Phoenix Suns: Setting Expectations For Dragan Bender

The Phoenix Suns took Dragan Bender with the fourth pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, but he might be more of a long-term project. Here’s what to expect from him in his rookie season and beyond.

Oct 3, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender (35) shoots over San Antonio Spurs forward Kyle Anderson (1) during the first half at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time in six years, the Phoenix Suns may actually make headway on what should’ve been the objective ever since Steve Nash‘s window closed: Build towards a new era of Suns basketball.

Though the returns of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight will make Phoenix a more competitive team than last year’s 23-win squad, the Suns are still unlikely to challenge for a playoff spot. What’s more, their budding youth movement came to the forefront after the team’s most recent draft yielded three promising rookies.

With Dragan Bender (No. 4), Marquese Chriss (No. 8) and Tyler Ulis (No. 34) all joining the roster, the Suns are one of the youngest teams in the association. Under first-year head coach Earl Watson, who just shed the interim title and aims to usher these youngsters into a new era, the Suns are more focused on long-term progress than short-term goals like making the playoffs.

Winning is still the objective, but the team’s “momentum,” as Watson calls it, places a larger emphasis on getting one percent better every day. For the Suns to restore their reputation as the league’s fourth all-time winningest franchise, a full-scale devotion to developing the youth, fostering a more positive environment and prioritizing the future was necessary.

Phoenix’s decision to start franchise cornerstone Devin Booker over Brandon Knight is the perfect example of this, but what can the Suns expect from their young rookies, two of which should see significant playing time behind Jared Dudley at the 4-spot?

We’re only two games into the season, but we’ve already seen plenty from the rookies to know growing pains are going to be a consistent theme in 2016-17. For starters, here’s a look at what to expect from Dragan Bender, who might wind up being the biggest project of the three.

Oct 3, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender (35) goes up for a layup against San Antonio Spurs forward Davis Bertans (42) during the first half at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Good

At 7’2″, Dragan Bender certainly has the height and length to play the center position. But what made him such a tantalizing draft prospect was not just his size, but his perimeter-oriented skill set that has drawn comparisons to Toni Kukoc and Kristaps Porzingis.

On the offensive end, Bender is a good enough ball handler for his size, but it’s his passing ability and three-point touch that had teams intrigued. Though he hardly got enough playing time with Maccabi Tel Aviv to show it off, this young Croatian is not afraid to let it fly from three-point range.

On the defensive end, Bender has the foot speed and defensive instincts to stick with smaller players, which gives him the versatility to play the power forward spot as well. With such a diverse skill set for a seven-footer, Bender’s sky high ceiling is the reason Phoenix eagerly took him with the fourth overall pick.

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The Suns are trying to stretch Bender’s versatility to its limit, playing him out of position at the 3 in the hopes that he’ll be able to spread the floor, act as a secondary playmaker on the wing, and avoid being outmuscled on the interior by stronger 4s and 5s until he can bulk up.

Eventually, Bender will be properly identified as a stretch-4 or stretch-5, ideally once he builds chemistry with Alex Len and/or Marquese Chriss to the point that the Suns can depend on one of those two frontcourt duos for the extended future.

For now though, Bender has shown a few glimpses of his potential in NBA Summer League, the Suns’ intra-squad scrimmage and their first two preseason games — especially when he’s logged time at the 4 or the 5.

In the team’s first preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs, Bender also showcased his playmaking ability, pump-faking on an open corner three on a fast break, driving baseline past the defender who came flying at him, and dishing to an open Alan Williams underneath the basket when the help arrived. Williams was fouled and went to the free throw line.

These are very limited samples for a player who’s largely struggled in the preseason, but they’re encouraging nonetheless. Perhaps just as important, Bender appears to fit in with the kind of culture the Suns are trying to build.

“He’s very mature and professional in the way he handles criticism, challenges and also success,” Watson said. “So we appreciate having those guys and a big part of our draft was actually drafting guys with high character.”

Oct 3, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Kyle Anderson (1) and Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender (35) go after a loose ball during the first half at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Bad

We shouldn’t beat around the bush though. For the most part, Dragan Bender has been pretty underwhelming in Summer League early preseason action.

He blocked Alex Len and knocked down a few three-pointers in the team’s Flagstaff scrimmage, but Bender has been unable to provide those same kind of highlights against other teams thus far in his fledgling career.

In Summer League, Bender put up 8.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game on an abysmal 27.5 percent shooting. He made just 26.5 percent of his threes as well, starting off his Las Vegas experience by going 1-for-10 — with the lone make being banked in.

It’s been much of the same in preseason, with Bender showing brief flashes of brilliance amidst mostly timid, underwhelming play.

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“Dragan Bender, 18 years of age, the lights came on and he played hard but he didn’t have great numbers,” Watson admitted about Bender’s first preseason outing. “He can take one step forward.”

The Suns’ insistence that he’s a small forward isn’t helping matters, but even with a couple of smart drives to the basket, Bender’s been stripped and hasn’t looked strong enough to finish properly. For the most part, he’s just been outmatched.

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It took him almost five full quarters to score his first points of the preseason, since he posted a goose egg on 0-for-4 shooting in the preseason opener.

He was marginally better in his second outing, putting up six points, four rebounds and two blocks on 3-of-7 shooting in 26 minutes against the Utah Jazz.

Through his first two games, Bender is averaging 3.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 assists in 25.0 minutes per game on 3-of-11 shooting (0-for-5 from three-point range).

He’s looked confident shooting the ball from deep, but they haven’t gone down — something Bender acknowledged will start happening eventually, since his time at the 3 will require him to knock down more of the open looks he’s receiving.

It’s natural to see such a young player struggle only two games into the preseason, but until Bender stops passing up wide open shots, plays with a little more aggression and, ideally, spends more time at his proper position, Marquese Chriss will continue to look like the more NBA-ready rookie.

Sep 26, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender (left), guard Tyler Ulis (center) and forward Marquese Chriss pose for a portrait during media day at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Potential

Until Bender starts knocking down threes, regularly swatting people and finishing ferocious put-backs over other seven-footers as a rookie, the comparisons to Kristaps Porzingis will feel a bit hasty. Until his well-rounded game takes flight on a championship-caliber team, so will the Toni Kukoc comparisons.

Watson, however, presented a different NBA comparison when asked about what Bender’s future in this league looks like: Lamar Odom.

“In five years, for me Dragan is Lamar Odom,” he said. “Points, assists, blocks, steals, rebounds. Points in a way where Lamar could give you 16-8-8. So we have a dominant scorer in Devin Booker. He’s a great complement to Devin Booker, so we’re looking for Dragan to be that guy to get Devin Booker numbers and score points. That’s not going to happen every night. If it does we love it, but we understand the intangibles that he brings to the game.”

As Watson notes, the Suns don’t need Bender to emerge as some kind of high volume scorer, since they may already have that in their 19-year-old phenom.

But if Bender can fine-tune his game and hone his well-rounded skill set into a jack-of-all-trades kind of career, his two-way versatility will be a huge asset and an even bigger driving force for Phoenix to return to contender status down the road with a Booker-Bender-Chriss-Warren-Len-Ulis core.

Just imagine it: a seven-footer who can help out with weak-side blocks on the interior, give the Suns flexibility to switch screens because he can stick with ball-handlers on the perimeter, make plays on the offensive end with his passing, knock down perimeter looks as a stretch big and present a threat as a rim-runner in pick-and-roll sets.

“Once he arrives, he will arrive, and it’s going to be very unique and powerful,” Watson said. “He’s a unique shot-blocker, he comes from nowhere. He’s active, once he gets on the wing and gets comfortable with strength and builds up an NBA body, the scoring and defending will come naturally.”

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Dragan Bender walks off the stage after being selected as the number four overall pick to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Waiting Game

Unfortunately for the Suns, that future seems far away, especially with as timid (and sometimes lost) as Bender has looked to this point. Luckily, this is the part where everyone needs to remember that he’s still more than two years away from being able to purchase alcohol in this country.