Dragan Bender is a 7’1” Croatian NBA prospect who currently plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. The young forward is receiving a lot of early hype and is slated to be a top ten, or maybe even top five pick in the 2016 draft.
It’s ten days until Christmas, sixteen until the New Year, 191 days until draft day and just shy of a month since Dragan Bender’s eighteenth birthday. Despite all of this Bender was voted the 4th best international player not in the NBA in the GM survey from last month and is a top ten 2016 draft prospect, most commonly found in the top five at the moment across the various draft boards.
I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in the GM survey in plain terms but it does highlight their interest in the young player. And draft boards are subject to a decent amount of jostling especially when it comes to international prospects. However this kind of hype and speculation this early is almost as insane as it is fun, even more so when you consider Bender’s lack of playtime and youth. We’re not quite at Rubio-mania levels but it still seems over the top six months plus away from the draft.
State of Play
Bender currently plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv who are less worried about the probable departure of Bender state side in the off season and more concerned with securing a place in the Top 16 in the Euroleague. They fired their coach after their 1-4 start in the regular season, the worst in the clubs history this side of the millennium. Since then they’ve gone 2-2, winning the most recent two under new coach Zan Tabak and have their last chance to secure the final qualification spot in their group in an away game this Thursday. And thus securing more time of seeing Bender play in more than just the Israeli league over the next six months.
Domestically, in the Israeli Basketball Premier League they’re faring much better as they should be with an 11-8 record, occupying the second spot in the standings. Even with the rocky situation and Bender’s, dare I say it, potential, I wouldn’t be expecting him to be the one to drag them out of the fire as the young player has a lot of learning to do and seems prone to mistakes as inexperienced players are.
Sample Size
In Israel’s Premier League he’s averaging 44 percent on twos, 50 percent on threes and 60 percent on free throws. The first two are impressive and the second is underwhelming. That is until you consider the tiny sample size we’ve seen of Bender, those percentages are on nine two point attempts, 15 three attempts and five free throws all based on averaging just over 10 minutes a game.
In the Euroleague its not much different where he’s averaged almost the same amount of minutes and the shot sample size is similarly tiny. The stats from these games are fairly useless and focusing on them in a vacuum would only give a false impression of Bender as a player. The only thing really worth taking away from it is that he’s not afraid to shoot threes.
Hype Management
So why if he doesn’t have the numbers or minutes for people to get excited about are people excited? Just by the fact that he is a seven footer who can rebound and block, but more importantly move and shoot. Considering Porzingis and the wonderful things he is doing in New York its understandable that there’ll be a little more hype surrounding another overseas prospect two years his junior and only two inches shorter with some similar skill sets, even if the already being made comparisons aren’t exactly warranted.
A couple of highlights from this year show his capabilities but also how raw he is, which is expected but perhaps less so than he should be for his age.
Dragan Bender says NOT IN MY HOUSE ! pic.twitter.com/s9hViidYY9
— EuropeanBBallVideos (@EuroBBallVideos) December 11, 2015
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdf1a7Ggieo
Given his size and potential it’s not outlandish by any means to put him a top ten prospect but there’s a long way to go to the draft and fans of his in the draft should be rooting for Maccabi this Thursday in the hope of seeing more highlights from the young Croatian in the next six months, not to mention that he would get more higher level experience than just playing in the Israeli league.
In place of other Euroleague news this week here’s a parting corner three from Bender:
DRAGAN BENDER ! #CornerThree pic.twitter.com/1IamqWvvfe
— EuropeanBBallVideos (@EuroBBallVideos) December 3, 2015
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