The Golden State Warriors signed Dragan Bender, another player who was drafted high in the lottery but couldn’t live up to expectations on his original team.
Bender, selected No. 4 overall by the Phoenix Suns in 2016, will reportedly sign a 10-day contract with the Warriors. He will join 2014 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins and 2016 No. 8 pick Marquese Chriss as reclamation projects for Golden State.
Why was Bender drafted so high and how did he wind up in Golden State?
The beginning of that answer lies a year before he was selected. In 2015, Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis was drafted No. 4 by the New York Knicks. Porzingis was an original NBA unicorn as he possessed the stunning ability to block shots, shoot three-pointers and grab rebounds as a 7-foot-3 player.
Phoenix hoped Bender, listed at 7-foot-1, could be similar. But the comparison was never totally apt. Porzingis averaged 15-20 minutes per contest over 30 games over a two-year period on a team in the top Spanish league. He also averaged more than 20 minutes in the 2014-15 EuroCup.
Bender, meanwhile, had his first professional experience at the age of 15, but he didn’t get consistent minutes at a high level. He played ten total games with Maccabi Tel Aviv during 2015-16 EuroLeague and EuroCup and averaged less than ten minutes per game.
The front office for the Suns selected Bender with the hope of him developing into a strong contributor.
The big man quickly showed the ability to make smart passes. He improved as a defender. There were times when he looked like a legitimate NBA player.
But he lacked the confidence and aggression on offense to really make a difference on the poor Suns offense. Even on open looks beyond the arc, Bender would hesitate before committing to an action.
From 2017 until 2019, which were Bender’s second and third years in the league, more than 80% of his shots came without dribbling the ball and half his shots were wide open with at least six feet of space between him and the defender, according to NBA Advanced Stats. He only made 34.8% of them, a lower percentage than any in which a defender was closer than six feet away.
Bender didn’t show the propensity to drive and draw a foul or kick the ball out consistently. His confidence in his shot simply was not there.
In 2017-18, Bender played more than 25 minutes in 40 games. He took at least 10 shots only eight times. The next year, he took double-digit shots in six of 13 such games, but he only took more than 12 shots once.
But this wasn’t a team with offensive weapons like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. This was the 19-win Suns, desperately looking for a secondary scorer and any sort of playmaker behind Devin Booker.
Bender clearly wasn’t Porzingis, but when he played well, he looked like he had the potential to be like Dario Saric — a smart defender and passer and a big man who can shoot three-pointers.
When he wasn’t on, though, he looked like he was still worried he was a 16-year-old getting eight minutes a game against adults overseas.
Former Suns teammate Josh Jackson summarized how the team was trying to help Bender less “timid” during the 2018 offseason.
.@j_josh11 speaks about Dragan Bender and trying to get him to be more aggressive. pic.twitter.com/q3UGbLrsEh
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) July 4, 2018
Phoenix eventually declined Bender’s option for the 2019-20 season and he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. He only played seven games for them, but in the G League, he posted 20.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game and shot better than 50% from the field and 38% from 3.
The Warriors hope they can help build his confidence and turn the now-22-year-old into an NBA contributor. They’ve already done that with Chriss, another Suns draft pick Phoenix was unable to develop.
Golden State now has both of the Suns’ top 10 draft picks in 2016. They have Wiggins, who has been receiving praise already in his short time there.
The Warriors will have ten days to decide if the G League play is more indicative of the player he can become. That would be a high reward. But the risk would be if he resembles more of those times in Phoenix in which his indecision stalled the play.
Of course, it would be unlikely for Golden State to hit on all three of their reclamation projects. But if they can help Wiggins find his potential and/or Bender become an efficient role player and/or Chriss continue down that path, the Warriors will have interesting options beyond the big three next year.
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