I hate the feeling of optimism entering my body. It feels like aliens probing my mind, that’s how uncomfortable and foreign the concept of optimism is to me. I thrive on pessimism and darkness. Positive thoughts to me are like candles in the wind: briefly aflame, then snuffed out quickly before providing any but the smallest flickers of light or the smallest rushes of warmth.
But it’s hard not to feel some optimism watching Dragan Bender get big minutes in two games and put up unbelievably huge (for him) point totals of 12 and 13. Most big dudes in the NBA could score that many points given the amount of minutes Bender has been playing. I can’t deny that. But I’d totally written Bender off as a big steaming bowl of Bustaroni and Cheese, and then he goes and does some things that actually got me a little bit excited. Like that pump-fake drive-and-dunk. That was sicker than an orphanage full of kids with tuberculosis.
When Holmes and Ayton come back, I’m sure Bender will go back to mostly garbage-time minutes. But he might get two or three pity minutes in non-garbage-time. Not enough to sabotage the Suns’ efforts to be competitive, but enough to reward him for his two-game stretch of not-terrible play.
Note: I will steadfastly refuse to call Bender “The Croatian Sensation” until he proves that he can consistently be a “sensation”.