Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Dragan Bender’s two-year, veteran minimum deal
By Adam McGee
Fit
Bender’s fit is very much a theoretical one. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s all going to come down to Bender translating his potential into concrete results.
Bender is similarly sized to the Lopez brothers, and has shown impressive flashes as a rim protector. That means he should be able to slot into the Bucks’ core defensive scheme, but Bender also possesses greater mobility than either of the Lopez twins which could make him an intriguing option when the Bucks opt to switch too.
Offensively, the results may not be all that impressive to date, but there’s certainly a case to be made that Bender plays the game “the right way”.
The 21-year-old is a willing passer who has demonstrated impressive vision from the top of the perimeter, and even more impressively has the ability to thread the needle to execute on those opportunities. Bender has the hallmarks of the passing big men that coach Mike Budenholzer has loved working with in the past, and may even allow him to implement more high/low passing sets in the frontcourt. That was a go-to for Bud in Atlanta, and if Bender can earn minutes with his overall play, he certainly has the potential to operate in that capacity alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The real key to Bender’s offensive fit with the Bucks will be his work out of the pick-and-roll, though. With the Suns, Bender’s instinct has been to dive to the rim out of his picks, and that will still have some utility with the Bucks. Undoubtedly, Milwaukee will also encourage Bender to pop more frequently, though, as they look to maximize floor spacing.
Bender will have some convincing to do behind the scenes, and will likely have to first take full advantage of garbage time opportunities, but if he can do that, he should then have a chance to showcase elements of his game that could make him a strong fit in Milwaukee.