2016 NBA Draft: Ranking The Draft’s Best Big Man Defenders

1. Dragan Bender – PF/C, Maccabi Tel Aviv

Key Stats: 2.4 blocks, 1.7 steals, 7.2 personal fouls per 40 minutes, 8% offensive rebounding percentage, 15% defensive rebounding percentage, 426 minutes played

Dragan Bender is the youngest player in the draft and one of the most extreme in terms of his size-plus-athleticism combination; he truly moves like a guard–so, so fluidly at his size, which is so awesome for an NBA 4 (7’1″, 9’3″ standing reach) (he will also play a lot of center in his career, where his mobility is an even bigger advantage–though his rebounding will be exploited).

There are not many players playing the 4 position (let alone the 5) in the NBA who can guard smaller positions in one instance and protect the rim in the very next. Almost no one.

The only true example in the league has been the most important defensive player on a top-two defense for two years running — Draymond Green.

Here, the incredibly young and very inexperienced Bender is the entirety of Maccabi’s defense: guarding a missed assignment that would have been an easy basket inside, closing out on an open shooter, recovering and sliding his feet on the drive and then blocking the shot.

And that is the essence of why Bender is the No. 1 defensive prospect in the draft. He is the youngest player in it and he shows flashes of being a one-man wrecking crew; or, at the least, a potentially very significant piece in a larger, well-oiled machine.

Next: 2. Chinanu Onuaku