Dragan Bender
From one unproven NBA contributor to another, Dragan Bender comes to Milwaukee seeking a fresh start after largely floundering in his first three NBA seasons with the Phoenix Suns.
That’s certainly what he and the Bucks hope the fourth overall pick from the 2016 NBA Draft achieves across his stint in Milwaukee, and the system the team has constructed under head coach Mike Budenholzer may be the very thing that unlocks the 21-year-old Bender’s potential.
Bender pointed to that very fact when asked at this year’s Media Day about what drew him to Milwaukee as he looked to restart his NBA career this summer:
"“It’s definitely a good match. If going towards free agency I could have picked a team, it would have been this one. From the first day I got here, it’s definitely been a comfortable system for me. You know, all these guys made it easy for me, but it’s just easy to play with these guys. You have to be able to shoot the ball in the system they have, but as long as you know your spots on the court, and know the system they’re playing, you’re going to do fine.”"
And as we all know, the Bucks’ system has been designed and is at its best with Antetokounmpo pulling the strings, and the early returns from Bender’s performance this preseason have shown that he’s acclimating to his new surroundings just wonderfully so far.
It’s hard to envision Bender getting major rotation minutes and seeing the floor with Antetokounmpo for great stretches throughout the coming season, but if Bender can be a spacing threat, knock down shots and act as a deterrent in front of the hoop defensively, he could increase that low likelihood.