Second-year Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender has been showing signs of promise in recent games, particularly in terms of his shooting. Bender is averaging 7.4 points while shooting a blistering 52 percent from beyond the arc over his last nine games. That type of shooting could be especially useful on a Suns starting lineup that is devoid of consistent shooting aside from Devin Booker.
But despite entertaining the idea of finally giving Bender the chance to start, Suns coach Jay Triano is still sticking with veteran big men Greg Monroe and Tyson Chandler as the starters with Bender coming off the bench, in large part because he thinks Bender is doing so well in his current role.
“I can’t say I haven’t thought about it,” Triano said per Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic. “But I think he’s been thriving in his role right now.”
Bender has been part of a resurgent Suns second unit which is currently seventh in the NBA in bench scoring at 39.3 points per game. Triano is hesitant about breaking up a unit that's finding a rhythm playing with one another.
However, if the Suns aren’t able to snap their current three-game losing skid soon, he might be forced to reconsider his stance on Bender in an effort to shake things up and provide more spacing for the starting unit.
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