Dragan Bender
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Bender with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2015
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| No. 3 – Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv | |||||||||||||
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| Position | Forward / Center | ||||||||||||
| League | Israeli League Euroleague |
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | November 17, 1997 Čapljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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| Nationality | Croatian | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2013–present | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| 2013 | KK Split (Croatia) | ||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | KK Kaštela (Croatia) | ||||||||||||
| 2014–present | Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) | ||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | → Ironi Ramat Gan (Israel) | ||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Medals
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Dragan Bender (born November 17, 1997) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Super League (BSL). He stands 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) and plays the power forward and center positions. He has been widely considered one of the top international prospects for the 2016 NBA draft, and is consistently considered to be a top 3 selection throughout the process. Although originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bender represents Croatia in international competition, with experience in the FIBA Europe junior tournaments. Before playing in Israel, he competed with multiple teams in Croatia and in Nikola Vujčić's academy.
Contents
Early life
Bender was born on November 17, 1997 in Čapljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a city on the Croatian border, and he later moved to Split, Croatia.[1] At 12 years of age, he started playing at Nikola Vujčić's basketball academy as a point guard.[2] Vujčić was a former Maccabi Tel Aviv star and became Bender's guardian.[3] At the academy, Bender became a more versatile player and he "learned how to play all the positions on the court."[4] Dragan played there along with his older brother, Ivan.[5] Bender also played with the KK Split youth teams at this time, and he appeared for the Croatian under-16 national basketball team.[6] He idolized and modeled his game after Toni Kukoč, a former Croatian NBA player, while growing up and watched his old game tape.[1][2] He mostly watched Euroleague games but would sometimes tune into the NBA as well. One of his favorite Euroleague players was Šarūnas Jasikevičius.[5]
Professional career
Croatia (2012–2014)
Bender made his professional debut at 15 years of age with KK Split. He played only a total of six minutes and added two points and one rebound.[7][6] For the following season, Bender remained in Croatia and signed with KK Kaštela, who played in the country's second-best league.[8] With his help, the team was promoted to the A-1 Liga, the top league in Croatia.[9] Most notably, he made a game-winning shot with three seconds remaining against KK Gorica to help his team secure the promotion.[9] Later, in February 2014, Bender joined the KK Cedevita junior team for the Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament. He put up 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists vs the junior team of the Serbian club KK Mega Basket.[10]
Israel (2014–present)
In 2014, Bender signed a seven-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a team that played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the Euroleague.[11] He was soon loaned to Ironi Ramat Gan of the Liga Leumit, the second-tier league in Israel. Bender would spend the 2014–15 season with Ironi.[12] He made his debut on October 21, 2014, posting 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists vs Ramat HaSharon.[13] He recorded another double-double on December 12, with 23 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Maccabi Ra'anana.[14] Bender scored a season-high 25 points as his team defeated Barak Netanya by one point on January 1, 2015.[15] After 28 games, he finished the season averaging 9.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks.[7] As the season came to a close, Bender returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he would continue his career for the following season.[16]
Bender debuted for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League on October 11, 2015, with 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a win over Maccabi Kiryat Gat.[17] He scored double figures for the first time with the team in a rematch with Kiryat Gat, adding 15 points.[18][6] Bender scored a season-high 16 points on December 31, 2015, as his team defeated Hapoel Holon.[19] During his second season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bender would be named a foreign All-Star for the event. He'd also help Tel Aviv repeat as champions in the Israeli League Cup by beating Maccadi Ashdod 83-75. In the event a team in the 2016 NBA Draft would want him to play in the NBA immediately, both Bender and the team would have to pay a combined total of $1.3 million to buyout his contract in Israel.[20]
International career
Bender competed for the Croatian national team at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Latvia and Lithuania. Through five contests, he averaged 2.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.6 minutes per game.[21] In 2015, Bender was called up Croatia for the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Crete, Greece, but he was forced to withdraw because the team's players were obliged to wear Jordan Brand clothes and shoes due to a sponsorship agreement. Bender had signed a similar agreement with his sponsor Adidas, which prevented him to wear other brands.[22]
References
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- ↑ Dragan Bender Buyout Numbers Revealed
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