Game 45: Phoenix Suns (16-28) at Portland Trail Blazers (22-21), Tuesday, Jan 16, 8PM MST

[bwgood77]

I'm so sick of seeing Bender. This dude is the true definition of SOFT

What worries me is that he's mentally soft. He has no fire. I remember reading somewhere when he was drafted that he doesn't want to play C, even though he's a 7 footer. Said he doesn't like to bang inside the paint and be physical.

It does get frustrating because he shows so many good things, you just want him to do more. I was actually happier tonight than usual because he got some rebounds. It might be his career high.

I think it's most frustrating because it's fairly clear he is usually one of the smartest guys on the floor (for our team) and usually almost always our best team defender, so when he makes mistakes it stands out a lot, particularly since he isn't aggressive.

[Hesh]

I'm so sick of seeing Bender. This dude is the true definition of SOFT

What worries me is that he's mentally soft. He has no fire. I remember reading somewhere when he was drafted that he doesn't want to play C, even though he's a 7 footer. Said he doesn't like to bang inside the paint and be physical.

It does get frustrating because he shows so many good things, you just want him to do more. I was actually happier tonight than usual because he got some rebounds. It might be his career high.

I think it's most frustrating because it's fairly clear he is usually one of the smartest guys on the floor (for our team) and usually almost always our best team defender, so when he makes mistakes it stands out a lot, particularly since he isn't aggressive.

That's the reason why I'm willing to see if he can figure things out on his own. He has the smarts and his effort on the defensive end is there. I think he just lacks confidence. I wouldn't write off any player in their 2nd season. I was more worried about Chriss because a lack of IQ and fundamental skills is a lot more unredeemable but he's shown progress in a very positive way.

[jredsaz]

Booker with a good game, but Blazers team with a better game.

I think with Warren and Chriss we are a near equivelant squad.

[Frank Lee]

If y'all are bent on Bender coming off his man on that late three, watch that play again and you'll see he was the only one between the ball handler and the rim. Chandler was so F-n slow coming off the pick that Bender was caught in no mans land... he thwarted the drive but had to leave the dude open in the corner. Chandler moves like he has wooden legs.

nit picking

All in all, there is nothing wrong with Bender's game that 30-40 more games wont fix.

[Midnight_Suns]

I would trade Chandler for an order of warm nachos at this point. Veteren presence my ass.

[hollywood6964]

If y'all are bent on Bender coming off his man on that late three, watch that play again and you'll see he was the only one between the ball handler and the rim. Chandler was so F-n slow coming off the pick that Bender was caught in no mans land... he thwarted the drive but had to leave the dude open in the corner. Chandler moves like he has wooden legs.

nit picking

All in all, there is nothing wrong with Bender's game that 30-40 more games wont fix.

I actually kinda like Bender, despite being El softo.

Chandlers old. He can still rebound well most games, but Nurkic killed him tonight.

[Saberestar]

Not too much to say about this game. The Blazers scored the ball every time they wanted.

Booker does not give up, he is hungry.

Bender and Jackson with bad games.
Jackson was really good in the first quarter, after that he got obsessed with scoring the ball...and he is not good enough at this point to score efficiently.
He got benched for a good reason.

Bender does not produce, he needs to make things happen. He is passive and he reminds me of Diaw but without the ball handling, the post game and the solid screens.

Chandler is old...I do not want him here next season.

.

[Thespianoid]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

[Qwigglez]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

I agree if you put him around 3-4 scorers he's going to make an impact.

[garrick]

I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't have waived Ulis instead of Mike James...

[Saberestar]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

It is not only about being angry or agressive. It is about skillset IMO. He can't attack closeouts because his ball handling is horrible, we have seen it so many times. He doesn't try to put the ball on the floor anymore (just one time here or there) because it is so easy for his defender to steal him the ball or bother him enough.

He doesn't have ANY post move. It's ridiculous that a 7-1 player doesn't have any move around the rim...an up and under, an small hook....something. They can switch even a PG on him...doesn't matter. I haven't seen post moves from him even on Summer League.

And what about pull ups? Have you ever seen Bender shoot the ball after dribbling the ball? Or even attempting a mid range shot? That doesn't exist in his arsenal.

So many things to add to his game. And obviously to be more agressive on offense, defense and boards.

And he is not explosive. Not a little bit. He can not elevate, and that is a big problem to finish around the rim when you are not an strong guy.

I like his shooting ability and his basketball IQ on the court, but that is not enough in the NBA. He needs to improve his skillset this summer, is a must for him. If he doesn't improve all those areas...why he is gonna be considered a better prospect than players like TJ Leaf, for example?

He is our #4 pick...that status, opportunity and salary implies a big responsibility.

[garrick]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

It is not only about being angry or agressive. It is about skillset IMO. He can't attack closeouts because his ball handling is horrible, we have seen it so many times. He doesn't try to put the ball on the floor anymore (just one time here or there) because it is so easy for his defender to steal him the ball or bother him enough.

He doesn't have ANY post move. It's ridiculous that a 7-1 player doesn't have any move around the rim...an up and under, an small hook....something. They can switch even a PG on him...doesn't matter. I haven't seen post moves from him even on Summer League.

And what about pull ups? Have you ever seen Bender shoot the ball after dribbling the ball? Or even attempting a mid range shot? That doesn't exist in his arsenal.

So many things to add to his game. And obviously to be more agressive on offense, defense and boards.

And he is not explosive. Not a little bit. He can not elevate, and that is a big problem to finish around the rim when you are not an strong guy.

I like his shooting ability and his basketball IQ on the court, but that is not enough in the NBA. He needs to improve his skillset this summer, is a must for him. If he doesn't improve all those areas...why he is gonna be considered a better prospect than players like TJ Leaf, for example?

He is our #4 pick...that status, opportunity and salary implies a big responsibility.

He lacks strength so he really can't finish near the rim at all and the few times he does he just doesn't make a decisive move so he ends up not being productive near the rim.

I think he will be a good player but he might just end up being a Channing Frye part 2 with better defense.

[hollywood6964]

That was very jason Richardson-esque

Xmas day, if you don't remember. Nobody eats!

Oh the flashbacks.

A 6"8 grant hill with long arms had a 6"3 tony parker driving virtually out of bounds n j-$h!t comes over to waive an arm....devin brown for a wide open bomb. Christ sakes. Fn Idiot. I'm still pissed. A microcosm of his career. Oh n giving up the game winning putback to artest. Fn idiot.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

It is not only about being angry or agressive. It is about skillset IMO. He can't attack closeouts because his ball handling is horrible, we have seen it so many times. He doesn't try to put the ball on the floor anymore (just one time here or there) because it is so easy for his defender to steal him the ball or bother him enough.

He doesn't have ANY post move. It's ridiculous that a 7-1 player doesn't have any move around the rim...an up and under, an small hook....something. They can switch even a PG on him...doesn't matter. I haven't seen post moves from him even on Summer League.

And what about pull ups? Have you ever seen Bender shoot the ball after dribbling the ball? Or even attempting a mid range shot? That doesn't exist in his arsenal.

So many things to add to his game. And obviously to be more agressive on offense, defense and boards.

And he is not explosive. Not a little bit. He can not elevate, and that is a big problem to finish around the rim when you are not an strong guy.

I like his shooting ability and his basketball IQ on the court, but that is not enough in the NBA. He needs to improve his skillset this summer, is a must for him. If he doesn't improve all those areas...why he is gonna be considered a better prospect than players like TJ Leaf, for example?

He is our #4 pick...that status, opportunity and salary implies a big responsibility.

He lacks strength so he really can't finish near the rim at all and the few times he does he just doesn't make a decisive move so he ends up not being productive near the rim.

I think he will be a good player but he might just end up being a Channing Frye part 2 with better defense.

I agree that strength is the primary issue at this point. The NBA allows a lot of contact, and Dragan is very wary of generating turnovers. I think we'll see more aspects of Dragan's game develop as he gains strength. I think he'd be killing it as a college sophomore if he had gone to college rather than the NBA.

[RunDogGun]

It looks like Dragan over thinks plays, which causes a slight hesitation in moves. It could be lack of confidence due to strength, but I’m not sure. When he moves agreesively on either end of the floor, he doesn’t seem concerned with the contact. Hopefully he can that confidence in his overall game.

[Revived]

I'm so sick of seeing Bender. This dude is the true definition of SOFT

What worries me is that he's mentally soft. He has no fire. I remember reading somewhere when he was drafted that he doesn't want to play C, even though he's a 7 footer. Said he doesn't like to bang inside the paint and be physical.

It does get frustrating because he shows so many good things, you just want him to do more. I was actually happier tonight than usual because he got some rebounds. It might be his career high.

I think it's most frustrating because it's fairly clear he is usually one of the smartest guys on the floor (for our team) and usually almost always our best team defender, so when he makes mistakes it stands out a lot, particularly since he isn't aggressive.

Part of it could be that he’s asked to do too much.

[DB43]

I would trade Chandler for an order of warm nachos at this point. Veteren presence my ass.

you realize that every game he doesn't play in we lose by 20 right? He is very valuable to our team.

[RunDogGun]

Has anyone ever seen Bender angry? Someone should make him angry before every game. Or drills where the coaches challenge him to get to the rim, at all costs, no prisoners. Certain guys only develop intensity if they're angry.

He seems like a guy who's too nice. He needs to look to destroy the opponent every moment he's on the floor. It's solely about mentality for him. Has the skills and IQ.

If he ever finds that intensity, he's an elite glue/role guy. If not, he floats and doesn't have much impact. Hopefully it comes with more experience/comfort, but we'll see.

I think we should try and get Toni Kukoc on our coaching staff to work with Bender. Toni is his favorite player, and he seems to have a similar game. If there is one guy he would listen to, Toni would be it.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Bender isn't strong and can't jump so he doesn't attack the rim that needs to change over time.

Alex Len took until he was 24 to get really aggressive in the paint (though still uncoordinated).

[sunsbum]

theres a video out there about how bender saw his brothers basketball career end because of a knee injury from jumping. He mentioned its something that has stuck with him. I got the impression that he doesnt really like to jump much if he doesnt have to.