Dragan Bender - 97 born Croatian prospect

UcanUwill · Post #341 » by **UcanUwill** » Sun May 22, 2016 6:22 pm

Motiejunas WITH a great shot, is a player worth top 4 pick. Motiejunas is one of those shooters who can't shoot players. His career 3PT percentages are like in 29-31% territory, all across the board. Hes not even a good FT shooter, but guy is a perimeter chucker, Pero Antic style.

Now, Bender is being called a great shooter, but is he? He is over 40% in Israeli league, which is promising, but all other leagues or FIBA tournaments I checked, his 3PT% is in bad Motiejunas territory.

Post #342 » by **Cactus Jack** » Sun May 22, 2016 6:27 pm

Novocaine wrote:
Cactus Jack wrote:
Patsfan1081 wrote:
And you came to this conclusion how? Weird that you know something that the tons of scouts getting paid to watch every second of this Kidd doent see. Anyone who thinks they have a clue on how some 18 year old kid is going to develope and end up is really difficult to take seriously. I guess it's easier to predict somone becoming a bust though.

His upside is Motiejunas imo. Not the same athlete as Porzingis. Players like Dunn, Murray, Hield are superior prospects.

Yeah, but he asked how did you arrive to that conclusion.

I just don't see anything special about him on film. He can shoot. Not enough of an athlete to be much more. His post game isn't great. Stretch Forward. Not star potential. Therefore, isn't worthy of being a top 5 pick.

HeartBreakKid · Post #343 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Sun May 22, 2016 8:15 pm

Cactus Jack wrote:
Novocaine wrote:
Cactus Jack wrote:His upside is Motiejunas imo. Not the same athlete as Porzingis. Players like Dunn, Murray, Hield are superior prospects.

Yeah, but he asked how did you arrive to that conclusion.

I just don't see anything special about him on film. He can shoot. Not enough of an athlete to be much more. His post game isn't great. Stretch Forward. Not star potential. Therefore, isn't worthy of being a top 5 pick.

He can also play defense and he's 7'1 - also can pass very well.

How is there no star power, but someone like Hield whos barely a 6'4 shooting guard that can only shoot is a superior prospect (and he's like 4 years older lol)?

Even if Bender became decent as opposed to amazing at the things he has the potential to be great at, that would probably be a low tier all-star caliber player.

The Prodigy · Post #344 » by **The Prodigy** » Mon May 23, 2016 2:36 am

RealGM is the most predictable place ever. Of course this thread is full of Boston fans talking up Bender when a couple of weeks ago I'm sure they hadn't even heard of him.

I bet if for some reason Ainge passes on him they'll switch to dumping on him and talking up whoever they draft instead.

With that said, the same thing can be said for every other team's fan base, including the Lakers'.

Cheers, Real GM.

brackdan70 · Post #345 » by **brackdan70** » Mon May 23, 2016 3:28 am

The Prodigy wrote:RealGM is the most predictable place ever. Of course this thread is full of Boston fans talking up Bender when a couple of weeks ago I'm sure they hadn't even heard of him.

I bet if for some reason Ainge passes on him they'll switch to dumping on him and talking up whoever they draft instead.

With that said, the same thing can be said for every other team's fan base, including the Lakers'.

Cheers, Real GM.

yeah, but whoever the Cs pick will clearly be the best player in the draft.

Leprechaun18 · Post #346 » by **Leprechaun18** » Mon May 23, 2016 3:51 pm

I am a Celtics fan. We should not take Bender at 3. He is a project. His idol is Toni Kukoc. His post defense is not good. Yes he is only 18, but potential isnt certainty. Fab Melo had potential.

Von Bismarck · Post #347 » by **Von Bismarck** » Mon May 23, 2016 4:00 pm

Leprechaun18 wrote:I am a Celtics fan. We should not take Bender at 3. He is a project. His idol is Toni Kukoc. His post defense is not good. Yes he is only 18, but potential isnt certainty. Fab Melo had potential.

I also agree you should definitely not take Bender. Not because all the things you said besides he's project, but because Suns would certainly develop him the right way.

p.s 7'1 Kukoc is an All-Star player. Hell, actual Toni would have been an All-Star at least once if he decided to go for being a number one option in weaker team.

maRioGrande · Post #348 » by **maRioGrande** » Mon May 23, 2016 4:07 pm

Leprechaun18 wrote:I am a Celtics fan. We should not take Bender at 3. He is a project. His idol is Toni Kukoc. His post defense is not good. Yes he is only 18, but potential isnt certainty. Fab Melo had potential.

18 year old Croatian has the best and most successfull european basketball player of 20th century who is also Croatian for his idol. Can you explain us where exactly do you see a problem?

maRioGrande · Post #349 » by **maRioGrande** » Mon May 23, 2016 4:11 pm

Von Bismarck wrote:
Leprechaun18 wrote:I am a Celtics fan. We should not take Bender at 3. He is a project. His idol is Toni Kukoc. His post defense is not good. Yes he is only 18, but potential isnt certainty. Fab Melo had potential.

I also agree you should definitely not take Bender. Not because all the things you said besides he's project, but because Suns would certainly develop him the right way.

p.s 7'1 Kukoc is an All-Star player. Hell, actual Toni would have been an All-Star at least once if he decided to go for being a number one option in weaker team.

18 year old Toni would be no 1 pick by far in this year competition.

Von Bismarck · Post #350 » by **Von Bismarck** » Mon May 23, 2016 4:21 pm

maRioGrande wrote:18 year old Toni would be no 1 pick by far in this year competition.

Fully agreed. People seem to forget Toni averaged roughly around 15-5-4 while being the 3rd option behind Jordan and Pippen. He could've easily averaged 20-7-7 on a weaker team.

HeartBreakKid · Post #351 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Mon May 23, 2016 5:47 pm

The Prodigy wrote:RealGM is the most predictable place ever. Of course this thread is full of Boston fans talking up Bender when a couple of weeks ago I'm sure they hadn't even heard of him.

I bet if for some reason Ainge passes on him they'll switch to dumping on him and talking up whoever they draft instead.

With that said, the same thing can be said for every other team's fan base, including the Lakers'.

Cheers, Real GM.

Wow, a Laker fan throwing shade to Celtic fandom, that's not stereotypical at all.

The Prodigy · Post #352 » by **The Prodigy** » Mon May 23, 2016 6:17 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:
The Prodigy wrote:RealGM is the most predictable place ever. Of course this thread is full of Boston fans talking up Bender when a couple of weeks ago I'm sure they hadn't even heard of him.

I bet if for some reason Ainge passes on him they'll switch to dumping on him and talking up whoever they draft instead.

With that said, the same thing can be said for every other team's fan base, including the Lakers'.

Cheers, Real GM.

Wow, a Laker fan throwing shade to Celtic fandom, that's not stereotypical at all.

My point was about RealGM overall but you have a point. I did throw shade at Laker fans too FWIW.

kobe808lak · Post #353 » by **kobe808lak** » Mon May 23, 2016 6:52 pm

Bender is a project you take at 10-12, not at 3.

Mustinjo · Post #354 » by **Mustinjo** » Mon May 23, 2016 7:43 pm

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/15676915/is-dragan-bender-next-kristaps-porzingis-nba

Novocaine · Post #355 » by **Novocaine** » Mon May 23, 2016 9:26 pm

UcanUwill wrote:Motiejunas WITH a great shot, is a player worth top 4 pick. Motiejunas is one of those shooters who can't shoot players. His career 3PT percentages are like in 29-31% territory, all across the board. Hes not even a good FT shooter, but guy is a perimeter chucker, Pero Antic style.

Now, Bender is being called a great shooter, but is he? He is over 40% in Israeli league, which is promising, but all other leagues or FIBA tournaments I checked, his 3PT% is in bad Motiejunas territory.

A great shooter compared to whom? NBA players? Of course not, I think a healthy and in form Motiejunas is a better shooter, not only from the 3 but easily from the midrange, which was always his range since he was 18/19.

There isn't much point to those comparisons though - I don't think there was a 7footer in history that was an even average NBA shooter at 17/18 years old.

Actually, that's a good term of comparison - how many of the current NBA big men who are quality shooters in the league were as good or better than Bender at the same age? I'm going to guess very, very few. Don't have time now to check it, but will try to compare some numbers later.

Dr Positivity · Post #356 » by **Dr Positivity** » Mon May 23, 2016 9:58 pm

Mustinjo wrote:http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/15676915/is-dragan-bender-next-kristaps-porzingis-nba

I have a lot of respect for Kevin Pelton but I'm confused by his system this year. Fred VanVleet is ranked #1 among NCAA players statistically and Bender rates as the top Euro of the last 6 years. Just based on VanVleet being a 22 year old playing for Wichita State and Bender only playing for real in an OK league (Israeli) and having a SSS of minutes, I don't know how either of those things are possible

Mustinjo · Post #357 » by **Mustinjo** » Mon May 23, 2016 10:24 pm

Dr Positivity wrote:
Mustinjo wrote:http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/15676915/is-dragan-bender-next-kristaps-porzingis-nba

I have a lot of respect for Kevin Pelton but I'm confused by his system this year. Fred VanVleet is ranked #1 among NCAA players statistically and Bender rates as the top Euro of the last 6 years. Just based on VanVleet being a 22 year old playing for Wichita State and Bender only playing for real in an OK league (Israeli) and having a SSS of minutes, I don't know how either of those things are possible

I almost sure he also used some of Benders stats from international competition.

Post #358 » by **NuggetsWY** » Tue May 24, 2016 2:36 pm

All this talk about Bender being a prospect makes me wonder: Which rookie in the draft isn't a prospect??? Literally taken, they are prospective NBA players and there have been more than a few top3 picks that didn't pan out as projected.

immortalone23 · Post #359 » by **immortalone23** » Tue May 24, 2016 2:51 pm

NuggetsWY wrote:All this talk about Bender being a prospect makes me wonder: Which rookie in the draft isn't a prospect??? Literally taken, they are prospective NBA players and there have been more than a few top3 picks that didn't pan out as projected.

Because people always gripe about players being "NBA-ready"

pohani komarac · Post #360 » by **pohani komarac** » Wed May 25, 2016 8:17 am

https://youtu.be/e33qvX9gEGQ