I think the problem with our bench is not that it sucks, quite the opposite it is a very good bench, but it is very young. With the exception of Eddie House and Sam Cassell and Brian Scalabrine, of which the latter two barely play and are really players number 14 and 15 on this roster, our bench consists of an inconsistent 5th year pro who really is a third year pro if counting the fact that he missed most of two years due to injury, two third year pros, two second year pros, and two rookies.
That's a lot of youth who are being counted on to be role players and get on the floor and provide consistent results within an inconsistent time frame. It's very difficult to ask of young players and yet due to the talent and intelligence of our young bench players the Celtics have been able to succeed. But, like all young people, they will be inconsistent.
Couple that with the fact that since March of last year Eddie House has been in a terrible regular season slump, and we should expect strings of great games followed by strings of not so great games.
This, for me, is where I believe Danny went wrong this off season. I would have preferred consistent experienced pros where you would know what to expect most games and not some of the inconsistent youth with low risk, high upside potential.
But we have to go forward with what we have and are lucky to have the best, most defensive efficient starting five in the league and one of the by products of a youthful, inconsistent bench is there will be days where the starters will need to carry this team and play extra minutes. Hopefully it won't burn out the starters and the youth will develop.
I'm encouraged by what I see and hope that the bench will play more like the group from the first 7 games and less like the bunch that has played the last two games.
