The hype surrounding the former fourth overall selection of Dragan Bender might be entirely misplaced. However, there is no doubt that the kid has talent, the Suns just aren’t exploiting it enough.
The Suns are continually looking for another star player, specifically a shooter, who can compliment Devin Booker and T.J. Warren’s offense and who can potentially take some of the defensive pressure off of the two stars. Many have hoped that eventually Dragan Bender can be that player. The problem is that so far this season he has not shown that he has taken that step forward toward a level of reliability.
I would argue though that this is not entirely his fault and is more so a problem of usage coupled with his teammates not looking to get Bender going when he is on the court.
Bender has shown growth in several critical areas of his game this season and is slowly smoothing out his previously extremely rough edges. This is expected to take time, however, and no one affiliated with the Suns organization, including the fans, should expect too much from him this season even while we long to see him begin to make a bigger and bigger impact on the game.
Who knows if Bender will ever truly become a Unicorn. It is unfair to heap that kind of expectation on a player so young, especially on a team without a true and dominant point guard who can make the rest of the roster better, including Bender himself.
However, he has shown glimpses of Unicorn traits, I just believe that he’s not been given a total shot yet to prove that he is capable of taking that next step forward.