Dragan Bender News, Discussion and Highlights

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

Bender doesn’t look like he’s gained any weight at all. Maybe even lost some actually.

I think the Suns should ask Dudley to take Bender under his wings and mentor him over the summer. He can’t continue looking like Thon Maker and playing the 4/5 spot.

If you watched the interview, you'd know this happened right after the end of the season. So no, it would not appear that he gained a lot of weight.

These were taken nearly 2 months after season ended and he doesn’t appear to have any gainz either.

Read on Twitter

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Bender doesn’t look like he’s gained any weight at all. Maybe even lost some actually.

I think the Suns should ask Dudley to take Bender under his wings and mentor him over the summer. He can’t continue looking like Thon Maker and playing the 4/5 spot.

If you watched the interview, you'd know this happened right after the end of the season. So no, it would not appear that he gained a lot of weight.

These were taken nearly 2 months after season ended and he doesn’t appear to have any gainz either.

Read on Twitter

Is there anything about this team, past or present, that you like? It just seems like you run around here trying to trash anything you can. You apparently don't look at the media that's posted here before you trash it...

[Revived]

If you watched the interview, you'd know this happened right after the end of the season. So no, it would not appear that he gained a lot of weight.

These were taken nearly 2 months after season ended and he doesn’t appear to have any gainz either.

Read on Twitter

Is there anything about this team, past or present, that you like? It just seems like you run around here trying to trash anything you can. You apparently don't look at the media that's posted here before you trash it...

Uh chill man, me saying Bender should bulk up isn’t trashing the team. Not everyone’s gonna share a homeristic viewpoint, you’re gonna have to accept that. Not many besides you thinks Ryan McDonough is a great GM either. But again, it’s an opinion.

I don’t think you know the word “trashing” means if you think I did anything similar to that tweet about Bender

[MrMiyagi]

Durant needs to bulk up too if Golden State is ever going to win... again...

No, Bender isn't Durant, but I don't think he needs to bulk up. Not everyone needs to be Mike Bibby.

[8on]

Durant needs to bulk up too if Golden State is ever going to win... again...

No, Bender isn't Durant, but I don't think he needs to bulk up. Not everyone needs to be Mike Bibby.

On that note, Bordow says he weighed in at 235.

Hopefully it’s not Marquese fat.

[bwgood77]

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[Bogyo]

Just as I said in the roster and rotation thread. Dudes add weight and strenght as they grow older, especially in NBA offseason training. We'll figure this out with our logjam.
Quese will be backup C, Bender will be backup PF and 3rd string C, Warren will also be a bit of backup PF, and voila - no (big) logjam.

[RedIndian]

Jackson mentioned that Bender looks stronger and more athletic, and has been more aggressive in practice.

[NTB]

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[Saberestar]

Bender's interview here:
https://omny.fm/shows/bickley-marotta/dragan-bender-suns-forward

“Just getting stronger obviously was one of the main things for me,” the 7-foot-1 forward said on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
“Getting stronger in the weight room, putting those weights on, trying to be more aggressive on the floor coming down, creating more towards the basket, going to the paint more and creating from that point on — passing the ball outside to the shooters and creating myself, obviously.”

On Wednesday, Kokoskov was pressed about Bender’s affinity for floating around the three-point line. From the sounds of it, don’t expect Bender to start playing out of the post like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, even if his physique holds up much, much better.

“Naturally you gravitate to your comfort zone,” Kokoskov said. “When somebody blows the whistle and says, ‘Why are you standing on this part of the court?’ it’s like, ‘Because I feel comfortable here.’ Based on analytics, we talk about the importance of the three-point line.

“We are searching and we are paying guys who can make the three-point line. I would never say, ‘too much of the three-point shooting. (There is) never enough.'”

http://arizonasports.com/story/1585868/suns-treat-vegas-summer-league-testing-lab/

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

[Frank Lee]

Durant needs to bulk up too if Golden State is ever going to win... again...

No, Bender isn't Durant, but I don't think he needs to bulk up. Not everyone needs to be Mike Bibby.

Every player a comfortable playing weight for his game. He gets pushed around he’ll gain weight and strength as needed. He is still growing into his frame. At least he has skill, which also evolving. This is a 3-4 yr project. We all knew that going in. Time is what he needs. The best of Bender is yet to come.

[BobbieL]

Durant needs to bulk up too if Golden State is ever going to win... again...

No, Bender isn't Durant, but I don't think he needs to bulk up. Not everyone needs to be Mike Bibby.

Every player a comfortable playing weight for his game. He gets pushed around he’ll gain weight and strength as needed. He is still growing into his frame. At least he has skill, which also evolving. This is a 3-4 yr project. We all knew that going in. Time is what he needs. The best of Bender is yet to come.

Can Bender go to the G League? I am serious - dude just needs to play basketball. Minutes. big time 35 - even if for like 10 games this season.

[Damkac]

I think the only way to save his career is to develop him into 3&D player. Don't try to make him point-forward, don't try to make him bigman just make him 3&D. He should just imitate Ariza and Bridges.

[lilfishi22]

I think the only way to save his career is to develop him into 3&D player. Don't try to make him point-forward, don't try to make him bigman just make him 3&D. He should just imitate Ariza and Bridges.

That's essentially what we've asked him to do this whole time. We've given him zero playmaking responsibilities

[bigfoot]

I think the only way to save his career is to develop him into 3&D player. Don't try to make him point-forward, don't try to make him bigman just make him 3&D. He should just imitate Ariza and Bridges.

That's essentially what we've asked him to do this whole time. We've given him zero playmaking responsibilities

He has been asked to be more aggressive driving to the basket and take on some playmaking abilities. Especially this summer league.
At worst he could play a Channing Frye roll. Stretch big. Channing didn't try to dribble and play make.

[bwgood77]

I think the only way to save his career is to develop him into 3&D player. Don't try to make him point-forward, don't try to make him bigman just make him 3&D. He should just imitate Ariza and Bridges.

That's essentially what we've asked him to do this whole time. We've given him zero playmaking responsibilities

He has been asked to be more aggressive driving to the basket and take on some playmaking abilities. Especially this summer league.
At worst he could play a Channing Frye roll. Stretch big. Channing didn't try to dribble and play make.

He improved a lot as a shooter last year. If we keep him he should continue to improve under Koko who I think is a better coach than we've had. I don't expect a lot, especially given all of our wings and 3 pt shooting, he will probably mostly be an end of bench guy unless he plays some backup C...though that could be Chriss too. I still think he could be an ok utility guy and don't make huge judgements off of summer league games, despite how bad he's looked.

[lilfishi22]

I think the only way to save his career is to develop him into 3&D player. Don't try to make him point-forward, don't try to make him bigman just make him 3&D. He should just imitate Ariza and Bridges.

That's essentially what we've asked him to do this whole time. We've given him zero playmaking responsibilities

He has been asked to be more aggressive driving to the basket and take on some playmaking abilities. Especially this summer league.
At worst he could play a Channing Frye roll. Stretch big. Channing didn't try to dribble and play make.

Which is what's expected when you get run off the 3PT line; attack the close out. I don't think he's been tasked with much if any playmaking roles. When I say playmaking, I mean actually create plays either for himself or for team mates. I think he's just making passes.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Dragan is really showing his a** in these SL games. He's not approaching this as if he's fighting for his career. There was a story when he came into the league about how his older brother suffered a career-altering injury and how that made Dragan wary of trying to do to much from a physical perspective. But he needs to start being physical - going up for blocks instead of staying down, taking contact on the drive, hustling for loose balls, that kind of thing.

Given his age and upside and his limited value I don't think it makes much sense to trade him unless a good offer comes along, but based on his SL performance, he hasn't earned any minutes next season. I think the best thing to do is to tape his name to a seat on the bench and make him understand that if he doesn't get his s*** together he'll have to play his way back into the league from Europe. Right now, he's being outplayed by Peters and Cooley.

[jcsunsfan]

Maybe we should run Bender as a pg for a few sets a game. That seems to be how he wants to play.