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After watching a couple of preseason games i thought the sixers bench would be a big weakness. After watching them blow the knicks out, probably gonna be one of the worst defensive team in the league, i was really impressed with Willie Green. He shot lights out. If he, along with Lwill, Rush, Ivey, Evans and hopefully Speights play well together, i think the bench could be one of our strenghts. Any thoughts?

I don't know. There are some good players in the bench bur my concern is with the pf and c positions. Speighs, Evans, Rattliff and D Marshall will be enough? If they are the bench will be fine.

That's as much big man depth as any team in the league. Our big man rotation is fine.

Inconsistency is going to be the biggest problem with our bench this year. Lou should fairly consistent this year but can we count on a consistent performance for Willie Green? Can we count on Theo and Donyell holding up? Can we count on a rookie not hitting a wall? Can we count on the likes of Rush, Ivey, and Evans?

We'll have our good games but I fear that for every night like last night there will be a night in which we get very little. Of course, with our starters being who they are and Lou improving... we should still be fine.

I had high hopes for our bench coming into the season but the first 2 games have been disappointing.
Lou- Has been playing ok but is kind of frustrating to watch at times because 99% of he time he has the ball he shoots. His Fg% (0.379) is nothing to write home about neither
Willie- Good game against the Knicks but as we all know it won't be long before he goes back to good ole Willie chucking bricks.
Rush- deserves a lot more playing time than he has gotten seeing as our 3pt shooting is dreadful. I don't know why Cheeks hasn't played him. He was on for like 2mins against the raps and made a 3.
Marshall- Also should be used situationally to spread the floor more.
Evans- brings hustle and energy
Rotations/matchups- Cheeks has got it wrong so far imo. We go small with Green at the 3, Lou at the 2 and Evans at the 5 which is suicide on D. Also we hardly ever have our best 3pt shooters on the floor when Brand is on to make it easier for him.

The jury is still out though. Hopefully Cheeks spreads the playing time more to take advantage of matchups

The bench players seem well suited to be mixed in with the starters (or fill in for an injury.)

However, I don't like them as a unit. Some teams like LA can send out 4 or 5 bench players together and be effective. i think the Sixers need to keep 2 starters out there at all times to not lose ground.

I would not be unhappy with Thad getting 30-35 mpg off the bench if we had an adequate defensive replacement in the starting line-up. Rush would help spread the floor as a starter, but can he defend the 3 well enough? i think Thad would get more touches coming off the bench and would make it a better unit.

I want to keep Thad in the staring line-up. He's still learning to be in the right position defensively, but down the road he should make a great defensive tandem with Iguodala. There length and quickness should really put pressure on team, turning defense into fast break opportunities. If the team still had onther athletic swing like carney I could see shifting Young to the second unit where he can score more, but I don't like the thought of Rush or (heaven forbid) Green starting.

This team needs to win with defense- and Young needs to develop into a disruptive defensive force at SF.

Offensively, we have the talent and I really do love our bench. But again, that comes down to coaching. As you've mentioned. Our bench is talented, but you can't do what the Lakers can do and play their entire bench and expect the score to even out. The bench is filled with situational players. But that's good. It means you can rest 2-3 starters a couple minutes, depending on who you wanna rest. But alas, Mo Cheeks is a signifcantly lesser Charlie Manuel.


But hey, the Phillies won the WS, so maybe we got something going here with these motivating teacher types?