The Ringer: Bender, Ulis are must-watch Summer League players
Jul 8, 2016, 10:00 AM
From left to right, Phoenix Suns second-round draft pick Tyler Ulis and first-round draft picks Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss are introduced to the media as head coach Earl Watson smiles, Friday, June 24, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
With the NBA Las Vegas Summer League getting underway, the Phoenix Suns are hoping that their draft picks can make some early noise.
The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks chose not one but two Suns who NBA fans should keep their eyes on during the Summer.
The first player he mentions is the 7-foot-1 power forward, Dragan Bender.
… Bender is a pretty well-known product, despite how he was often portrayed coming into the draft. Now that we’ll be able to watch him up close and personal, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares playing off the ball with the Kentucky backcourt of Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker likely dominating the action for the Suns’ summer league team. There should be minutes available for Bender coming off the bench as a rookie in Phoenix, so developing a rapport with Ulis will be essential.
For Maccabi Tel Aviv last season, Bender averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. He played 12.9 minutes a game for the Israeli ball club.
Although the stats don’t scream MVP, Bender is only 18 years old and was playing at the highest levels in Europe before the Suns drafted him.
Joining Bender in the Summer League is Kentucky point guard Tyler Ulis, who also is listed by Tjarks as a player to keep tabs on.
As one of the smallest players in Vegas, Ulis doesn’t really fit the profile of a Kentucky point guard — certainly not the one shared by his future teammates in Phoenix, Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. Summer league isn’t the NBA, but it isn’t the SEC either, where he was the Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. In the past, the summertime struggles of undersized guards like Shane Larkin and Trey Burke in Vegas and Orlando wound up being early warning signs for problems they would face in the NBA.
Before being drafted in the second round, Ulis averaged 17.3 points, three rebounds, seven assists and 1.5 steals on 36.8 minutes per game for the Wildcats. The 20 year-old may only be 5-foot-9, but he is the only other Wildcat since 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis to win the SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year awards.
