join him to the national team." Next question was what is that he really likes about this kid that some people call "new Kukoc", and this was his full answer: " He should concentrate on becoming best possible Bender, and society should not put pressure on him with those comparisons. Those type of things destroy young players, when you demand of them to play on the way as somebody else did. I'm impressed with his defense, his mobility, and as just 18 years old, he already understands the team defense. He's fast, athletic, mobile. But, I don't want to say that he is already a complete player. He must work on his shooting a lot, on his back to the basket game, I see him as a small forward capable of playing in the post."

drone3 · Post #176 » by **drone3** » Fri Jan 8, 2016 12:42 am

Quick eye test, reminds me of Zingis

jbent87 · Post #177 » by **jbent87** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:41 pm

Give me Saric all day over this dude. At least Saric shows some creativity in the point forward role. What does this guy do other than spot up and shoot? Taking him as high as 3rd overall bc of that? No chance.

Johnny Firpo · Post #178 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:48 pm

Dr Positivity wrote:Might not be perfect but Bender is playing far more like a SG than C I believe. He is at 5.4 rebounds per 40 minutes and 40% of his shots are 3pters. His role in the NBA could be a SF who shoots 3s and has unusual point forward skills

A 7'1 small forward? That's a good one. Of course he is going to be a power forward, he actually already has the body for it in today's NBA. There are no bruisers at that position anymore.

Johnny Firpo · Post #179 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:49 pm

drone3 wrote:Quick eye test, reminds me of Zingis

He is not as athletic and doesn't have the defensive instincts that Kristaps has. I would say he is more like a taller, more athletic Ryan Anderson or Tim Thomas if you have the lazy white-white comparisons.

Johnny Firpo · Post #180 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:51 pm

jbent87 wrote:Give me Saric all day over this dude. At least Saric shows some creativity in the point forward role. What does this guy do other than spot up and shoot? Taking him as high as 3rd overall bc of that? No chance.

Saric is miles better right now but Bender could catch up one day. He is an excellent prospect, I would probably draft him around the 4th-5th spot, maybe even higher.