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I'm not sure where this idea is coming from that our bench doesn't have enough talent, or that we need to sign another guy. Check out the bench we had when we won the 2009 and 2010 NBA titles:


2009: Recall Odom was the starter

-Bynum coming off injury played 95 mins entire series
-Jordan Farmar
-D Benga
-Josh Powell
-Sasha Vujacic
-Luke Walton
-Shannon Brown
-Sun Yue
-Adam Morrison

or 2010:

-Lamar Odom
-Shannon Brown
-Jordan Farmar
-Sasha Vujacic
-Luke Walton
-D Benga
-Josh Powell
-Adam Morrison

vs

2012:

-Steve Blake
-Jordan Hill
-Antawn Jamison
-Devin Ebanks
-Jodie Meeks
-Darius Morris
-DJO
-Robert Sacre

So you guys telling me you'd prefer 2009's bench instead? Just look at the talent we have compared to what we had before. I think people saying our bench doesn't have enough talent have a really short memory of what the Lakers are able to win titles with. Our bench doesn't need work once the starters can take care of business, this bench can hold a lead better than that bench that used to blow 25 point leads night in and night out. My question is where does the idea that we need some type of amazing stellar bench to win a title come from ? How did this concept originate? Not seeing the reason.

You forget Lakers had Ariza too. Big spark off the bench in 09. Also your core was 3 years younger.

Farmar and Sasha are being vastly underrated along with Odom's impact. That unit played with a high tempo, had multiple ball handlers and the 3 point shooting was consistently good either from Sasha, Farmar or Shannon, Ariza and even Odom at times.

The biggest difference however was how smart Phil was in using them. He'd run Gasol and Ariza with the 2nd unit at times and mix Luke/Powell's minutes with the 1st unit, not to mention Kobe and Gasol could play 40 mins a game at a higher athletic peak.

Bench being better does not mean much. Miami did not exist at the time. Thunder was crap at the time. Other teams GOT better.

Lakers and Boston emerged the same year. Before that Spurs, Dallas, and Phoenix owned the league.

Spurs, Dallas, And Phx didn't get worse, the Lakers and Boston GOT MUCH better, so they got overthrown.

Lakers = two superstars
Boston = 2 stars + 1 superstar(kg)

Next we got

Thunder = 2 superstars with 1 off the bench star
Miami = 3 superstars

Teams are gradually getting better and better. When Gasol was traded to us because we've been a 1 star team and the difference propelled us into championships. 3 finals appearance. Anthony and Iverson was good too if it weren't for us stomping him out of the playoffs. And by the time Anthony and Amare tried to get together it was too late. The era of the 3 superstar teams has emerged, and 2 just didn't cut it.

This year we got 1 superstar and 3 stars. 2 of them are pass their prime, and one of them has been regressing slowly (Pau, emo problems). We're gonna have growing pains like Miami, and if our bench doesn't improve then it's gonna slow that process even more.

I'll take Farmar, Brown, LO (2010), and Ariza (2009) over Blake, Meeks, Jamison and Ebanks any day of the week.

gotokyo wrote:I'll take LO (2010) over Blake, Meeks, Jamison and Ebanks any day of the week.

Fixed.

how can u compare a championship team bench that year that lead the league in bench scoring putting up 40 points a game to this crap mike brown put on the floor now that barley get us maybe 15 on a good day

Why does this even matter?

-Laker's starting backcourt is a lot worse compared to 2009-2010.

-Laker's frontcourt is roughly the same (IMO 2012 MWP/Gasol/Dwight will have less impact than 2009/10 Artest/Odom/Gasol).

-The roster had a lot more chemistry in 2009-2010, simply because they've played more games together.

-Much, much, much, much, much, much better coaching

-Weaker competition.

Interesting point, but the bench will matter little unless the first five can gel.

Plus Phil knew how to better manage the roster/minutes than MB, so that washes it as well.

It's to early to tell.
Wait until the team gels a little.
At the end of the season, we will know the answer.

By taking a guess, I will say this year's bench will be stronger.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:Farmar and Sasha are being vastly underrated along with Odom's impact. That unit played with a high tempo, had multiple ball handlers and the 3 point shooting was consistently good either from Sasha, Farmar or Shannon, Ariza and even Odom at times.

The biggest difference however was how smart Phil was in using them. He'd run Gasol and Ariza with the 2nd unit at times and mix Luke/Powell's minutes with the 1st unit, not to mention Kobe and Gasol could play 40 mins a game at a higher athletic peak.

Exactly. People are giving Mike Brown the short end of the stick here. When Phil was in trouble he would have Kobe and Gasol log heavy minutes too but back then they were capable of playing those minutes and the Lakers relied less on the bench than they do now. Gasol was a huge threat to opposing teams and Lamar Odom was the perfect fit to everything Gasol did. You guys should really look at the team as a whole and not just the bench.

no the bench isn't better than in 2009 or 2010.

farmar, sasha and shannon could all dribble penetrate and shoot from distance AND run the triangle

we don't know how good we had it

While I agree with the spirit of the thread, yes those title team benches don't sound formidable now, they had three big things going for them: chemistry, continuity, and clearly defined roles.

Our team was so versatile that we used to be able to run with the Suns and scrape it out with Boston.

Now...we're older, slower, and unknown.

Yes a guy like Meeks is more athletic than Sasha, but he's not going to get any PT it seems.

Give me Farmar, even disgruntled Farmar, over an older Steve Blake.

Give me Pau and Lamar playing with the bench guys, I mean Jesus, people forget the chemistry those two had together-- it was THEY who made made us special.

Sure, Hill has shown he can be a great hustle big, but Josh Powell was scene as a locker room leader. Kobe loved him, they all loved him, and he didn't even play.

So I think while Jamison, Meeks, Ebanks, and Hill could be more than sufficient to win, they need to be utilized well and given roles that are within their skill sets and clearly defined. Tough to focus on when you have two new cornerstone starters, a new offense to teach, new bench, and a coaching staff who is unfamiliar with the personelle.

Gonna take experimentation.

This bench needs to step up and prove itself before it is better than a team that won a championship.

this bench is better on paper I agree but when you got a coach in Brown who doesn't seem to give any type of consistency in PT to his guys they aren't performing.

Farmar, Sasha, and Brown started the season well each year, but each one of them became absolutely useless for large portions of the season. When it worked and they were all firing well, it was awesome... They just couldn't keep it going.

Let's not over-rate those guys... They were and are all borderline scrubs... Farmar is probably the best of them all... Which isn't saying much.

It's like Ariza... All these guys are better in retrospect.

^ Or Phil Jackson put them in places and line ups where they flourished and made a name for themselves. You can add Radmanovic (starter on a finals run in 2008) and Turiaf, Walton to that list as well.

That was just great coaching.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:^ Or Phil Jackson put them in places and line ups where they flourished and made a name for themselves. You can add Radmanovic (starter on a finals run in 2008) and Turiaf, Walton to that list as well.

That was just great coaching.

Yep...

Or playing in LA next to Kobe Bryant brought the best out of them... I think that's especially true for Ariza and maybe Sasha...

I think Phil, or maybe more accurately his coaching staff, did a great job with them.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:Farmar and Sasha are being vastly underrated along with Odom's impact. That unit played with a high tempo, had multiple ball handlers and the 3 point shooting was consistently good either from Sasha, Farmar or Shannon, Ariza and even Odom at times.

The biggest difference however was how smart Phil was in using them. He'd run Gasol and Ariza with the 2nd unit at times and mix Luke/Powell's minutes with the 1st unit, not to mention Kobe and Gasol could play 40 mins a game at a higher athletic peak.

Very strong post Slava, everything is on point. Yes our 3 shooting was much much better than now. At least with Sasha and Jordan and Trev they weren't scared to shoot the ball. The guys we have now have no confidence in their shot. Plus that unit could push tempo, hell I remember that unit taking meager 4-6 point leads and busting games open to double digit leads. And lets not forget that unit could hold leads in the 4th and it allowed our starting 5 to rest at the end of many games.

Don't know how anybody can think our bench is better now......it clearly isn't.

Kilroy wrote:Farmar, Sasha, and Brown started the season well each year, but each one of them became absolutely useless for large portions of the season. When it worked and they were all firing well, it was awesome... They just couldn't keep it going.

Let's not over-rate those guys... They were and are all borderline scrubs... Farmar is probably the best of them all... Which isn't saying much.

It's like Ariza... All these guys are better in retrospect.

but they were borderline scrubs with mojo, look at the sorry state our bench is now