Jonathan Bender

infobox NBA Player
name = Jonathan Bender
nickname =


position = Power forward
height_ft = 6 | height_in = 11
weight_lbs = 202
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1981|1|30
birth_place = Picayune, Mississippi
death_date =
highschool = Picayune Memorial High School
draft = 5th overall
draft_year = 1999
draft_team = Toronto Raptors
career_start = 1999
career_end = 2006
former_teams = Indiana Pacers (1999-2005)
awards =
halloffame =

Jonathan Rene Bender (born January 30 1981 in Picayune, Mississippi) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.

Jonathan Bender has Donald and Willie Mae as his parents. He took frequent trips into New Orleans with his father until Donald passed away when Jonathan was 12. By the time he was 13 years old, he was six foot seven.

Bender focused on AAU basketball in New Orleans and befriended Harlem Globetrotter Billy Ray Hobley, who became a father figure to the teen. Bender leaped onto the national stage when he scored a record 31 points for the West at the 1999 McDonald's High School All-America Game, considered the marquee event for America's most talented prep players, breaking the previous mark of 30 set by Michael Jordan in 1981.

Bender was selected with the fifth pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1999 NBA Draft, straight out of Picayune Memorial High School in Picayune, Mississippi despite a verbal commitment to Mississippi State University. He was then traded to the Indiana Pacers for veteran forward Antonio Davis. Bender then bought a home in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner in 1999, in part to be closer to Hobley (who died of a heart attack in 2002) and his grandmother, Cora, who still lived in Picayune. Being hyped for his size, athleticism and all around skill, Bender scored 10 points in 13 minutes against Cleveland on December 10, 1999. He became the first high school draftee to reach double figures in his NBA debut. [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=JonathanBender-080923&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2]

Highlights of Bender's all too brief career included an outstanding performance in the Pacers' 2004 playoff series with the Celtics, where he led the Pacers in scoring in game 3, and set personal playoff career bests in rebounds and minutes in game 2. In 2001, Bender participated in the Slam Dunk competition during All-Star weekend, where he executed a Julius Erving-style tomahawk jam from the free throw line, left-handed.

Playing in 78 games in the 2001-02 season, he signed a four-year, $28.5 million contract extension. He later saw action in only 46 the following season. Then followed with 21, A persistent sore right knee limited him to just seven games in 2004-05 and two games in 2005-06. Ultimately, Bender averaged just 5.6 points in 237 regular-season NBA games. For many, Bender proved disappointing, never averaging double digits in scoring and suffering from numerous injuries.

On February 4, 2006, Bender was forced into retirement due to chronic knee pain, although he has yet to file retirement papers with the NBA. He played for seven years from 1999 to 2006. The end of his basketball career finalized when the Pacers waived him on June 14, 2006. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2484405 ESPN - Months after announcing retirement, Bender waived - NBA ] ] The Pacers said the remainder of his contract would be paid out through an insurance policy. In 2005, Bender was rated by Sports Illustrated as #11 on the list of the 20 biggest busts in modern NBA draft history. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/06/24/gallery.nbabusts/content.10.html SI.com - Photo Gallery - NBA Draft Busts ] ]

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, he established in New Orleans the nonprofit Jonathan Bender Foundation and the for-profit Jonathan Bender Enterprises. Bender's idealism has manifests itself through initiatives like adopting elementary schools, building real estate ventures, offering free finance classes for some of New Orleans' poorest residents and running free basketball clinics for teens in the New Orleans region.

Bender's for-profit construction company, Kingdom Homes, buys and restores flood-damaged properties in New Orleans' worst neighborhoods. Some other projects include an Italian wine imports company; investment in several high-end real estate projects; inventing and seeking a patent on a fitness device he's calling Bender Bands; owning part of an island and some commerical property in the Caribbean; and owning Studio 5504, a New Orleans recording facility. [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=JonathanBender-080923&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2]

He is a cousin of current New Orleans Hornets guard, Morris Peterson.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jonathan_bender/index.html NBA page]
* [http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/bender_announcement_060204.html Jonathan Bender] – Jonathan Bender Announces End Of Career
* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/06/24/gallery.nbabusts/content.10.html NBA Draft Busts - #11]