As much as it pains me to say it, Dragan Bender was getting held down in Milwaukee. You can make a compelling argument that he DESERVED to get held down, but it’s not an argument that I would agree with. He’s shown just enough skill in this league to deserve a rotation spot. Not a very big spot, mind you, but at least something other than perpetual DNP-CD’s and pine-riding. I’m not even pandering to Croatians here. These are my earnestly-held beliefs. If those earnestly-held beliefs happen to pander to Croats, that’s their fault and not mine.
The Warriors were a good situation for Bender to land in. Some young players would implode when ending up on a team where there’s not a lot of talent, not a lot of hope for wins (ignore this game, which the Warriors won easily) and not a clear pecking order. For example, Willie Cauley-Stein didn’t fare well at all. I think he was expecting to be on a contender and couldn’t deal with things when Curry wasn’t single-handedly bring the team to the playoffs.
Bender, on the other hand, seems to be adjusting just fine to being a larger part of the offense. He had thirteen points two games ago and now has scored fourteen in this one, a total which, Suns fans will be happy to tell you, is just about the most amount of points that you can reasonably expect Bender to score in a single game. Suns fans will also happily tell you that Bender has previously put together short runs of improved play and that it never amounted to anything. I choose to ignore that fact. Ever since this guy was on the Bucks, I’ve turned from a detractor to a supporter. Why am I so fickle?