I look at Bender and I see the perfect example of a "jack of all trades, but master of none" guy. He has few major flaws in his game - doesn't seem to be a lot that he does really poorly. However the also doesn't seem to be ANYTHING that he does extremely well either.
I see a dud who international stats are indicative that he is a tall guy who can run. He has not even came close to dominating overseas.
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Dragan-Bender/Summary/41582
http://www.basketball-reference.com/euro/players/dragan-bender-1.html
Don't these worry you?
At least the Zinger, has better stats
http://www.basketball-reference.com/euro/players/kristaps-porzingis-1.html
Not sure where you are going with this. I pretty much just said that I don't think Bender has star potential. You seem to be agreeing with me?
Look don't get me wrong, he isn't just a 7 footer who can run. if you watch footage of Bender you can see he definitely has talent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS-x4J1OZ8E- He's got a pretty nice nice shooting stroke (and his length would make his shot tough to block)
- He looks to be a very good passer (some nice pinpoint outlet passes in those videos)
- He seems to get a decent amount of blocks (as a result of his quickness & length alone)
- He seems to show good motor/effort when fighting for offensive rebounds (doesn't give up easily)
But the thing that concern me from looking at the highlights are that:
1) Most of his baskets seem to be off either dunks or three point shots. He doesn't seem to have much versatility to his game. I don't see any signs of a turnaround jumper, post game, or an ability to finish tough shots around the basket. Most of the shots he hits seem to be lightly contested and don't look like especially difficult shots.
2) Most of the inside baskets he's getting look like they are against guys who are 3-4 inches smaller then him, and not much stronger either. I haven't seen much to suggest he's capable of finishing against longer or more physical guys. I can't help but feel that guys like Lamarcus Aldridge and Demarcus Cousins (both 6'11" with elite skill and 7'5" wingspans) will eat him alive on both ends of the court
3) He doesn't seem even remotely capable of creating his own offence. He doesn't look to have any go-to moves that he could use to exploit NBA defenders. Even Amir Johnson looks much more skilled at scoring one-on-one then Bender does
4) He seems to miss a LOT of fairly easy shots around the basket. I'll give him credit because he often seems to fight for the offensive rebound and get his own put-backs, but I'm still concerned with how often he seems to miss those first attempts. If you struggle to finish lightly-contested shots 3 feet from the basket, then quality NBA players will really punish you for that.
5) I feel that his ball handling ability is massively, massively overrated by people. Some people say he handles the ball like a guard - I think that is laughable. I would say his ball handling is good by power forward standards, mediocre by small forward standards, and terrible by guard standards. His ball handling is not even remotely close to being in the same ballpark as Avery Bradley, who is considered by many to be one of the worse ball handling guards in the NBA. I don't think I would even say he handles the ball as well as Kelly Olynyk. Basically he is a 7 footer who can dribble the ball up court on a fast break without bouncing the ball off his foot - that's more or less the extent of it.
6) He can obviously pass the ball, but it's not like his passing game is crazy elite. I look at Ben Simmons and I am in awe at some of the passes he makes - my jaw drops in disbelieve that a 6'10" / 240 pound guy can make passes like that. Bender isn't that type of passer. He's just a big man who has a feel for the game, and who makes some nice accurate passes. I don't see him being any better a passer then Olynyk or Sully.
This is the thing with Bender. I look at all of these areas, and I can obviously see the talent and the skill there - but none of the talents or skills are things that jump out at me. None of them seem like the type of skills that would allow him to dominate the NBA game.
I look at all the other top prospects - Simmons, Ingram, Brown, Hield, Dunn, Murray, Ellenson, Jackson, Labissiere - in every one of those guys I see one or two things that make me think "I could see how this guy could become an All-Star player if the cards fall the right way". I just don't see anything in Bender's game that makes me think that. Nothing about him suggests to me that he could be a special player.
People say "but he's only 18!" and I do take that into account. But people were clinging to that exact same argument with guys like James Young and Noah Vonleh. Fact of the matter is that youth alone does not indicate potential - youth combined with great talent indicates potential. I could see Bender very easily becoming this year's Noah Vonleh - uber young big man with seemingly endless potential that just never gets anywhere far.
Then you look at guys like Simmons (19 years old), Ingram (18 years old), Brown (19 years old) and Murray (19 years old) - these guys are all practically the same age as Bender, and to me they all seem to have more talent
right now.
Hell even Ellenson (19 years old) looks like he has more all-star potential to me then Bender does.
Just don't see what all the Bender fuss is about.
Topic: I can see the Celtics drafting Domantas Sabonis (Read 70677 times)