Dragan Bender can play. I know that preseason literally means nothing, it has no bearing at all on any sort of regular season reality, but here’s the deal: Bender looked 100-percent playable during those games. He wasn’t a world-beating stud or anything, but he was a SOLID stretch five with some passing ability. I thought he’d be in line for at least a few minutes once the games started mattering, but none when they REALLY started mattering (which would be during the playoffs). He wasn’t the most awful unplayable garbage while in Phoenix, he was just a disappointment for where he was selected, and I thought the Bucks would pick him up, turn him around, and make him into a playable fringe-of-rotation big.
I was wrong. This is only third game where he’s even been available to play; every other game he’s been inactive. I thought he was looking good, but apparently he wasn’t even good enough to get DNP’s. Before tonight, he had played a grand total of 2 minutes on the season.
Thank goodness that he was active for this game (probably because Brook Lopez was injured or sick or whatever and the Bucks needed another true center besides Robin Lopez), because it was a blowout by the start of the second half and only got worse for the Horriblenets from there. I was almost delirious with excitement when I saw Bender walk to the scorer’s table not in the fourth quarter, but in the THIRD quarter. The Bucks’ jerseys said “Cream City”, but there was a different kind of “Cream City” going on when he came in and promptly hit a three from the corner, cementing his status as an official bucket-getter for the Bucks.
Based on what I saw tonight (which was 12 points worth of sweet shots as well as a nice assist), I don’t see why he can’t play at least some games. D.J. Wilson is super great and I will always love him and his graceful movement, but I would be fine to see him on the bench in a suit if it meant at least a little bit of playing time for Bender. He can still be good, I don’t care if there is no evidence to this point to support that assertion, I will remain a believer as long as he’s on the Bucks. Don’t let the fact that I believed the same about Rashad Vaughn (still do, actually) dismay you.