Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Dragan Bender’s two-year, veteran minimum deal
By Adam McGee
Role
The path to minutes for Dragan Bender is not going to be an easy one, nor should it be.
If Bender performs as he has in his NBA career to date, he’s unlikely to see very much floor time for a Bucks’ team that’s intent on contending for a championship next season.
The Bucks are loaded in the frontcourt, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ersan Ilyasova and D.J. Wilson all slotting in at power forward while also capable of sliding up to center, while Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez have the 5 spot locked down.
Realistically, Bender will slot in as Milwaukee’s third center, and there may be a path to limited minutes for him at that spot if he can show the kind of improvements the Bucks are likely betting on by signing him.
Specifically, I’m referring to Bender’s three-point shooting, which has been patchy at best through his first three seasons, but has been a source of intrigue since prior to his arrival in the NBA. The Croatian possesses an uncharacteristic degree of touch for a player of his size. It manifests itself in his willingness to pass, his relative comfort with the ball in his hands, his understanding of when to drive and his ability to convert in those scenarios, and even in his smooth looking shooting stroke.
When Bender does find a groove with his shot, it looks like he should never miss. For the Bucks, the task will be to identify why he’s only clicked into that gear in brief spurts, and then to rectify it.
If Milwaukee unlocks Bender’s shooting potential, he becomes floor spacing cover at center, which shouldn’t be underestimated when you consider just how central Brook Lopez’s shooting is to the Bucks’ offense.
Beyond that, Bender is an intriguingly dynamic big man in a variety of ways. His role for the year may well amount to working on his game and trying to impress the Bucks behind the scenes, but if he manages to do that, there should be little doubt that he’ll see a second year and have a chance to take larger strides over the course of the deal.