Our current bench, if Time Lord is starting, is:
Thompson
Fournier
Langford
Pritchard
Grant
First two guys are nearly starters and would start on a weaker team. Very solid bench players. The main problem we have is the youth of the next three guys.
Opinions vary on Romeo, but I think his defense is already very good and will fit us perfectly. His offense will be limited this year, but I trust him to make simple plays. I really like his potential.
Other benches are better for their teams, and probably in general - Utah and the Lakers are coming up for good reason - but we really haven’t seen our bench unit yet. The other night when the bench gave us 10 points we were without Fournier and Time Lord. No
The bench has a been a problem all year.
Fournier should help a lot.
Romeo can play D but I think people are very optimistic about his offense.
Grant is pathetic and does not produce for minutes played. He has been a little better recently. But he is a product of the lineups he plays with not a big impact guy. He does not rebound well, can't rim protect and is constantly targeted by the other team as a weak spot. He can match up ok against other slow guys like Joker but more athletic guys blow by him like he isn't there.
Pritch just had a good game but prior to that he was hitting the rookie wall.
Your post sounds like your trying to talk yourself into to liking the bench. Did it work?
Because the last few teams we played against had guys out that would bolster their benches here and there.
Also, the bench was terrible earlier in the year and so is this bench without Fournier. That was a big mistake by Ainge to ignore the need. I don't think he would get a pass.
This does not even mention nor do you the G league level talent guys on our bench that belong more in Maine than the NBA. There are literally, four to five guys that you ignore that hang like an albatross with nothing to help the team other than practice bodies.
I’ll ignore the personal stuff. Come on.
On the substance, you can’t accurately evaluate the bench we have now based on problems earlier in the year. For one, Fournier wasn’t there. We added a 6’7” wing who’s an established 20-point scorer with good efficiency. That’s a big deal. And, when you add him to the rotation you also get to subtract a bad player like Teague or Javonte. It’s a two for one. Judging what “the bench” can give you w/out considering it’s best player is like evaluating what the starters can give you w/out Tatum.
Langford also wasn’t there. You seem to acknowledge he’s a plus defender. If he’s in a lineup with Fournier, one of the Js, and Thompson or Time Lord, something that should happen regularly, he doesn’t *need* to score a lot. Hit open threes and attack closeouts is plenty. His offense will come in the future, but for now, again, it’s a two for one: swap a bad or iffy player for a good one.
As for the rest, of course we don’t have the best bench in the league. I’m not saying that. We could use a couple more veteran role players.
I am saying it’s wrong to judge this bench by the first part of the year, and I think it’s obvious why. It’s not an atrocity - or at least it’s too early to say, and there’s good reason to expect better things.
If we go deeper, into players at the end of the bench, well, show me a team with good players at the 11-15 spots. Those are players with niche skills or otherwise limited players that you only want to use for short minutes and ideally never in the playoffs.
Topic: Which team's bench would you want? (Read 3687 times)