NBA PM: Lakers Bench Better, Still Average

Hey all,

NBA PM: Lakers Bench Better, Still Average
http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-pm-lakers ... l-average/

Let’s not pretend the Lakers have a “great” bench – they’ll give up leads and struggle this year unless surrounded by two or three starters.

Also – words from Duhon on his struggles in the past – and how DJO hopes to make it into the NBA.

Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve taken a position with the Los Angeles Times, blogging on the Lakers. I will still be writing for HOOPSWORLD but my Laker coverage will move over to the Times.

I have to give a special word to so many who have supported me through the years. I can’t sufficiently put it into words how much it’s meant.

Eric

Some interesting insights. Thanks for that.

I think of our bench as a question mark. I don't know that they will give up leads, but that's because I don't know what the bench will look like.

Blake/Duhon isn't bad at all if they're healthy. Will Duhon be healthy? Will Blake be aggressive?
Goudelock is a huge question mark in terms of whether he'll make the second year leap. Will things finally click?
Ebanks can D and slash, but will he do other things like rebound and continue to hit the midrange?
Jamison can score; will he be able to keep doing that as the primary offensive option on the second unit?
Hill's back scares me a bit, too.

Hard to judge with the second unit's rotations being in chaos right now. Once it's stable we'll be better able to see where they're at (assuming Brown ever stablizes the bench rotation).

Wouldn't say great, but I do think we have a very good bench on paper. Not as good as the other LA team, who's 3 deep at some positions, but it's infinitely better than the bench squad we've trotted out on the court in recent years.

I don't think we will really know what our bench is capable until, perhaps, January. I think they will take much longer to mesh than the starters. They're the ones who's names are written in pencil as far as the rotations go and they are the ones who will be working more within the structure of the Princeton offense.

Plus, it's pre-season. I try to take as little as possible away from pre-season, especially when the coach is using the games as an exercise and cares nothing about the W-L record. If they are still looking "average" when Hill returns and the rotations are set and the games count...then there's something to look at.

Blake/Goudelock/Barnes/McRoberts/Murphy

Blake/Meeks/Ebanks/Jamison/Hill

Bench definitely improved, solid...I think they can be a little above average once they gel, especially Meeks/Jamison/Hill

Ugh, doesn't MB have an idea of who to cut or send to the D-League by now? We all know Morris is D-League fodder, and other guys like Aguilar, Nelson, and Somogyi definitely won't make the squad.

So why do we keep playing these people???

We should be trimming our roster down to 15 or 16 and playing more "likely" lineups. This isn't Summer League anymore...

By the way, HUGE congrats on making L.A. Times!!!

Preseason means jackcrap.

Jamison and Meeks are for real. I can see Jamison playing with the starters sometimes when we need a stronger O and less D. I'm a little afraid of MB's idea of playing the 2nd unit alot together. Benches don't work that way; a starter or two is always out there with them. MB seems to be missing the point again regarding bench play.

Congrats Eric on the big job!! I think I'll start reading the Times again.

Benches are not meant to be full of all stars lol They are there to be good fill ins to give our 4 All Stars a rest so really there's not point critisizing Our Bench.

This lineup will be able to score : Blake/Meeks/CDR/Jamison/D12

Our bench will have huge struggles :

- everytime we have three poor scorers together on the floor ... for instance , Blake, Ebanks, Hill

- if Pau plays with the 2nd unit as he lacks agression as the go to guy

Pb is Brown is thinking about D while he should think more about O when it comes to the 2nd unit ...

D isn't a pb with Dwight in the middle and it's not like Meeks and CDR are the worst defenders in the league

Morris is better than blake and duhon keep hating yell™

ben_ready wrote:Morris is better than blake and duhon keep hating yell™

No, he's not. If he was, he would have been able to earn minutes or taken the backup spot from Blake by now, like during that time Blake was injured last season.

As for our bench, I look at it this way, usually the teams with amazing starting lineups don't have a great bench because all the money is put into the starters. You can't have it both ways, you have to compromise in some area, ours is our bench. Having Hill and adding Meeks and Jamison is actually really good for a team with a starting lineup as good and as highly paid as ours. Look at what Miami had to settle with in terms of a bench last season, ancient guys and rookies, and they still got it done because their starters were so good.

^ Yep. Considering the absolutely dominating starting five we will eventually roll out there barring injury, our bench is fine.

We have enough there to give our starters what they need to win games. Plain and simple. I doubt there'll be many instances when the bench actually wins us games by running up a score the starters couldn't, but they'll be alright. We don't need them to be the best, just good enough and once the rotations settle they will be.

This bench is proving to be only incrementally better than last year's terrible bench, although Hill is out.
I hope improvement is on the horizon. All of the starters played approx 33 minutes, but it still was not enough.

JSM wrote:Wouldn't say great, but I do think we have a very good bench on paper. Not as good as the other LA team, who's 3 deep at some positions, but it's infinitely better than the bench squad we've trotted out on the court in recent years.

I don't think we will really know what our bench is capable until, perhaps, January. I think they will take much longer to mesh than the starters. They're the ones who's names are written in pencil as far as the rotations go and they are the ones who will be working more within the structure of the Princeton offense.

Plus, it's pre-season. I try to take as little as possible away from pre-season, especially when the coach is using the games as an exercise and cares nothing about the W-L record. If they are still looking "average" when Hill returns and the rotations are set and the games count...then there's something to look at.

Totally agree

The Clippers bench ****s all over the Lakers bench, that's for sure. You got Odom, Bledsoe, Crawford, Billups, Hill, Barnes and Turiaf. That's a borderline starting line up.

Please do not bypass the swear filter. Thanks- therealdeal

Lets Go Lakers wrote:The Clippers bench ****s all over the Lakers bench, that's for sure. You got Odom, Bledsoe, Crawford, Billups, Hill, Barnes and Turiaf. That's a borderline starting line up.

Please do not bypass the swear filter. Thanks- therealdeal

Turiaf and Barnes are scrubs, Odom is fat and out of shape I doubt he's a factor, Billups will probably start at the 2, Crawford is a chucker on a swift decline, Hill is decent, but won't be able to play many minutes. All in all the Clippers have a decent bench, but not much better than ours.

Having a great bench is one if not they most overrated needs for a championship, ever. Starters play 35-40 min per game in the playoffs.

Texas Lakers Fan wrote:

Lets Go Lakers wrote:The Clippers bench ****s all over the Lakers bench, that's for sure. You got Odom, Bledsoe, Crawford, Billups, Hill, Barnes and Turiaf. That's a borderline starting line up.

Please do not bypass the swear filter. Thanks- therealdeal

Turiaf and Barnes are scrubs, Odom is fat and out of shape I doubt he's a factor, Billups will probably start at the 2, Crawford is a chucker on a swift decline, Hill is decent, but won't be able to play many minutes. All in all the Clippers have a decent bench, but not much better than ours.

I haven't seen too many Clipper preseason games, but there bench is much better and deeper than ours. Barnes has been having a great preseason along with Bledsoe and Crawford.

With all due respect..... when was our bench just below average last year?.... We were the worst in most categories weren't we? Average would be a 50% improvement.....

On paper we should be better but has anyone seen it in the pre-season? This is when these guys should be engaged more than ever since they are fighting for PT and a spot on the team.

Meeks showed a little in one stint..... Ebanks showed a little in another.... Sacre is doing about as good as can be expected from him but the rest are not very good. Jamison is either coasting during the pre-season or he's having trouble adjusting to shortened minutes and playing with the poor guards of the second unit because he's not looking very good right now.

Blake and Duhon will be the key to this group. If one of them steps up and plays even O.K. it could make or break our bench play this season. If not then we will run Nash into the ground I'm afraid.

Hopefully getting Hill back and shortening the rotations will gel this unit and start some teamwork.... because that seems to be the missing ingredient with them....