Dragan Bender
Minutes per game
For sophomore Suns, and especially for Dragan Bender, it’s pretty easy to assume that every stat will be a career-high this coming season – especially like in Bender’s case last year’s were generally bottom of the barrel low.
So while it’s easy to say he’ll reach a career-high in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks, yadda, yadda, yadda, the one stat that I want to see a career-high in above all others is minutes.
Averaging only 13.3 per game last season, it is important that Bender is productive enough to remain an important part of the team’s rotation and push his minutes up towards 20 per game. This will then of course mean that all other stats will reach career-highs, which means he is on his way to fulfilling the potential that the Suns believed he had when selecting him fourth overall in 2016.