Our bench is incomplete and disappointing

[Tr1boy]

Honestly its getting real bad that the starters get you almost 20 point leads and when 2nd unit comes in they are constantly getting outplayed by the opposing second unit and getting the lead down near single digits. (with the starters having to comeback again and getting guys like kg pizzed)

big baby tonight was garbage(i thought for a second he was playing for the wrong team)and has been really bad the past 5 games, eddie house can't get the ball passed the half court and obryant is clueless.

so far this season powe(what a guy, plays hard all the time) and tony allen have been the only decent consistant bench guys

I don't feel good facing cleveland or lakers with the bench we have in the playoffs. We are missing pj brown and a legit backup point to get the ball over the halfcourt(lindsey hunter would have been an incredible pickup)

So my point with this thread is that ainge can't relax with the bench we have and has to make some moves by trade deadline and or pickup a guy like pj again. (and i presume sam cassell is resting up for his shorten season to come)

Oh yeah one another thing is that big baby and pruitt better try harder because i doubt they will get extensions or even be in the nba next year

[Sweet17]

Well in fairness our most talented bench player was injured. it's better then it looked tonight.

[tb727]

It is better than it looked tonight but regardless- we desperately need a big man with length.  Ilgauskas on the Cavs and the Lakers with Bynum and Gasol- if Perk or KG gets in foul trouble we're in danger.

I think they need that more than the pg who can get it past halfcourt and a swingman to replace Posey.

Someone I was thinking about tonight, if he's got anything left, would be Lafrenz.

[RMO]

I don't feel good facing cleveland or lakers with the bench we have in the playoffs. We are missing pj brown and a legit backup point to get the ball over the halfcourt(lindsey hunter would have been an incredible pickup)

I doubt in the playoffs we'll see Doc replace the entire starting lineup at the same time and the rotation should tighten up.  Withstanding a blow out I'm sure that they'll be at least one member (more often than not two) of the big three on the floor at all times.  You're right though.  It's been frustrating to see these leads get blown

[Sweet17]

I personally don't think we need another PG. Had TA been on the floor he could have helped out House with the ball handling. I do think we either need Giddens/Walker (or some big swing man pickup) to step in here and take some of Scalabrine's minutes - and a pickup like a Joe Smith for backup center.

Like alot of fans I kinda hope it doesn't come down to trading Giddens or Walker as its nice to develop the guys you drafted. But it might come down to that. I also think BBD is probably going to be the odd man out as well. I don't think we have bird rights on him - he signed a 2 year deal right?

[tb727]

I personally don't think we need another PG. Had TA been on the floor he could have helped out House with the ball handling. I do think we either need Giddens/Walker to step in here and take some of Scalabrine's minutes - and a pickup like a Joe Smith for backup center.

That's the other guy I'd love to get.  I read on a Marc Stein chat that said he'd be bought out before year's end.  He's got more length than Powe and Davis and can hit that perimeter shot.  Would be a great pickup...

[Tr1boy]

I don't feel good facing cleveland or lakers with the bench we have in the playoffs. We are missing pj brown and a legit backup point to get the ball over the halfcourt(lindsey hunter would have been an incredible pickup)

I doubt in the playoffs we'll see Doc replace the entire starting lineup at the same time and the rotation should tighten up.  Withstanding a blow out I'm sure that they'll be at least one member (more often than not two) of the big three on the floor at all times.  You're right though.  It's been frustrating to see these leads get blown

Good point that during the playoffs prob two of the three big three players will have to play but it shouldn't have to be that way. Also you are forgetting if the big three or starters have to play alot then as the season goes on they will get more worn down.

I don't know if i want to blame ainge for getting obryant (cuz maybe thats the best he could do) but something has to happen. I didn't hear officially 100 percent pj brown is retired , god i hope not. Don't care if he only plays half a season , see you and cassell then

[amenhotep04]

Way overreacting.  The bench has played so much better than any other second unit in the league.  They have two bad games that correspond with Tony being hurt, as well as some problems with the rotation against Indiana, and the sky is falling.

When Tony's in the game he controls a lot of the tempo.  He wasn't around and so the pressure on Eddie made the second unit completely in chaos.  If Tony's there, this doesn't happen, and we win the game by 25.

No problem.

[Tr1boy]

I personally don't think we need another PG. Had TA been on the floor he could have helped out House with the ball handling. I do think we either need Giddens/Walker (or some big swing man pickup) to step in here and take some of Scalabrine's minutes - and a pickup like a Joe Smith for backup center.

Like alot of fans I kinda hope it doesn't come down to trading Giddens or Walker as its nice to develop the guys you drafted. But it might come down to that. I also think BBD is probably going to be the odd man out as well. I don't think we have bird rights on him - he signed a 2 year deal right?

this is big baby and pruitts last year. Big baby played alot harder last year. This year i have no idea what he is doing. Just cuz he has one year down his belt he thinks he can keep the ball down low and try to score against a guy with 3 or 4 inch length advantage.

[Tr1boy]

Way overreacting.  The bench has played so much better than any other second unit in the league.  They have two bad games that correspond with Tony being hurt, as well as some problems with the rotation against Indiana, and the sky is falling.

When Tony's in the game he controls a lot of the tempo.  He wasn't around and so the pressure on Eddie made the second unit completely in chaos.  If Tony's there, this doesn't happen, and we win the game by 25.

No problem.

are you serious?? what you are saying is equivalent to saying without paul pierce our starting unit would stink. You can't depend on one guy like that. We can't think tony allen will be healthy 100 percent cuz no player is.

I guess you didn't see how pizzed kg was

[Roy Hobbs]

Way overreacting.  The bench has played so much better than any other second unit in the league.  

I disagree with that.

For instance, the Celtics are 15th in the NBA in points per game, and 14th in points per 100 possessions.  The Celts' reserves are 9th in terms of "+/-", with 34 more points scored than their counterparts.

Those are respectable numbers, but not close to "much better than any other second unit in the league".  (Less respectable:  Celtics bench players rank second from the bottom in terms of assists, and are in the bottom ten in rebounds and blocked shots.)

Link.

[Steve Weinman]

I personally don't think we need another PG. Had TA been on the floor he could have helped out House with the ball handling. I do think we either need Giddens/Walker to step in here and take some of Scalabrine's minutes - and a pickup like a Joe Smith for backup center.

That's the other guy I'd love to get.  I read on a Marc Stein chat that said he'd be bought out before year's end.  He's got more length than Powe and Davis and can hit that perimeter shot.  Would be a great pickup...

Yep, yep and more yep, tb.  Agreed.

-sw

[BballTim]

I don't feel good facing cleveland or lakers with the bench we have in the playoffs. We are missing pj brown and a legit backup point to get the ball over the halfcourt(lindsey hunter would have been an incredible pickup)

I doubt in the playoffs we'll see Doc replace the entire starting lineup at the same time and the rotation should tighten up.  Withstanding a blow out I'm sure that they'll be at least one member (more often than not two) of the big three on the floor at all times.  You're right though.  It's been frustrating to see these leads get blown

Good point that during the playoffs prob two of the three big three players will have to play but it shouldn't have to be that way. Also you are forgetting if the big three or starters have to play alot then as the season goes on they will get more worn down.

I don't know if i want to blame ainge for getting obryant (cuz maybe thats the best he could do) but something has to happen. I didn't hear officially 100 percent pj brown is retired , god i hope not. Don't care if he only plays half a season , see you and cassell then

  We're 19-2 and the big three aren't playing any more minutes than they did last year. Relax.

[amenhotep04]

Way overreacting.  The bench has played so much better than any other second unit in the league.  They have two bad games that correspond with Tony being hurt, as well as some problems with the rotation against Indiana, and the sky is falling.

When Tony's in the game he controls a lot of the tempo.  He wasn't around and so the pressure on Eddie made the second unit completely in chaos.  If Tony's there, this doesn't happen, and we win the game by 25.

No problem.

are you serious?? what you are saying is equivalent to saying without paul pierce our starting unit would stink. You can't depend on one guy like that. We can't think tony allen will be healthy 100 percent cuz no player is.

I guess you didn't see how pizzed kg was

No, that isn't what I'm saying. The entire second unit played poorly. But when you look at the entire season, they've out-performed every other second unit.  Tony plays a key role.  What about the slow starts of the first unit that were bailed out by the second?  No one seems to be mentioning that.

Two bad games by the second unit when Tony's not on the floor is not reason to complain.  If he continues to be hurt, or others get hurt, or have the flu, or whatever something that is persistent, then there's reason to panic.  But given the circumstances there's no reason to freak out.  

KG was upset, sure, but wasn't everyone?  But how many times this year did the second unit bail out the starters early in games?

To say the second unit is incomplete based on the first 21 games isn't realistically looking at what they've done.

[RondosHands]

I agree that has been my whole concern all year our bench. We are fine with teams that are not going to make the playoffs but when the playoffs come around the bench needs to get better. I dont care about the offensive side but the bench needs to play better defense how many times already this year our starters have left the bench with a 20 point lead and doc has had to put the starters back in because the bench couldnt hold the lead. We def need a big man to secure our bench maybe pj or the person i really like is Joe Smith.