Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

MathiasPW · Post #861 » by **MathiasPW** » Mon Mar 12, 2018 4:51 pm

Gasol can play in the paint, something Bender is far from capable at this point. If he makes his 3s and is able to drive and make a layup or assist when defenders close in he already fulfils his role on offense.

Villalobos · Post #862 » by **Villalobos** » Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:34 pm

Suns need to hire Kevin Garnett whose sole job would be to scream in Bender's face every timeout after he plays passive/soft and scream encouragement when he's aggressive.

Post #863 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:59 pm

Villalobos wrote:Suns need to hire Kevin Garnett whose sole job would be to scream in Bender's face every timeout after he plays passive/soft and scream encouragement when he's aggressive.

He could do that with Ayton too if we draft him for defense since that's what KG was a defensive stud and Ayton tried to compare himself to KG.

Post #864 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:07 pm

Interesting tidbit a Nets fan pointed out in the Bender thread on the GB...

Now let's see how Sabonis played last year (when he was half a year older then Bender is this year) and how he's playing now:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sabondo01.html

Quite a difference, isn't it?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1684148&p=64218119#p64209293

So I pulled up a comparison of Sabonis at 20 (though a half year older) vs Bender at 20

http://bkref.com/tiny/wLUE6

Pretty close everywhere except 3 pt % where Bender kills him. Bender even beats him in advanced numbers..

Midnight_Suns · Post #865 » by **Midnight_Suns** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:40 am

Villalobos wrote:Suns need to hire Kevin Garnett whose sole job would be to scream in Bender's face every timeout after he plays passive/soft and scream encouragement when he's aggressive.

A buddy reality tv show with Bender and KG is something I need in my life.

Fo-Real · Post #866 » by **Fo-Real** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:25 am

Back to bust status, that was a short ride. Poor Tin Man

Post #867 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 5:35 am

Fo-Real wrote:Back to bust status, that was a short ride. Poor Tin Man

Ahh we've seen flashes...lets at least give him an offseason. I kind of feel like he's the type of guy that has heard all the feedback but it's overloading him but with an offseason he could come back really focused on eliminating that feedback. He really doesn't strike me as a guy that is just going to go chill this summer and feel all is good.

Mulhollanddrive · Post #868 » by **Mulhollanddrive** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 5:49 am

Still think he'll develop into a starting stretch big even if he'll never be a top 50 player.

Has the skills to be able to do 12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block @ 38% from 3 which is what a lot of teams want from a $8m type role player.

RedIndian · Post #869 » by **RedIndian** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:50 am

If he does become a 12/6/1 type player, I think we should be satisfied. He's not going to be an all-star type player, that much is pretty clear.

For the moment, someone really needs to get it into his head that he needs to attempt at least 10 shots a game.

Saberestar · Post #870 » by **Saberestar** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:19 am

RedIndian wrote:If he does become a 12/6/1 type player, I think we should be satisfied. He's not going to be an all-star type player, that much is pretty clear.

For the moment, someone really needs to get it into his head that he needs to attempt at least 10 shots a game.

I would sign those stats for him in his prime. He can be similar to Frye, great 3p shooter with good basketball IQ.

But we need to watch an actual improvement next season, not just flashes, because we need to decide about extend him pretty soon.

RedIndian · Post #871 » by **RedIndian** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:31 am

bwgood77 wrote:
Fo-Real wrote:Back to bust status, that was a short ride. Poor Tin Man

Ahh we've seen flashes...lets at least give him an offseason. I kind of feel like he's the type of guy that has heard all the feedback but it's overloading him but with an offseason he could come back really focused on eliminating that feedback. He really doesn't strike me as a guy that is just going to go chill this summer and feel all is good.

My main concern with him relates to some of the comments Triano made earlier in the season - that he was often the first to leave practice last year, and the coaches had to drag him back for extra sessions.

Perhaps it's harsh to call that poor work ethic, but it does speak volumes about his desire to be a great player. Almost every great player has shown a crazy work ethic from a young age.

Fo-Real · Post #872 » by **Fo-Real** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:23 pm

So far he has not shown any drive to be great, no grit, no fire. If you expect him to use his offseason to get better he has to have these things. Missing those early shots and not contributing in ANY way has to piss him off in order for him to strive for better. He still acts like a rookie who accepts whats happening instead of even wanting to impose his will. His mindset has to change, or the coaching style has to change into forcing him into what we want him to do or he is gonna bust.

darealjuice · Post #873 » by **darealjuice** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:42 pm

RedIndian wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Fo-Real wrote:Back to bust status, that was a short ride. Poor Tin Man

Ahh we've seen flashes...lets at least give him an offseason. I kind of feel like he's the type of guy that has heard all the feedback but it's overloading him but with an offseason he could come back really focused on eliminating that feedback. He really doesn't strike me as a guy that is just going to go chill this summer and feel all is good.
My main concern with him relates to some of the comments Triano made earlier in the season - that he was often the first to leave practice last year, and the coaches had to drag him back for extra sessions.

Perhaps it's harsh to call that poor work ethic, but it does speak volumes about his desire to be a great player. Almost every great player has shown a crazy work ethic from a young age.

You’re leaving out the second half of the quote where he said that’s changed a lot this year lol

Bogyo · Post #874 » by **Bogyo** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:22 pm

bwgood77 wrote:Interesting tidbit a Nets fan pointed out in the Bender thread on the GB...

Now let's see how Sabonis played last year (when he was half a year older then Bender is this year) and how he's playing now:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sabondo01.html

Quite a difference, isn't it?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1684148&p=64218119#p64209293

So I pulled up a comparison of Sabonis at 20 (though a half year older) vs Bender at 20

http://bkref.com/tiny/wLUE6

Pretty close everywhere except 3 pt % where Bender kills him. Bender even beats him in advanced numbers..

Yeah, I wonder how his numbers would look like if he was (pretty much) full time starter 5 for us, with a better PG and a better PF on the team...

thamadkant · Post #875 » by **thamadkant** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:16 pm

For a pick 4 he is a bust...so far ..

And likely be a bust.... For pick 4 anyways.

I mean at least Dion Waiters is confident and takes shots lol

Fo-Real · Post #876 » by **Fo-Real** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:14 am

G league his ass until he becomes ofensivly aggressive or admits he is a bust. We can't be worse giving Peters his minutes right now.

Skillmatic · Post #877 » by **Skillmatic** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:13 am

How in hell is Dragan starting for us? Don't say we have no alternative. Of course we have not, but at this point you can put every G-League PF in the starting Lineup. Bender is not even trying. Bench him. I was s fan of him, but i hate p***y player who don't try. Hate to say it, but i think he is our Darko Milicic #bustlegend

Saberestar · Post #878 » by **Saberestar** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:28 pm

Skillmatic wrote:How in hell is Dragan starting for us? Don't say we have no alternative. Of course we have not, but at this point you can put every G-League PF in the starting Lineup. Bender is not even trying. Bench him. I was s fan of him, but i hate p***y player who don't try. Hate to say it, but i think he is our Darko Milicic #bustlegend

Give him at least the next season before call him complete bust.

If he does not improve over the summer and training camp enough, we are gonna have to take a decision about picking the team option for the fourth season or working on a trade.

Hopefully he improves enough to give us confidence about his future and we can give him that fourth year ($6M) without hesitation.

At least he has a good head over his shoulders and has a good three point shooting already.

Post #879 » by **bwgood77** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:56 pm

Saberestar wrote:
Skillmatic wrote:How in hell is Dragan starting for us? Don't say we have no alternative. Of course we have not, but at this point you can put every G-League PF in the starting Lineup. Bender is not even trying. Bench him. I was s fan of him, but i hate p***y player who don't try. Hate to say it, but i think he is our Darko Milicic #bustlegend

Give him at least the next season before call him complete bust.

If he does not improve over the summer and training camp enough, we are gonna have to take a decision about picking the team option for the fourth season or working on a trade.

Hopefully he improves enough to give us confidence about his future and we can give him that fourth year ($6M) without hesitation.

At least he has a good head over his shoulders and has a good three point shooting already.

He's starting because none of our other 3-5s can spread the floor, unless you want to start Dudley, which would be pointless. He definitely needs an offseason to bulk up, get some good coaching, etc. This is an important one because he got real playing time so he will be able to assess and watch a lot of tape in the offseason. He played so sparingly last year and was injured when the young guys started playing that this has been more like his rookie year.

But it's a big offseason. If he comes in nearly as tentative next year, at least past December or so, then that will be a problem. I still would pick up his option on 4th year, even if he is just a 3&D 7 ft PF off the bench. Our team shouldn't be getting rid of young guys who can shoot and play reasonably good D for their age who are cheap.

Saberestar · Post #880 » by **Saberestar** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:45 pm

Read on Twitter

Take a gander at how Bender has performed not only over his last 5 games, but also since the All-Star Break:

Last 5: 5.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2 assists in 30.5 minutes on 28.6 FG%, 20.8% on 3s

Last 15: 5.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists in 30.4 minutes on 31.9 FG%, 30.6% on 3s

Another depressing number for the pro-Bender crowd is how allergic he is to driving toward the rim still. He not only isn’t drawing contact but as a 7-footer takes less than two drives per game while shooting less than 50% of the time in those situations throughout this season at 0.8 FGA.

Since the Suns’ return from their All-Star Weekend, Bender is turning the ball over more than he is making shots on drives. That’s awful, and if he can’t take incremental jumps in development this summer athletically will quickly cap his predraft ceiling many spoke of.

Also, one more note that’s not good at all. For players logging 30+ minutes over the past month, Bender is the only one doing less with the most amount of time, in terms of producing numbers on the box score. Yikes.

Taking a quick advanced stats dive also sees no progress from the Suns’ No. 4 pick in 2016. Bender currently possesses a paltry 6.5 PER (player efficiency rating) and a negative win share with -.0.3.

Would you bring back Bender?