Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

[Villalobos]

His potential still excites me, and I feel like where ever we land in this draft I'll still be excited to see the growth of Bender, along with Chriss/Ulis/Booker/Jones Jr/Warren.

Yeah, the biggest regret of the season for me is that he did not get more playing time for whatever reason and injury afterwards.
I always felt that some of Queese's minutes should have gone to him, becouse as much I loved him attack the rim, we could have used a bit better D and some more clever passing. Oh well, maybe next year.

The reason is very simple, Bender is a bad basketball player right now. When you watch him and DJJ play or compare their stats it's hard to tell which one of them was the #4 pick and which one was undrafted.

They're both bad players right now, because they're raw 19 year olds. Derrick Jones can't do anything except dunk and defend a little bit. He has an amazing FG% and half-decent PER because 95% of his attempted offense has been Ulis throwing him lobs.

And your point doesn't check out anyway. Chriss was absolutely terrible for 3/4s of the season (also a raw 19 year old) and he was the permanent starter and got plenty of playing time despite that.

[gaspar]

Yeah, the biggest regret of the season for me is that he did not get more playing time for whatever reason and injury afterwards.
I always felt that some of Queese's minutes should have gone to him, becouse as much I loved him attack the rim, we could have used a bit better D and some more clever passing. Oh well, maybe next year.

The reason is very simple, Bender is a bad basketball player right now. When you watch him and DJJ play or compare their stats it's hard to tell which one of them was the #4 pick and which one was undrafted.

They're both bad players right now, because they're raw 19 year olds. Derrick Jones can't do anything except dunk and defend a little bit. He has an amazing FG% and half-decent PER because 95% of his attempted offense has been Ulis throwing him lobs.

And your point doesn't check out anyway. Chriss was absolutely terrible for 3/4s of the season (also a raw 19 year old) and he was the permanent starter and got plenty of playing time despite that.

No, he wasn't. Chriss always was MUCH better than Bender.

[bwgood77]

The reason is very simple, Bender is a bad basketball player right now. When you watch him and DJJ play or compare their stats it's hard to tell which one of them was the #4 pick and which one was undrafted.

They're both bad players right now, because they're raw 19 year olds. Derrick Jones can't do anything except dunk and defend a little bit. He has an amazing FG% and half-decent PER because 95% of his attempted offense has been Ulis throwing him lobs.

And your point doesn't check out anyway. Chriss was absolutely terrible for 3/4s of the season (also a raw 19 year old) and he was the permanent starter and got plenty of playing time despite that.

No, he wasn't. Chriss always was MUCH better than Bender.

But if you look nba.com, and at off rtg, def rtg, net rtg, Bender was clearly better defensively (106.4 drtg compared to Chriss' team worst 113.1) and offensively better as well (105.2 vs 102.6). Net rtg of -1.2 for Bender and -10.5 for Chriss. http://on.nba.com/2kf65L8

But if you want to use b-ref, I guess that's fine, but there are several reasons by those numbers, which are not necessarily all that telling, but obviously Bender had a tougher time adjusting. Not only the adjustment to a new country, court, 3 pt line, etc, but not playing with starters, playing with Knight, doing a lot of ball watching, playing out of position, and the list goes on.

But truthfully, the advanced numbers tell the story unless you are just relying on simple raw stats, but I was thinking you felt looking at nba.com was clearly the superior way to go.

[sunsbum]

I think you can add in this is the most playing time he's ever gotten on a professional level.

[Steve Nashidis]

You saw the last night the duel Bender vs Papagiannis ?? If not you have now and then remember what i told you about the bust pick of Bender and the big opportunity at #13.
Kisses .

Bender 5 points 2 asts 5 rebs
Papagiannis 13 points , 1 blk, 7 rebs , 1 asst

[bhawk]

You saw the last night the duel Bender vs Papagiannis ?? If not you have now and then remember what i told you about the bust pick of Bender and the big opportunity at #13.
Kisses .

Bender 5 points 2 asts 5 rebs
Papagiannis 13 points , 1 blk, 7 rebs , 1 asst

You don't see Papa guarding the perimeter. Bender is more fluid and naturally athletic. Papa is a bruising center... like Len?

[ATTL]

Is there some feud between Greece and Croatia I'm not aware of?

[Qwigglez]

Too bad Papagiannis looks like a baby giraffe ready to fight with that long neck. That head twitch/roll got em looking like an idiot. I thought dinosaurs were extinct, Papagiannis could try out for a velociraptor on the next Jurassic World movie.
They didn't even show the play right before on the opposite end of the court where Bender made an And-1 layup on soft telletubby Papagiannis that probably fueled this altercation.

[kennydorglas]

You saw the last night the duel Bender vs Papagiannis ?? If not you have now and then remember what i told you about the bust pick of Bender and the big opportunity at #13.
Kisses .

Bender 5 points 2 asts 5 rebs
Papagiannis 13 points , 1 blk, 7 rebs , 1 asst

thanks for the laugh hahahaha

[gaspar]

They're both bad players right now, because they're raw 19 year olds. Derrick Jones can't do anything except dunk and defend a little bit. He has an amazing FG% and half-decent PER because 95% of his attempted offense has been Ulis throwing him lobs.

And your point doesn't check out anyway. Chriss was absolutely terrible for 3/4s of the season (also a raw 19 year old) and he was the permanent starter and got plenty of playing time despite that.

No, he wasn't. Chriss always was MUCH better than Bender.

But if you look nba.com, and at off rtg, def rtg, net rtg, Bender was clearly better defensively (106.4 drtg compared to Chriss' team worst 113.1) and offensively better as well (105.2 vs 102.6). Net rtg of -1.2 for Bender and -10.5 for Chriss. http://on.nba.com/2kf65L8

But if you want to use b-ref, I guess that's fine, but there are several reasons by those numbers, which are not necessarily all that telling, but obviously Bender had a tougher time adjusting. Not only the adjustment to a new country, court, 3 pt line, etc, but not playing with starters, playing with Knight, doing a lot of ball watching, playing out of position, and the list goes on.

But truthfully, the advanced numbers tell the story unless you are just relying on simple raw stats, but I was thinking you felt looking at nba.com was clearly the superior way to go.

Advanced stats is the last thing I would look at when evaluating such young players (especially in such a small sample size). I know what I've seen on the court. Chriss outplayed Bender through the Summer League, preseason and the regular season. Quese deserved those minutes.

[bwgood77]

No, he wasn't. Chriss always was MUCH better than Bender.

But if you look nba.com, and at off rtg, def rtg, net rtg, Bender was clearly better defensively (106.4 drtg compared to Chriss' team worst 113.1) and offensively better as well (105.2 vs 102.6). Net rtg of -1.2 for Bender and -10.5 for Chriss. http://on.nba.com/2kf65L8

But if you want to use b-ref, I guess that's fine, but there are several reasons by those numbers, which are not necessarily all that telling, but obviously Bender had a tougher time adjusting. Not only the adjustment to a new country, court, 3 pt line, etc, but not playing with starters, playing with Knight, doing a lot of ball watching, playing out of position, and the list goes on.

But truthfully, the advanced numbers tell the story unless you are just relying on simple raw stats, but I was thinking you felt looking at nba.com was clearly the superior way to go.

Advanced stats is the last thing I would look at when evaluating such young players (especially in such a small sample size). I know what I've seen on the court. Chriss outplayed Bender through the Summer League, preseason and the regular season. Quese deserved those minutes.

That's a fine opinion, and I think most probably agree. Chriss has certainly been flashier and had bigger games. Since you started bringing up stats here

The reason is very simple, Bender is a bad basketball player right now. When you watch him and DJJ play or compare their stats it's hard to tell which one of them was the #4 pick and which one was undrafted.

I wanted to take another look. I like them both and think they have different strengths. I think Bender didn't quite get the opportunities and he probably wasn't ready to get thrown in the starting lineup earlier, but Chriss may have not been either. But I think if roles are reversed, Bender likely would have grown more and shown more to anyone's eye test just like Chriss was able to do.

[sunsbum]

I still love the bender pick, you can see he's oozing with talent and quite frankly exactly what this team needs. I gave alex 4 years, bender should get the same treatment although I think bender will start to come alive sometime after the allstar break next year if he gets some healthy time on the court.

[LukasBMW]

Bender has improved more in one injury limited season then Alex has in 4 years.

Papa and Skal aren't bad and have potential. I'd take either of them, BUT I'd rather have Chriss and Bender.

Chriss
Bender
Skal
Papa

Is my revised draft order.

Skal would actually have been a perfect true center for us. Wish we could have send another pick instead of that 28th pick. But who knew a guy being called a "potential #1 pick" would fall that far.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I still love the bender pick, you can see he's oozing with talent and quite frankly exactly what this team needs. I gave alex 4 years, bender should get the same treatment although I think bender will start to come alive sometime after the allstar break next year if he gets some healthy time on the court.

What's surprised me most about Bender is his apparent scoring potential. He's clearly focused on being a great jumpshooter. He's not making a high percentage in his first year. But if he grows and starts to knock down those shots with regularity, we're talking about a 20+ PPG player. I didn't think Bender had the potential before the season. I do now.

It's his quickness - the ability to get the shot up quickly, and the ability to make passes with accuracy quickly - that sets him apart. His thinking - the way he instinctively fills in space on defense, projecting how his teammates will fit available space on offense - also.

Despite Quese's surprising season, I still have Bender ahead of him. I love them both. It'll be interesting to see what they turn into, and whether they work best together with a center or a small forward in the future.

[jcsunsfan]

I still love the bender pick, you can see he's oozing with talent and quite frankly exactly what this team needs. I gave alex 4 years, bender should get the same treatment although I think bender will start to come alive sometime after the allstar break next year if he gets some healthy time on the court.

What's surprised me most about Bender is his apparent scoring potential. He's clearly focused on being a great jumpshooter. He's not making a high percentage in his first year. But if he grows and starts to knock down those shots with regularity, we're talking about a 20+ PPG player. I didn't think Bender had the potential before the season. I do now.

It's his quickness - the ability to get the shot up quickly, and the ability to make passes with accuracy quickly - that sets him apart. His thinking - the way he instinctively fills in space on defense, projecting how his teammates will fit available space on offense - also.

Despite Quese's surprising season, I still have Bender ahead of him. I love them both. It'll be interesting to see what they turn into, and whether they work best together with a center or a small forward in the future.

I had Bender ahead of Chriss in my mind going into the season, and even up to the all-star break, but Chriss' recent improvement has changed that. Bender is interesting. I can see him as a 3 and and a stretch 5. I suppose I can see him being effective in all three front court positions. So the idea of playing Bender and Chriss together has merit. Even a front court of Bender, Chriss, and TJ is workable if they can improve their rebounding.

[NTB]

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[Qwigglez]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

I know these are small sample sizes, but Bender has shown glimpses of his passing and defensive potential. He can truly be the perfect spread 4/5 in the modern NBA.

[MrMiyagi]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

I know these are small sample sizes, but Bender has shown glimpses of his passing and defensive potential. He can truly be the perfect spread 4/5 in the modern NBA.

This has got me excited about Bender. I'm not going to pin a stat line on the guy (especially an unrealistic one), but he can do some of everything. It'll be interesting to see him get serious minutes next season, especially with the drive he has. You could tell in that interview that he wished he could've been playing that whole last part of the season.

[sunsbum]

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Yo, take a look at that move @ 45 seconds into the clip. The way he surveys, Jabs, ball fakes. If alex len were to do that same play it would look like a robot running a program with no deviation off the path no matter what the defender does, where as Bender is making those moves because his defender responded to each move, you can literally see him processing the next step based off what the defender is doing. Very high IQ. That gets me excited, in that instance the game had slowed down for him.

[Qwigglez]

Watch on YouTube

One of the best looking 3 balls for a 7 footer I've seen. Definitely has a high arc and a quick release. Can't wait for him to channel his inner Peja Stojakovic and just drill threes automatically.