Jonathan Bender

[Lettucexxxx]

Watching this Legends All American Jam fest thing on the U......Jonathan is part of the festivities.

Hearing or reading his name gives me flashbacks. What a debacle that was. He would be the first of a few program changing players that chased that money. Can't blame them but I would have loved to have seen him in Maroon and White.

Never really set the world on fire in the league but he would have been a man child in the SEC.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Didn't he get injured right from the start and never really recover?

 

[Lettucexxxx]

Can't really remember.

 

[HWY51dog]

Played his rookie year with Pacers then knees never let him get right again. I believe he has become really successful with real estate on the coast.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

Him and outlaw both went pro like 2 yrs apart right?

 

[aTotal360]

More like 10. And don't forget about Monta...

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

About 5 I think.

 

[patdog]

I remember watching the McDonald's AA game that year. Early on I was thinking, man, this is great, Bender is looking good, I'm so glad he's coming to MSU. Then by the 2nd half, I started thinking, uh oh, he's looking a little TOO good, I think we may have an NBA problem here. By the end of the game, I was thinking, damn, he gone.

 

[klong-dog]

I think Bender was 99 & Monta 05. Just a few years back, Bender still had the game scoring record in the MCDONALD'S ASG, that was held by MJ, until Bender broke it. Bender had some decent but injury filled years with the Pacers. Just couldn't stay healthy. Think he was diagnosed with chronic knee complications/injuries. You wonder if he were to attend college and could have had a good weight program, might would have helped him support that long, lanky structure.

 

[DudyDog]

I read an article right after Bender left the NBA. He was actually diagnosed with some type of physical term that I can't recall, but it had to do with him growing too much, too fast through his childhood. His knees were never strong enough to keep up with his body basically. Thus the injuries that followed.

 

[HotMop]

Here you go:

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/08/02/whatever-happened-to-jonathan-bender/

 

[Seinfeld]

Almost have to throw Al Jefferson in there too. Technically, he committed to Arkansas I believe, but from what I was told at the time, he was not as heavily recruited by Stans as he could have been. Everyone with half a brain knew that he was NBA-bound

 

[maroonmania]

Almost have to throw Al Jefferson in there too. Technically, he committed to Arkansas I believe, but from what I was told at the time, he was not as heavily recruited by Stans as he could have been. Everyone with half a brain knew that he was NBA-bound

Yep, Bender was likely headed to college until the McD AA game. He probably made north of 5 million dollars just based on how he shot up the draft boards after that game.

 

[DAWG61]

Pretty sure Bender also invented some medical device after he retired.

 

[LandsurveyorDawg]

Picayune boy.