Dragan Bender has been a Vegas disappointment thus far

After three Summer League games, Dragan Bender has had two clunkers, and one decent statistical game. What should expectations be of him for the rest of SL, and how should the Phoenix Suns proceed with him into the regular season?

Dragan Bender is entering his third year in the NBA. He has had two offseasons prior to this one and two training camps. Both previous offseasons and camps were led by arguably the worst head coach in the league as well as franchise history, Earl Watson.

For those of you who already call Bender a bust, it is entirely possible that Bender’s growth has been stunted because of who he had leading him to start his career.

Moving forward, he has also now had three head coaches, the aforementioned Watson, interim Jay Triano for 96.3% of last regular season, and now new hire, Igor Kokoskov.

Granted Bender just might not be a very good basketball player, but his head might also be spinning some since he has had three head coaches in the last nine months, his first, someone who should have never even held the job.

That said, Bender has still had enough time with good coaches (including assistants), he has the opportunity to learn from and train with outside help, not to mention the number of veterans he has played with who he could have stuck too like a shadow throughout his early career, working on as many means of self improvement as possible.

Which brings us to the 2018 Summer League, his third appearance, and three games thus far.

Dragan Bender has not looked very good.

Let’s look at his most recent game against before his first two: it was… aight. (Do the kids still say that?)

Against Orlando on Monday, Bender finished with 11 points (including 3-6 from beyond the arc), 8 rebounds (all defensive), 1 block and a +22 in 27 minutes.

If he was averaging that statline through three games, fans would have every reason to be really pumped. Granted it is only Summer League, but those averages would be better than his first two – not to mention his regular season stats – and would be an obvious sign of growth as a player.

That said, there are two underlying reasons to think that his game against the Magic was more of an aberration than that of a young player who has turned a new leaf: first, he finished 4-10 from the field overall, but 1-4 from within  the arc against Orlando while continuing his bad habit of getting to the 3-point line and stopping, including when he has possession where he picks up the ball instinctually looking to hand it off totally isolating himself.

Second, in his first two games combined, Bender played 46 total minutes and finished 2-12 from the field (16.7%),1-3 from beyond the arc for 5 total points (all scored in the opener against Dallas as he finished scoreless against Sacramento in 24 minutes), grabbed 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 6 personal fouls (in the Summer League players are allowed 10 per game, so he has never been at risk of fouling out), and 8 turnovers.

Unfortunately that is just more of the same as it was during his regular season career.

Let us not forget though, Dragan Bender will begin the 2018-19 season a 20-year-old, not turning 21 until the middle of November. He is still very young, very raw, and when he plays aggressively and does things right there is no doubt that there is talent within him, he has just not yet had the coaching and wherewithal to put his skills together forming a valuable player in the NBA.

Igor Kokoskov is a better head coach than Watson, and by all accounts better than Triano as well. Presuming the Suns do not trade Bender at any point this season, he will have this Summer League, the rest of the offseason, training camp, the preseason, the regular season, then next offseason as well to work in a stable environment, from only one set of coaches, all focused on making he and the team better. Hopefully they will all come together on a training regimen that slowly but surely pieces together the correct mindset to exemplify his most valuable skills.

Through three games though in Vegas, Dragan Bender looks like the old Dragan Bender: unsure of himself, lost, technically sporadic, and most frustrating: inconsistent from game to game.

There should be no expectation of dominance from Bender this summer, although there should be an expectation of some obvious and visual sign of improvement. Negative plays that he used to make with regularity should not be made now. His shot should look improved: less rushed, and with an arc. He shouldn’t allow himself to be muscled around by opponents and should use his (supposedly growing) frame to exert his will on both the offensive and defensive end.

Hopefully he and his coaches have taken notice of his less-than-stellar play thus far and will look to use the remaining few games (up to five, I believe) to grow mentally, practicing successful habits both on and off the court, and using this time to improve what he can heading into camp in September.

Next: Deandre Ayton in Summer League thus far: Silent but Deadly

For at least the fan’s sake though, he has to show something though in Vegas, some level of positive consistency from here on out, multiple positive offensive plays per game, physicality with an opponent to get to the rim a few times and stopping his man from ever driving on him, something to make his presence known.

Otherwise, Suns fans will wonder the rest of the summer if the Dragan Bender who will enter 2018-19 is more of the same that we have seen over the past two seasons, or if “the Dragan,” the one who will all hoped was being selected fourth overall in 2016, has finally been released.