Wheres our bench gone

[kevin_405]

The last 10 odd games Sasha and Farmar have been going though a bad slump.. Neither can play the point well or defend well..

Should we have gone after a better back up point guard?

[TylersLakers]

I think we should just give Shannon Brown a look. I agree though.. looking at options like Luther Head or something before the trade deadline would have been fitting.

But, it is what it is. We have to roll with it. Hopefully Sasha can get his game back in the stretch drive. He's a much more effective player when he's playing with Kobe.

[slifersd]

The problem is simple: Farmar is a running type of point guard and he doesn't fit in well with our now slower pace. Vujacic on the other hand had one good year during his contract year and has now fall back to his normal level.

[microfib4thewin]

Farmar not fitting in the half court had nothing to do with him not being able to make any jumpers at all. Last year at least he can knock some shots, this year he's shooting worse than Odom did last year. Worse is his inability to finish any shots like the wide open blown layup tonight. Farmar is really important to the bench. If he struggles everyone struggles.

[Mamba Venom]

Well the Lakers best bench player is gone LO...
Vlad and Mihm (depth) are gone

So the Bench wont be back until BYNUM is back and Jordan is throwing LOB passes and SASHA is getting wide open lookes when BYNUM is getting doubled.

FLFI ODOM is miles ahead of ARIZA. Come off season if its one or the other SIGN ODOM

[kooner]

Lakers bench will be back to its usually selves when Bynum returns. Odom will be the bench leader and get them back on track, once odom is coming of the bench. LAKERS NBA 2009 CHAMPS

[hermes]

players go through slumps (in sasha's case it's a season long one) but they will come out of it


hopefully for the playoffs

[Sonny_D1]

Yahoo is claiming Ariza will probably start the rest of the way:

Thu, Mar 12

F Trevor Ariza started at small forward Wednesday night in Houston and probably will continue to stay there despite a preference to lay low on the bench. It'll be a test of sorts for the Lakers, who hope to re-sign Ariza at season's end and make him a long-term starter.
(Yahoo! Sports)

Any truth to this or confirmation out of LA?

Thanks.

[lakersfanatic]

they've been horrible lately. I remember phil mentioning something about...they're not playing a team game but instead all for themselves.. Seems like they're just jacking shots. I hate how sasha is trying to be like Reggie (run and shoot). He just can't do it in games.. he should just stop.

I was a bit surprised that Phil started Josh and Ariza. I thought it was going to be Josh and Luke, but phil probably wanted his defenese. I think phil will do the same today. But in order to win this back to back game..
1. someone has to really piss up Kobe. LOL
2. our bench needs to play better team ball.
3. hopefully the suspension will help spark the LO we saw several games before he went back to his slump again.

[semi-sentient]

I don't think I'd mind Ariza playing as a starter simply because it helps our defense. His shooting isn't any worse than Walton's, but we do lose out on some play-making.

Anyway, I think one of the biggest reasons that our bench is struggling is because Vujacic has had a normal year by his standards. We were spoiled with his play last season which appears to be a complete fluke, unfortunately. Farmar has struggled lately as well, but his numbers haven't dipped anywhere near as much as Vujacic's.

Also, the absence of Walton has meant less play-making off the bench, and if you recall he played behind Radmanovic most of last season when the bench mobb made a name for themselves. I think him being on the floor has a positive impact on everyone else, so I can see why they are exploring the possibility of starting Ariza and moving Walton back to the bench (where he probably belongs). That's going to pay off in the long run as both Odom and Bynum seem to play better when they are on the floor with Walton, so our bench will be fine once everyone is healthy.

[triplethreatt]

The absence of Walton has no impact on what the bench was doing earlier this season though. Odom being forced into the starting lineup has. Maybe putting Odom back as the 6th man and starting Powell isn't a terrible idea, especially with Odom's recent slump.

I still don't believe Sasha is 100%. His shots look way too flat, like he isn't getting enough lift out of his legs. Farmar is another story altogether. He looks like he is again hitting the rookie wall in his third season. Ariza isn't getting the same quality looks with his teammates struggling, and seems to be laying off his man defensively way too much. The whole unit is in disarray, hopefully the return of Bynum will shake things up. Until then, starting Powell over Lamar may be effective.

[kevin_405]

The first half of the season bench did seem to do much better with Lamar coming off the bench.. our bench woes started a couple of games after Lamar moved into starting line up..

So may be there is some fact there that Lamar is a better value with the bench mob..

Since Josh has a better the mid range jump shot over Lamar i actually like Josh in the starting line up with Kobe because otherwise the opponents can sink in and clog the paint..

Good move by phil to shakeup and try and get better productivity on the floor

[miggs]

i agree. It seems LO is better leading the bench mob. He knows he's the first sub in and he acts like the spark he should be off the bench. Ariza didn't do too bad last night, missed some wide open 3s

I'd love to see Powell start more, he REALLY gave the Lakers that spark of dominance with his explosive dunks and display of emotions following the dunks. He ended up with 17 pts (8-14 FG), 9 rebs (3 offensive), and 1 stl in 34 mins of action! If he could get production like that consistently, which i think he definitely can, then we can have Odom stay on bench and start Powell till Drew is back!

Whoo Whoo for Powell's nice game last night!



Powell's last 5 games:

21-38 FG (55.2%) 9.4 ppg, 5.8 rebs, 1 blk in 22 mpg = 19 ppg 12 rpg 2 blks rougly in 48 mins

The numbers make sense if you compare them to last night's avg. I'd like to see Powell start more.

[semi-sentient]

With the way Powell is playing, I would definitely prefer him in the starting lineup over Odom.

His mid-range shot is much, much better than Odom's, and he's a pretty good rebounder as well. The only thing we really lose is ball-handling, but Kobe and Fisher can certainly pick up the slack.

What will be interesting is what happens to Powell when Bynum is healthy. I don't see how he can get playing time over Gasol and Odom. Moving Odom over to SF would work, but then what the heck do we do with Walton? I suppose Powell will probably play some backup C, but I think he's a bit undersized for that.

Ultimately, our best rotation from top to bottom is as follows:

PG: Fisher/Farmar
SG: Kobe/Vujacic
C: Gasol/Bynum
PF: Powell/Odom
SF: Ariza/Walton

You can't get anymore balanced than that. That 2nd unit right there is probably better than a few NBA starting lineups. Of course, our 3-point shooting is going to be atrocious since Fisher seems to be the only one on our team that can knock them down consistently, but it'll be manageable. The important thing is that the above rotation allows Kobe/Fisher/Gasol to get more rest while the 2nd unit dominates.

I doubt we'll do it though, but I think it would be interesting to try it out for a whole season.