Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

[Ettorefm]

Bender will be fine. At this point with young, doncic, ayton coming in we don't need Bender to become dirk 2.0 (which most of us knew he wouldn't be anyways) Benders basketball personality is similar to mine as well. He doesn't want to be the big scorer, he doesn't want the spotlight. He wants to do the little things and make the right plays. One thing that's great about confidence in basketball is you can fix it.

It' s not just confidence. He lacks skills to be a solid NBa player right now. So basically he needs to develop skills in almost every area AND be confident. Most prospects lack one of those two

[sunsbg]

When Bender decides to show up he actually looks like he will be a good role player in the future. Now if he can only do it in more than 1 of 10 games...

[sunsbum]

Bender will be fine. At this point with young, doncic, ayton coming in we don't need Bender to become dirk 2.0 (which most of us knew he wouldn't be anyways) Benders basketball personality is similar to mine as well. He doesn't want to be the big scorer, he doesn't want the spotlight. He wants to do the little things and make the right plays. One thing that's great about confidence in basketball is you can fix it.

It' s not just confidence. He lacks skills to be a solid NBa player right now. So basically he needs to develop skills in almost every area AND be confident. Most prospects lack one of those two

Does he tho? He's got great size, can move well and play solid defense. Above average passer and can hit the three at a fairly high clip. I think he has plenty of skill, he's just an awkward baby giraffe right now.

[Ettorefm]

Bender will be fine. At this point with young, doncic, ayton coming in we don't need Bender to become dirk 2.0 (which most of us knew he wouldn't be anyways) Benders basketball personality is similar to mine as well. He doesn't want to be the big scorer, he doesn't want the spotlight. He wants to do the little things and make the right plays. One thing that's great about confidence in basketball is you can fix it.

It' s not just confidence. He lacks skills to be a solid NBa player right now. So basically he needs to develop skills in almost every area AND be confident. Most prospects lack one of those two

Does he tho? He's got great size, can move well and play solid defense. Above average passer and can hit the three at a fairly high clip. I think he has plenty of skill, he's just an awkward baby giraffe right now.

Having great size and moving well is not a skill. His defense is bad, with some acceptable games. Above average passer is very tricky, compared to what? Awful passing centers? Sure, he's better than Asik, Jordan and guys like that, but he's not that special, let's not overrate him.

He can hit the 3, sure. But so what? He's bad at setting screens(creates no separation whatsoever for the ball handler, just pay attention next game), has an awful left hand, can't finish around the rim, has a bad hook shot, doesn't like contact, his footwork is average at best, no advanced moves, no counters, no spin moves, no fadeaway, no bank shot, no hustle, awful at boxing out, can't draw fouls, gets bullied by smaller guys..

Is the bar for an NBA player so low that hitting 3's, being able to pass consistently and not being awful on defense is something to be hopeful about? I mean, Markkanen compared to bender looks like a HoFer, and still he's not even talked about as one of the top 5 best rookies this year (Most polls and rookie ladders have Simmons, Mitchell, Tatum, Kuzma and Ball). What does that make Bender?

[Revived]

Bender will be fine. At this point with young, doncic, ayton coming in we don't need Bender to become dirk 2.0 (which most of us knew he wouldn't be anyways) Benders basketball personality is similar to mine as well. He doesn't want to be the big scorer, he doesn't want the spotlight. He wants to do the little things and make the right plays. One thing that's great about confidence in basketball is you can fix it.

He was the 4th overall pick of the draft. I think more will be expected of him than that.

[Fo-Real]

Its the little things, basketball smarts he lacks. Like the last game he drove to the basket toward the baseline and threw a cross court pass to the corner for a three point attempt for House I think. after throwing the pass he stood underneath the backboard and watch him catch and shoot instead of coming back to the area of play and make himself available to even contest for a board. No thought of what next after his pass. He just floats around a lot man.

[lilfishi22]

Bender doesn't lack basketball smarts at all. He lacks confidence to play outside of his comfort zone. Right now his comfort zone is shooting spoon-fed 3pt shots. He has all the skills and the BBIQ to know when and how to execute higher level plays, he just doesn't have the confidence step outside of his comfort zone when the opportunity presents itself to him. And when he doesn't do things like drive to the basket or switch on the mismatch on a consistent basis, he can't develop consistency there. That's why when he gets the drive or the mismatch, he still can't finish those plays. He just doesn't put himself in enough situations where he can use those skills to get buckets or make winnings plays. That's the most frustrating thing because he just floats and he really limits himself to what he does by not doing the other things he can clearly do.

[Fo-Real]

Bender doesn't lack basketball smarts at all. He lacks confidence to play outside of his comfort zone. Right now his comfort zone is shooting spoon-fed 3pt shots. He has all the skills and the BBIQ to know when and how to execute higher level plays, he just doesn't have the confidence step outside of his comfort zone when the opportunity presents itself to him. And when he doesn't do things like drive to the basket or switch on the mismatch on a consistent basis, he can't develop consistency there. That's why when he gets the drive or the mismatch, he still can't finish those plays. He just doesn't put himself in enough situations where he can use those skills to get buckets or make winnings plays. That's the most frustrating thing because he just floats and he really limits himself to what he does by not doing the other things he can clearly do.

He is often not in the right place to make a play, is that not bbiq? Not calling him a dumb player, just that he rarely puts himself in a spots to make plays. Maybe it is a sign of not being aggressive not fighting for position or re-engaging after a pass and getting ready for what may happen next. He stands and watches a lot when the ball swings or goes up instead of continuing to move.

[lilfishi22]

Bender doesn't lack basketball smarts at all. He lacks confidence to play outside of his comfort zone. Right now his comfort zone is shooting spoon-fed 3pt shots. He has all the skills and the BBIQ to know when and how to execute higher level plays, he just doesn't have the confidence step outside of his comfort zone when the opportunity presents itself to him. And when he doesn't do things like drive to the basket or switch on the mismatch on a consistent basis, he can't develop consistency there. That's why when he gets the drive or the mismatch, he still can't finish those plays. He just doesn't put himself in enough situations where he can use those skills to get buckets or make winnings plays. That's the most frustrating thing because he just floats and he really limits himself to what he does by not doing the other things he can clearly do.

He is often not in the right place to make a play, is that not bbiq? Not calling him a dumb player, just that he rarely puts himself in a spots to make plays. Maybe it is a sign of not being aggressive not fighting for position or re-engaging after a pass and getting ready for what may happen next. He stands and watches a lot when the ball swings or goes up instead of continuing to move.

He's not in the optimal spots and doesn't put himself in those spots to make plays because his comfort zone is anywhere outside the arc right now. He absolutely has the skills and knows where he needs to be to add different dimensions to his game but either he's lacking confidence or he just lacks aggressiveness to deviate from "his" game plan

[kennydorglas]

I still love my baby Dragan.

[bwgood77]

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[Dambo]

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His first decent move this entire season. Reasons for optimism?

[Jdiddy701]

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His first decent move this entire season. Reasons for optimism?

What I hate the most is Bender does one thing good, and Suns fans get so wet. He’s just not a good basketball player. I like to keep it real lol - hopefully we can get some value for him. Spurs might take him.


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[lilfishi22]

This isn't the first time I've seen that move so it's just frustrating he doesn't take things into his own hands more. He's quicker, more skilled and longer than most of the guys who's defending him yet he settles for 3PT shots. I get it, 3PT shots are great for spacing but we didn't draft him just to be a 3PT shooter. If all we wanted was a big man shooter, we got one with the #54 pick in the draft (Peters).

[kennydorglas]

Found some comments by Zwicker about Bender on his first summer league game:

* for some reason I cant find a vid with his highlights on this game, but I remember vividly these plays Zwicker is talking about *

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Read on Twitter

He was just a completely different player after this game.

[lilfishi22]

Found some comments by Zwicker about Bender on his first summer league game:

* for some reason I cant find a vid with his highlights on this game, but I remember vividly these plays Zwicker is talking about *

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

He was just a completely different player after this game.

This is what he was drafted for. If he actually did it consistently, even if not effectively, he'd look much better as a prospect. The fact that he's essentially a simple 7 foot 3&D guy right now is extremely frustrating.

[kennydorglas]

Found some comments by Zwicker about Bender on his first summer league game:

* for some reason I cant find a vid with his highlights on this game, but I remember vividly these plays Zwicker is talking about *

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

He was just a completely different player after this game.

This is what he was drafted for. If he actually did it consistently, even if not effectively, he'd look much better as a prospect. The fact that he's essentially a simple 7 foot 3&D guy right now is extremely frustrating.

And then I always remember Watson asking Dragan to shoot 10 threes per game.
This never made any sense for me and Bender probably felt the same.
Why would you take away his best offensive tool?

I honestly believe Watson ruined him and as we know his personality now... it'll be quite hard to bring this back.

[lilfishi22]

Found some comments by Zwicker about Bender on his first summer league game:

* for some reason I cant find a vid with his highlights on this game, but I remember vividly these plays Zwicker is talking about *

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

He was just a completely different player after this game.

This is what he was drafted for. If he actually did it consistently, even if not effectively, he'd look much better as a prospect. The fact that he's essentially a simple 7 foot 3&D guy right now is extremely frustrating.

And then I always remember Watson asking Dragan to shoot 10 threes per game.
This never made any sense for me and Bender probably felt the same.
Why would you take away his best offensive tool?

I honestly believe Watson ruined him and as we know his personality now... it'll be quite hard to bring this back.

As a rookie, you do what you can to be productive and stay on the floor. Clearly Watson and Bender recognized that being able to hit the 3 while playing D is what's getting him to the dance. I don't really have a problem with that, especially when it comes to young, risky Euro prospects. You want to build their confidence by finding what they're good at and what will keep them on the floor. This is only acceptable in his rookie season.

What's disappointing and unacceptable in my books is with his rookie season out of the way, he hasn't really expanded on his game any further and that's where I put the blame on Watson. If Watson's development plan for Bender is to keep doing what he's doing while ignoring virtually every other offensive skill Bender has, then he has to take the blame.

[thamadkant]

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Which is not that good really...

He is 7 foot one inches and If he went hard to the rim would have been fouled or finished the play.

The only impressive thing there is that a 7 foot one player can raise his leg and duck his head that quickly... But the resulting play is not that good.

[lilfishi22]

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Which is not that good really...

He is 7 foot one inches and If he went hard to the rim would have been fouled or finished the play.

The only impressive thing there is that a 7 foot one player can raise his leg and duck his head that quickly... But the resulting play is not that good.

The fact that he's driving to the rim is already progress. Baby steps, baby steps