Phoenix Suns: 3 goals for Ryan Anderson in 2018-19
By Luke Swiatek
2. Help Dragan Bender’s development
At 30 years old and with only two years left on his contract, Ryan Anderson isn’t likely to be a long-term member of the Phoenix Suns. However, Dragan Bender might be.
The 20-year-old Croatian is not a dissimilar player to Anderson. Both are tall stretch-4s that can also play the 5, and both would claim shooting as their best offensive weapon. Right now, Anderson is definitively the better shooter of the two.
However, Anderson (along with coach Igor Kokoskov) can help Bender come into his own. A lot of what Anderson does is just spotting up and waiting for the ball to come his way, but he does have ways of moving off-ball to get himself open as well. Those little tricks of the trade are the kinds of things he should be teaching to Bender.
Last year, Bender was an average 3-point shooter, and while he showed potential as a switchable defender, he wasn’t great on that end. If Anderson can help him so that Bender becomes close to that level of shooting, that will be a benefit to the Suns that may long outlast Anderson’s own tenure.