Our bench was supposed to be much improved this year. Well, it's IMPROVED, in that it's no longer historically bad, but it's not good. Our starters are great. Surely one of the best units in the league, because everyone knows his role and is performing it well (Lillard's suspect shooting aside). But... do you trust the bench? Do you think, "oh great, now [opposing team] is in trouble" when substitutions start? Or do you think "shit, I hope we can buy Lillard/Aldridge/Matthews/Batum a little bit of rest..." If I had to pick a bench "star" it would be, amazingly enough, Freeland. Of the bench he has by far the best +/-. And even he is someone who can be abused against particular players (Morris twins, for example). Mo Williams just blows so hot and cold, except for his defense which is universally awful. And Dorell Wright has just been kind of meh. Robinson blows SUPER hot and cold. You always know he's out there, but he's still incredibly erratic. So, needs: a good backcourt defender. A backup stretch big. Candidates for the latter would be someone like Channing Frye or Hawes, both of which don't seem to fit with their team's tanking strategies. Not sure about the guard. If Chicago went full tankopalooza, Hinrich might fit, although he's pretty old and they don't really have a PG otherwise. I wonder if NY would part with Prigioni? He's VERY old, but he's in great shape and he's a real PG who plays smart D (within his limitations) and hits threes. Basically the idea for us would be what NY had in Kidd a couple of years back.
Well it's way better than last season. We gotta remember that CJ hasn't even played yet. I'm really excited to see what dynamic he will bring to this ball club.
That's the thing: I don't see CJ getting much, if any, burn. He's basically Mo with even less PG skills. If we moved Mo for a more Kidd-like backup PG then there might be a gap for CJ to fill.
The bench has been a disappointment. I thought it would be better with proven guys like Wright and Mo. It will be interesting to see how things play out with CJ though.
Just put up this years bench number next to last. I'm happy with what we are getting from them. Especially in those first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter last night!
To me, it's more that the bench is not incredibly inept like it was last year. I do wish there was a plug off the bench (besides Williams), and I'm not sure CJ will provide it. BUT I like how they aren't totally taking a crap like last years bench was.
I think CJ is a better pure scorer than Mo is. I think he's better at going to the rack. I guess we'll see, but CJ is supposed to be a very good pure scorer.
Not to mention our starters have gotten much better. Just having back ups so our starters aren't logging +38 minutes a game is a Godsend! Lopez has been the biggest surprise, trumping Hickson's contribution easily.
It seems to me that the bench has gone from pathetic to being able to keep the game within reach. IMO, we need a veteran big who can swing between the 4-5 spot that can punish teams inside offensively, as well as a veteran swing man that can handle 10-12 minutes per night...maybe a defensive stopper (Corey Brewer type?)
The bench could always stand to improve; they have been outplayed a few times recently... but they are definitely better than they used to be. I was amazed that LMA and Lillard only played 37 minutes last night; last season, this would have been a 40+ minute game for both.
Isn't that what Aldridge is? Why not just have Aldridge swing to the five at times and play Robinson with him more often?
I guess I was trying to say having another big instead of Robinson and Freeland would probably benefit us a ton. Not that they are bad in any way, but a player with some playoff experience, that has to command the attention of the opposition when he is in the game would be huge
The best argument to be made for the bench is that last night, we played the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter with Damien and 4 bench players - and during that stretch we not only held our ground, we took our first lead of the game and built on it.
But the problem is that Mo is so dammed inconsistent. Last night he was on, and was an important cog in our victory, but there's no guarantee that he'll have a good game like that. He's our best scorer off the bench, but we have no idea what we'll get from him.
I guess that's why he's a supersub, and why there's a tradeoff. We could have a low-risk, low reward wing like an Ime Udoka type who doesn't fuck up, but doesn't blow up for 20, but would that guy have helped us last night? I like that we have a more powerful weapon, even if he jams up sometimes.
But in a 7 game series, he most likely will be important. I could see him being the hero in one game of the playoffs. Hopefully CJ will get enough burn to be able to come in more if Mo's game is off.
