Bender’s Road Back…

by Ben Kopelman on December 16th, 2009 at 11:29 am

In a report in the NY Post, Marc Berman offers up some interesting information about how the newest Knick has crawled his way back into NBA shape:

“The 7-foot Bender, in his unorthodox comeback attempt, has used 1996 Olympic gold medalist Carl Austin as his coach. Austin also had wrecked his knee and returned to win the gold in Atlanta in the high jump.

“Bender worked out with Austin for the last year in San Marco, Tex. Austin will come to New York to continue working with Bender, who played his last NBA game in November of 2005 before a chronic injury left him with no cartilage in his knee.

“He had the same situation where he was told he couldn’t play and he came back and won the high-jump medal in 1996,” Bender said of Austin. “We did the same type of training, more of a track-and-field approach. He’s the only person who has that type of knowledge.”

I think we all agree that Bender is a low-risk, high-reward type guy, but the Knicks have played that card a handful of times over the last season and a half, and so far it hasn’t really played out to the teams benefit.

That said, this report interests me because it adds a level of credibility to Bender’s comeback.  He isn’t sitting around, bored, self-deluded into thinking he can just lace up and play again.  The fact that he has been working with a guy who learned how to overcome a similar injury and go on and win a gold medal in the high jump (you need your knees to jump, right?) makes me hopeful for what Bender might be able to do this time around.

If Austin has helped him as much as he seems to have been able to help himself, this could be one low-risk signing that truly pays off…
  • EQ1217

    I have the same expectations for Bender that I have for Darko or Landry, which is zero.

    It’s a great story in that he’s been rehabbing his knees for the past few years, but has he learned to consistently hit 3′s or did he learn some post up moves? A former unproductive super athletic player with wrecked knees that hasn’t played professionally for 4 years does not make for a happy ending.

    Of course, I hope I’m wrong and he does surprise us.

  • Dave the Rave

    We still have not heard if he played any scrimmages with any players anywhere in the last year. How do ya get onto an NBA team and play unless you have been at least playing in a summer league or practicing 5-on-5 games with semi-pros? Has he even played any kind of competition this year?

  • bob go knicks

    wat diff does it make.? if hes a big part of our rotation,then we are in huge trouble

  • MrFurious

    Personally, I doubt if he was training with a resurrected Jesus that he could seriously help us. Let’s face it, we’re not that lucky as a franchise….still, it’s a nice human interest sports story in an after school special sort of way.

    Best of luck to the guy.

  • _Heri

    Yes that was my mistake. It’s Seabees not Seabeas. But I was in fact in the Navy and I’m 100% Navy tested. If Thall prefers to call me SeaBeast, fine by me. Go Navy!

  • Dave the Rave

    The only reason I ask is because we are getting a lot of reports on the guy and it’s not telling us anything important, such as can he play and why we should buy it. My comments were aimed at our Blog Staff. Sorry to be a stickler for good journalism. I’m just a whining Knick Nut. ; )

  • blackwood
  • BiggieSmalls

    He has been doing “track work” with this Olympic medalst./.

    No multi player basketball activities.

    Its a joke that the coach said he is going to put him in.

  • CircleLimit4

    Where did D’antoni say this? MD said he isn’t expecting to play him tomorrow.

  • J_Starks3

    I am on the Donnie Walsh bandwagon but this is a move that as a fan I am discourage about because of two things;

    1- We sign this guy who is a 7 footer that plays like a small forward or a power forward in this system when we have plenty of guys who can fill either one of these spots but we don’t sign a future HOF guard when we needs one. Bender yes but AI no?!?! Don’t understand it.

    2- Like Biggie said MDA already said he would give him garbage time ASAP but he would not do this for our 8th overall pick. Don’t understand it.

    I hope Donnie has a plan for the deadline in February because this moves make no sense unless he comes in and scores 15 and 5 the rest of the season but that is highly unlikely.

    Go Knicks!!!

  • CircleLimit4

    D’antoni said Bender’s had a couple of practices in the last 2 years, I don’t know if they involved and 3-on-3′s or 5-on-5′s. I sure hope so.

    Even if he was playing some incarnation of real ball, Bender is simply a stab in the dark. If he didn’t have a connection to Walsh he probably wouldn’t be on this team. Knicks are buying low and I guess we’ll just sit back and see if he can muster up any kind of value. In the off chance he does have some sort of resurgence (I use that term quite loosely), no doubt his size and skill set would be nice bench piece in D’antoniball.

    Realistically though, I don’t see Bender cracking MD’s frustratingly short rotation. But, as long as that roster spot is vacant, I’d even be fine with him just as a practice body. He had a reputation in Pacer circles as a guy who practiced hard and he’s supposedly a good guy to have in the locker room. Maybe he’ll rub off.

    If only they had signed him a month ago, he could have made for interesting trade filler too.

  • HaS

    “How do ya get onto an NBA team and play unless you have been at least playing in a summer league or practicing 5-on-5 games with semi-pros?”

    It helps when the GM is your friend and the guy who drafted you.

  • CircleLimit4

    “2- Like Biggie said MDA already said he would give him garbage time ASAP but he would not do this for our 8th overall pick. Don’t understand it.”
    ——————————–
    I think that garbage time thing was purely hypothetical and was probably the juiciest soundbite they could scrounge on a signing with as low expectations as this one.

    AP reported this yesterday:

    Bender’s outside shooting and size on the perimeter could fit in with D’Antoni’s offense. But the Knicks coach is taking a cautious approach.

    “I don’t want to just throw him out there,” D’Antoni said. “He’s only had a couple of practices in the last two years.”

    But I agree on your first point. AI is vastly more talented and at first glance it looks like we passed on a steak dinner and grabbed dented, 4-year old can of Spaghettio’s off the shelf instead.

    I guess it was AI’s ‘tude, playing style and a guaranteed contract that was the deal breaker. But Iverson probably wouldn’t have cracked D’antoni’s rotation anyway, haha.

  • BiggieSmalls

    Hahn mentioned it in his blog from pre game

    from the Fix:
    Jonathan Bender will not play tonight against the Bobcats here in Charlotte, as Mike D’Antoni initially suggested he may