Phoenix Suns: Examining The Youngsters 2 Weeks Into 2016-17 Season
How To Train Your Dragan (Bender)
With P.J. Tucker returning to full health and the frontcourt already at least two deep at each position, Dragan Bender really hasn’t gotten as much run as he should’ve early in 2016-17.
His mere 10.1 minutes per game have been disappointingly low, especially Bender came out and dropped 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the team’s season opener.
Unfortunately, Bender went scoreless in 17 minutes over his next six games, playing zero minutes in three of them, until he scored another 10 points in a career-high 23 minutes against the Portland Trail Blazers.
With the youngest player in the league unafraid to shoot the ball and displaying some real versatility on the defensive end for a seven-footer, it appears as though this 18-year-old deserves more minutes than he’s been getting.
Dragan Bender: 10 PTS in 23 min, +19. Best offensively @ C: longer closeouts, uses agility off the dribble. Thought that he's a 3 was absurd pic.twitter.com/TFQN4jWBR2
— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) November 9, 2016
“High motor,” Watson said of Bender’s performance in Portland. “Anytime you have a seven-footer with the motor of a point guard or a small forward, you have something special. His motor is unique. He guards the pick-and-roll very well. I always say he’s a gamer, he’s not afraid to let it fly and I’m not gonna stop him. If he’s open, shoot, I love his aggressiveness.”
The Croatian rookie struggled in Phoenix’s last game against the Pistons, going 0-for-4 in eight minutes, but the more the team loses and the more he shows flashes in his limited minutes, the more time he’ll earn.
“For me, I just have to be able to hit those open shots and being able to stay out there for practice and work on the arc and everything to translate myself to this three-point line as quickly as possible is something I need to do,” Bender said.