Wasn't this a similar situation with the greek freak? Lots of people seemed to complain about that one.
As it has been pointed ad nauseum by now, Anthetokounmpo wasn't the third pick in the draft.
But Bender has a higher ceiling than Giannis.
This ceiling word is deadly
James Young still has more "upside" than many guys from the 2015 draft. But You think Utah for example would trade hood for him??
Once bender rots on a NBA bench, his value with sink deeper than......
James Young never had 'Ceiling'. The guys only upsides were his outside shooting and the fact that he has excellent size for a guard.
He was always a garbage defender, he was never a quality ball handler or passer, he always had terrible basketball IQ, and he was always pretty mediocre athletically.
James Young looked like he wa going to be a bum from day one, and i still have no clue why half the people here believed otherwise.
The only thing he could do was shoot threes. How often do guys of that description EVER become anything in he NBA?
People just obsess over anybody who it's young. Somehow being 18 or 19 instantly meabs you uave a high ceiling. I think if my overweight butt was in the draft and i was 18, people would rave about my upside.
As for the OP's question, People are down on bender bevause right now he pretty much looks like a miss first round talent at best. The only thing he does well is be versatile on defense - its his one little trick. Everything else he's average at best with, but people are overblowing how good he is at various things seemingly because they are having Porzingis chills and want to buy in on the international hype.
Bender has done nothing to show hes deserving of a top 3 pick. He's a more mobile (but far weaker and rawer) version of Kelly Olynyk - and Olynyk went 13th in 2014 mostly because of his age.
And that's where the penny drops. Bender it's yet another rookies to be overhyped because of his age.