After Morey's imo ludicrous statement that we have on the best benches in the West, let's look at that: * Warriors: Iguodala, Barbosa, Speights, Livingston & Lee * Grizzlies: Tony Allen, Koufos, Calathes, Udrih & Leuer * Blazers: Afflalo, Blake, McCollum, Leonard & Kaman * Rockets: Terry, Brewer, Smith, Jones & Dorsey * Mavericks: Harris, Aminu, Villa, Barrea & Amare * Clippers: Crawford, Hawes, Farmar & Davis * Spurs: Ginobli, Belinelli, Diaw, Splitter, Mills & Bonner * Thunder: Augustin, Adams, Collison, Waiters & Morrow I have to admit, other benches do not look that great on paper either, but given how guys have played I can definitely say that: Warriors, Blazers & Spurs have a far superior bench. Thunder remains to be seen, Grizzlies while on paper are not impressive, are very solid. The only team I feel we are clearly better than are the Mavericks & Clippers. Verdict: Morey is wrong, we are arguably in top 5 benches, but definitely top 3 and one of the best. This is all my opinion, though I think it's hard to argue against the Warriors, Blazers & Spurs. Once Jones is back though, we could definitely get some chemistry and become top 3. This all hinges on Dwight health and Jones' health & play though.
That's not our bench. We don't play big most of the time when we go to the bench. I'd go with this: Prigioni, Terry, Brewer, Jones, Smith
Top 5 of all 15 teams in the West would. I'm not sure we have that, but the West is 15 teams. A team could have a good bench and crappy starters and not be a playoff contender. Seems unlikely, but it's not impossible.
Top 5 in the West IS one of the best and like you said, this is just your opinion meaning that Morey is not wrong (not right either) as this is all subjective.
It's also a fairly ironic statement since our being one of the best teams in The West is due almost entirely to one unbelieveable player, who is a starter.
Why do you care so much about bench strength? When it comes down to playoffs, you go 8 deep most times meaning 9 and 10 may get a minute here and there. Our problem is not the bench, our problem is not chemistry, our problem is roster imbalance particularly no secondary legit playmaker and along those lines no legit starting PG.
Top 5 is YOUR opinion though however, not Morey's which is what his statement was based on. I think we have a top 3 bench, we just have beyond ****ty coaching.
Why are people trying to disprove an opinion with their own opinion? Just idiotic, as far as I'm concerned. Bring the argument with facts and number then we can talk. Listing other benches and saying which you think is better doesn't prove anything. Just dumb. If Morey think we have one of the best benches in the NBA, I have no problem with that statement. It would be one thing if he was talking about our bench before the Brewer/Smith deals then it would be a joke to say something like that. But there are numbers to back up Morey's statement. Since Brewer and Smith have been added, our second unit has been one of the best in that time period.
Your title is misleading. How in any way is this an "Objective look at Western Benches"? Where are numbers, facts, evidence? It's all opinions; subjective.
This is really the statement that hits the nail on the head. I wasn't paying attention to the thread title earlier. The title of this thread is honestly completely false. It should be "Subjective look at Western benches" unless you actually have facts (statistics about efficiency, defensive/offensive ratings, ect) to prove this.
Why not? Benches are hella important, one of the big reasons we lost to the Blazers was because of it, even with Lin the playmaker Our starting line-up is rock solid with Dwight, so our bench is in need of an upgrade. You use the word 'problem', nobody else did. With Harden on the floor you do not need another playmaker. When our bench unit is in, we clearly do.
No harm, no foul. When I saw your title, I was pretty intrigued about the possible numbers you might have pulled up and such, so seeing your post kinda "rubbed" me the wrong way.
While benches are important, starting line up is what carries you on most days. Rockets bench is solid but the starting line up has a glaring weakness at PG. LOL we lost to the Blazers because of our bench? Even with Lin's mediocre and underwhelmin bench play, our bench was overall better. A Blazers bench of Mo Williams, TRob and some other scrubs widely known as one of the worst benches in the league last season. OK.
Top 3-man floor units throughout the season (out of 20 lineups with most minutes): (link) <PRE> Net Rk, Lineup, Minutes, Point differential 1 C. Brewer/J. Smith/J. Terry 279:30 +14.8 2 J. Harden/D. Howard/D. Motiejunas 478:30 +12.2 3 T. Ariza/J. Harden/D. Howard 741:28 +10.9 4 T. Ariza/D. Howard/D. Motiejunas 478:44 +9.0 5 J. Harden/D. Motiejunas/J. Terry 316:39 +8.7 </PRE> Headband of brothers is doing just fine. Beating opponents by more than the starters. I wouldn't worry about them.
We didn't lose to the Blazers because of our bench or their bench. We lost because Lillard, Aldridge went off. Matthews and Batum played really well too. Harden was inefficient, Jones and Parsons were ineffective. Lin was inconsistent and made some key mistakes down the stretch of close games. Howard is the only Rocket that really showed up to that series. Mo Williams and Thomas Robinson were their only players off the bench. We had Lin and Asik, so not much difference in bench talent.
