Bender was always an elite prospect ahead of his peers, so he moved up quickly. I remember, even as a highly touted prospect, he wasn't contributing much because he was playing at a high level and so they used him as a role player. Doncic is the exception in Europe.
My theory is that for the past several years (Euroleague, national team, Suns) Bender has always been treated and coached as a role player and so that's what he has come to identify himself as. I think it's a confidence issue, and it doesn't seem like ha has the innate personality to overcome it.
I bet if we brought in a new coach who featured him (not playing time; playing style) he would have a chance to flourish. The problem is, that requires a lot of dedication to struggling to reach an end result that is far from guaranteed. This would be the year to do it, and it doesn't seem like it's happening.
I can see that but unfortunately I don't see him being featured a lot offensively while with the Suns through the remainder of this season. Trying to get him to try something totally new for him could end in disaster while up on the main roster. His confidence could get hurt bad if they try to use him differently and he struggles really bad. They should send him down to the G-League for a week or two and ask him to run the offense, as a scorer and playmaker but primarily as a scorer. There isn't that much time left to send him down for long, hopefully Williams comes back soon so we can spare the time without him if he is assigned to the NAZ.
That's one of the upsides to having your own G-League team, you can send a player down to work on a specific aspect of their game in an environment where their skill should allow them to out play their opposition and do things easier than they could against actual NBA competition on the main roster. The Suns would need to make sure that he's used in a similar fashion when he comes back to the main roster so he has some consistency and confidence behind his actions. I know Assistant coaches follow players on assignment sometimes but I doubt the Suns are in a position to send one with Bender now. They've had an interim staff all year basically since they fired Watson and don't have a clear cut player development coach or lead assistant that could make sure Bender would be used down their like the Suns would use him once he returned. Sending him with directives should be good enough though. It would be better than playing him sparingly as just a role player on the main roster for 20 minutes a night.