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Bender Testing Vertical Leap in the Business World

You sit there and watch Jonathan Bender moderate a cutting-edge gathering to unite investors and entrepreneurs and you're reminded of the fundamentals.

Don't judge. Don't stereotype. Don't assume.

Here was the Pacers' former first-round draft pick, the 18-year-old stick of potential out of a small-town Mississippi high school, so fresh and innocent that he didn't even have a tattoo (yet), running a meeting for people looking to invest in or build successful businesses.

People might have laughed at that scenario 16 years ago when he joined the NBA, or even nine years ago when he left the Pacers because his knees wouldn't allow him to continue.