In retrospect, Bender wise to go pro

By Rick Cleveland
rcleveland@clarionledger.com


You write 200 or so columns a year, you're going to wish you could have a few back. Unfortunately, in column writing, there are no mulligans.

About this time seven years ago, I wrote that Jonathan Bender was making a mistake by going straight from Picayune High School to the NBA. I was dead wrong. In a minute I'll give you 37,000,000 reasons why.

But first, much of what I wrote was dead on: I said that Bender wasn't ready for the NBA. He wasn't. I said he was too frail and would get pushed around by bigger, stronger, older men. He was.

I wrote that although Bender possessed amazing physical gifts, he had shown no indication of having the motor to compete at the highest level over an 82-game season. He had not. In fact, at 6 feet, 11 inches, he played the entire second half of a state championship high school game without getting a single rebound. You would think a 6-11 guy who could jump like a kangaroo would get at least one by accident.

But, bottom line: My overall premise was wrong. Bender did not make a mistake in skipping college and going straight to the NBA. He retired because of chronically bad knees in February having made about $37 million over his seven seasons (including $7.8 million he will receive from an insurance policy next season).

Mistake?

You and I would love to make such a mistake, wouldn't we?

Bender's was a business decision, a smart one as it turns out. So there you have it: 37,000,000 reasons why I was dead wrong.

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One NBA coach once told me that Bender possessed the most amazing basketball skills he had ever seen in a big man. Sadly, Bender retired having never averaged more than 21 minutes, 7.2 points or 3.1 rebounds per game. (I know it is difficult to comprehend that a player could average more than $6 million per season never having produced more than that.)



File Photo/The Associated Press

Indiana's Jonathan Bender, who went straight from Picayune High to the Pacers, blocks a Toronto shot during a 2002-03 NBA game.

Nevertheless, Bender made no mistake.

If given a mulligan, what I would write is that the Indiana Pacers made a colossal mistake by investing so much money in such an unproven commodity. You could argue that the Pacers were victims of bad luck because of Bender's knee problems. I would argue that what Bender lacked, even when healthy, was a self-starting motor. I would also write that NBA teams should measure more than height, weight, wingspan, vertical leap and skill level when deciding what teenagers they make instantly rich.

They should do their best to measure the kid's motor. By that I mean: Is he a self-starter? Does he play hard when things aren't going well? Does he want the ball when the game is on the line? Does he play as hard on defense as he does on offense? Will he play through the inevitable aches and pains? Will he fly after loose balls? Will he play hard without the ball in his hands? Is his character such that he will still play hard even when his money is guaranteed?

The gifted Bender had far more skill than, say, Clarence Weatherspoon or Lindsey Hunter, two NBA veterans from Mississippi. But Weatherspoon and Hunter are self-made players, possessing motors that never quit. Can you imagine Weatherspoon, five inches shorter than Bender, ever going through half a championship game without snaring a rebound?

Neither can I.