Lakers bench?!

[flyofchange]

Ive seen some talk on here and it seems some people really believe that the lakers bench is good....

Whaaaaaaat?

lakers have easily one of the 5 WORST benches in the nba!

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

[bfrombleacher]

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

Because when Dwight and Nash were traded to the Lakers, bandwagoners hitched on the Laker train. Hope it breaks down.

[flyofchange]

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

Because when Dwight and Nash were traded to the Lakers, bandwagoners hitched on the Laker train. Hope it breaks down.

  I guess.

I mean i personally would hate our bench if the first guys coming of it was jamison and blake.....

But thats what you get when you spend 84 million dollars on your starters 

[manl_lui]

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

Because when Dwight and Nash were traded to the Lakers, bandwagoners hitched on the Laker train. Hope it breaks down.

  I guess.

I mean i personally would hate our bench if the first guys coming of it was jamison and blake.....

But thats what you get when you spend 84 million dollars on your starters 

its ok, wasn't it almost the same when we got KG, Ray Ray with Pierce...

other players just joined in shortly after we traded for them, might be the same for them

[indeedproceed]

Ive seen some talk on here and it seems some people really believe that the lakers bench is good....

Whaaaaaaat?

lakers have easily one of the 5 WORST benches in the nba!

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

5 worst?

Maybe, if you wanted to look at it top-to-bottom.

But their 10-man rotation of:

Nash/Blake
Bryant/Meeks
Artest/Ebanks
Gasol/Jamison
Howard/Hill

Is on paper the best and most balanced team in the league.

If they can somehow leverage an improvement at the gaping hole at the 3, well jeez.

[pearljammer10]

The lakers have the best starting unit in the league. Jamison as a 6th man is stellar, im interested to see what he will do on a contending team. Blake as your 7th option is ok then after that it certainly drops off but with hill filling out your 8 man rotation it could be worse. With their starting 5 they won't need much of a bench.

[Roy H.]

I wouldn't consider their bench a strength, but it's not horrid, either.  Jamison is a proven scorer and rebounder (although his defense is atrocious).  Jordan Hill is a competent role player.  Jodie Meeks can shoot.  Blake is a very solid backup PG.

They don't have the impact players off the bench that we do, in terms of guys like Terry, Green, and one of Bradley / Lee.  However, the bench will be able to play the 8 minutes per night that's needed in the playoffs.

I'm still surprised that Grant Hill didn't sign with the Lakers.  He would have been a perfect fit, the exact player that they needed.

[indeedproceed]

I'm still surprised that Grant Hill didn't sign with the Lakers.  He would have been a perfect fit, the exact player that they needed.

Me too. He would've taken their only huge weakness and addressed it. Plus, Steve Nash.

[Finkelskyhook]

I wouldn't consider their bench a strength, but it's not horrid, either.  Jamison is a proven scorer and rebounder (although his defense is atrocious).  Jordan Hill is a competent role player.  Jodie Meeks can shoot.  Blake is a very solid backup PG.

They don't have the impact players off the bench that we do, in terms of guys like Terry, Green, and one of Bradley / Lee.  However, the bench will be able to play the 8 minutes per night that's needed in the playoffs.

I'm still surprised that Grant Hill didn't sign with the Lakers.  He would have been a perfect fit, the exact player that they needed.

Can they play more than 8 minutes a night during the regular season is the question. 

The aging starters might not have to work as hard offensively....But with los Nash...The other 4 starters will have to work twice as hard defensively scrambling to contain los Nash's man.  They are going to get worn down.

[indeedproceed]

I wouldn't consider their bench a strength, but it's not horrid, either.  Jamison is a proven scorer and rebounder (although his defense is atrocious).  Jordan Hill is a competent role player.  Jodie Meeks can shoot.  Blake is a very solid backup PG.

They don't have the impact players off the bench that we do, in terms of guys like Terry, Green, and one of Bradley / Lee.  However, the bench will be able to play the 8 minutes per night that's needed in the playoffs.

I'm still surprised that Grant Hill didn't sign with the Lakers.  He would have been a perfect fit, the exact player that they needed.

Can they play more than 8 minutes a night during the regular season is the question. 

The aging starters might not have to work as hard offensively....But with los Nash...The other 4 starters will have to work twice as hard defensively scrambling to contain los Nash's man.  They are going to get worn down.

Kobe, Pau, and Howard are all elite defenders. Artest is 'good enough'.

And Grant Hill hasn't broken down playing next to Nash, despite playing 30 minutes a night while he was 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 years old.

[flyofchange]

Kobe, Pau, and Howard are all elite defenders. Artest is 'good enough'?


Howard is an elite defender, kobe used to be a solid defender when he wanted to, he has always taken alot of plays of and he hasnt deserved half of his all team defense selections in my opinion.

Pau is a good defender nothing more, where do you get the idea that he is an elite defender?

Artest is actually the only one who has been an "elite defender" exept for howard but artest has declined over the years.

The Lakers are in big trouble on the perimiter and howard is gonna have his hands full blocking shots in the lane.

A stoneage nash whos never defended in his life and a far from prime kobe guarding younger quicker guards........

And btw, jamison is 36 years old, he shot 40% last year and the dude cant play defense, sixth man of the year.....dont think so

Its gonna be fun watching kobe and nash trying to guard rondo, bradley, Lee and terry when they go up against the Cs 

And whos guarding westbrook in the playoffs.....

I dont think we will have to worry about the lakers going to the finals

[flyofchange]

Ive seen some talk on here and it seems some people really believe that the lakers bench is good....

Whaaaaaaat?

lakers have easily one of the 5 WORST benches in the nba!

Any suggestions to why some people believe its good?

5 worst?

Maybe, if you wanted to look at it top-to-bottom.

But their 10-man rotation of:

Nash/Blake
Bryant/Meeks
Artest/Ebanks
Gasol/Jamison
Howard/Hill

Is on paper the best and most balanced team in the league.

If they can somehow leverage an improvement at the gaping hole at the 3, well jeez.

best and most balanced......

The backups Blake ebanks and jamison are scrubs
Hill and meeks are okay i guess but you are giving these bums way to much credit.
Except for the starters this is areally weak tem.

[Who]

Yeah, LA probably has one of the worst benches in the league.

They don't have a single above average bench player. Most of them are average to a bit below average and one horrible one in Jamison who has been rubbish for a few years now. Ebanks looks their best bet for a quality reserve but he has been slow to progress since he's been in the NBA. There is good talent there though unlike the rest of the supporting cast.

[LooseCannon]

lakers have easily one of the 5 WORST benches in the nba!

The very easy way for anyone who disagrees with this statement to make a case that it is wrong is to come up with at least five teams with worse benches.

Eh, people who think the Lakers have a good bench probably read Bleacher Report.

[Finkelskyhook]

I wouldn't consider their bench a strength, but it's not horrid, either.  Jamison is a proven scorer and rebounder (although his defense is atrocious).  Jordan Hill is a competent role player.  Jodie Meeks can shoot.  Blake is a very solid backup PG.

They don't have the impact players off the bench that we do, in terms of guys like Terry, Green, and one of Bradley / Lee.  However, the bench will be able to play the 8 minutes per night that's needed in the playoffs.

I'm still surprised that Grant Hill didn't sign with the Lakers.  He would have been a perfect fit, the exact player that they needed.

Can they play more than 8 minutes a night during the regular season is the question. 

The aging starters might not have to work as hard offensively....But with los Nash...The other 4 starters will have to work twice as hard defensively scrambling to contain los Nash's man.  They are going to get worn down.

Kobe, Pau, and Howard are all elite defenders. Artest is 'good enough'.

And Grant Hill hasn't broken down playing next to Nash, despite playing 30 minutes a night while he was 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 years old.

I'll maintain that they won't get out of the first round. 

Grant Hill isn't there.  He'd easily be the best player on their bench if he was.  There's a reason why los Nash hasn't been on a championship team.  Howard is a beast (when healthy) But no Mutombo defensively.  The last center who could cover for somebody who showed half the disregard for defense that los Nash has for a Finals contender was Mutombo.  That roster was custom built for Iverson with arguably the best coach of his era...And they still didn't win a championship.  This is neither a perfect team, coach, or offense for an aging team with a sieve at a critical position.  Especially with the quality of PGs in the West.

Brown will only make it to the all-star break if Howard can play every game before then.  Even if he does, the lack of a bench and the age of the starters will make this team no more successful than the last time they tried this.