Laker Bench Overrated!

[Tommy Trojan]

it will be interesting when a weaker bench and a soft team beats you guys... life is a bi0tc

[DubaLakers]

Celtic fans a few of you get it but the rest of you really are filled with hate, have you even watched Laker games?

Some of the statements you are saying are just moronic...

#1 Scrubs - Coby Karl, DJ Mbenga, Ira Newble, and Trevor Ariza. ...Every team has players that don't get much PT but Ariza a scrub? Wait till he D's up one of your best player PP. Every one of our players can play except for Newble that guy looks terrible.

#2 Next one..I didn't even know the Lakers bench was rated anything. They aren't too good that's for sure. ...He doesn't follow the NBA to make such a statement.

#3 Next one some kid named Gonzolays gets all bent out of shape about how someone coined Sasha the machine and he's all ticked off about it then his cronies chime in yeah take that. Take what?

Sasha did not coin himself that nor did the Laker players, it was a reporter, and it was a joke at first a good laugh, then it stuck. Yes Sasha has taking a bunch of errant shots in the playoffs, but he was the a great 6 man all year and closed games because of his shooting threes and defense down the stretch. One things for sure the dude hustles like a mutha, he's athletic can play the 1,2 or sometimes three if it's a real small lineup, and he can guard like a mutha has given the best players in the league fits all year.

[RASMARX]

This is the Laker Bench:

1. Vucavic
2. Walton
3. Farmar
4. Turiaf

So how long has this thread been up? And still
1. Vucavic
remains an unknown Laker player to us Laker fans.

At least get the spelling right bro. Oh wait, you are from Boston.

[GuyClinch]

I like the Lakers bench - personally. But I feel they have some really bad matchups with the C's - defensively. They have alot of offensive minded players. It's up to the C's to take advantage of this and outscore them..

Pete

[MyInsatiableOne]

I like the Lakers bench - personally. But I feel they have some really bad matchups with the C's - defensively. They have alot of offensive minded players. It's up to the C's to take advantage of this and outscore them..

Pete

I agree. This is not going to be a cakewalk by any stretch. And Kobe's talent combined with all the calls he's going to get will make it that much harder.

[davidse]

the laker bench has been huge at the beggining of the season, and was probably the best bench in the nba.

the reason is because that bench not only had farmar, vujacic, walton, and turiaf (as it does now), but it also had kwame brown, m.evans, b.cook, and javaris ceittenton.

but then cook and evans were traded for ariza - which at first was fantastic for the lakers, but then as ariza went down you basicaly lost a lot of that bench power.

and when bynum went down you lose even more depth.
sure, kwame and crittenton for gasol vastly improved the team, but with bynum down, the bench sufferred - no more kwame off that bench.

the lakers added m'benga who's done surprizingly well when he did get minutes (but for some reason jackson doesn't use him unless he absolutly has to), but overall, that bench is not as good as it's been.

if it's overrated - it's because people remember it as the best bench in the league (which is was), but ignore the fact that it's really not the same bench anymore - just another solid bench.

however, ariza is supposed to be healthy now, and i expect him to play heavy minutes against boston.
that means the laker bench just got a whole lot better - either by adding radmanovic (if ariza starts), or adding ariza who wasn't getting any playing time in the playoffs untill now.

this is where the o.p. is dead wrong, and this is where you should defenetly be carefull about not UNDERrating the laker bench.

anyone who's seen the impact ariza has had on the laker team when he joined - shocking everyone with how quickly he was able to get major minutes from phil jackson - should know that ariza being healthy now should defenetly change your evaluation of the laker bench and the laker team.

[SashAlex]

It's about energy and executing, not about points and whatever you're saying !

[DEEP3CL]

We can't underestimate their bench. I hate to say it but they don't have that one guy (6th man) that is above the others because they all play well, each bringing a different element to the unit, while all bring energy due to their youth(which I hope comes back to bite them). If Ariza is healthy he could be key, since he has always played Paul pretty well (in his Knick, Magic days) due to his lenght, but then again Prince had that advantage as well.

Didn't Sasha give himself that nickname, isn't that the reason Charles and Kenny make fun of him?

Can't wait for this series to start!!!

Stu Lantz the Lakers color analysis announcer gave Sasha the name and play by play announcer Joel Myers ran with the joke on a telecast on game and it just stuck. Mostly because Sasha finally started being a major factor in game rather then just busting his teammates in practice. All the people in the media on the east coast got the whole damn story wrong.

[P2]

If it gets bad you'll have to play starters on the second team whcih just breaks down your starting 5. Good luck with that.

We have done that all year and it worked. So why shouldn't it work now?

[eatyourchildren]

-= original quote snipped =-



We have done that all year and it worked. So why shouldn't it work now?

Maybe because in the playoffs Doc hasn't shown his ability to stay cool under pressure and remember who to sub in in what situation?

[ParticleMan]

LMAO @ all the Laker fans getting their panties in a bunch.

yeah, your bench is good. ours is pretty good too. you don't get to the finals having a crappy bench.

but really, who gives a crap about the 8th-12th men? are they going to mean anything at all in this series? no.

It's about the starting 5 and maybe the 6th man. everyone else is along for the ride. I'll take our top-6 over the Lakers anyday.

[eatyourchildren]

LMAO @ all the Laker fans getting their panties in a bunch.

yeah, your bench is good. ours is pretty good too. you don't get to the finals having a crappy bench.

but really, who gives a crap about the 8th-12th men? are they going to mean anything at all in this series? no.

It's about the starting 5 and maybe the 6th man. everyone else is along for the ride. I'll take our top-6 over the Lakers anyday.

Who said anything about the 8-12th men? That's a strawman argument, and not even one used effectively.

Good coaches have a solid 9-man rotation coming into the postseason. Even better, the 6 through 9th men should be able to not just spell minutes for the starters (which is what the Celtics use them for), but be able to make meaningful contributions, optimally as a fully independent unit in and of themselves (which is what the Lakers use their bench for).

That way you don't have, you know, 4th quarter letdowns. That should be familiar to a Celtics fan by now.

[P2]

Here's the efficiency difference for the team's benches in the 2008 Playoffs:

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fa ... iffeff/8-1

Boston at 9... Fakers at 12.

[pfm]

In regards to the Lakers bench...I live in Southern California so I get to watch every Laker game and I feel their bench is nice, but I really dont feel its superior to Boston's bench. Sasha is a nice player and can bring some shooting (and annoyance) to he floor. Turiaf is a nice hustle big man to bring in and is also a good defender (although sometimes too aggressive and thus foul prone). Farmar is a decent backup PG, although he does tend to make some mistakes over the game. The player that I feel is immensely overrated after watching many Laker games is Luke Walton. His jumper is pretty inconsistent and although he does make some nice plays on the floor he also makes some horrible decisions and misses a lot of shots inside. He also isnt anything special defensively.

I feel the Celtics bench can bring just as much to the table. Posey is an excellent player to bring off the bench, as he provides great defense, hustle, 3 point shooting, and also some veteran savy. Powe and Davis provide some nice depth down low and bring hustle, similar to Turiaf, but I feel Turiaf is better defensively, while Powe and Davis bring more offensively. I really hope Doc give House some minutes to spell Rondo and change up the Pace. Fisher is a good defender, but hes not a guy who is going to put immense pressure on the ball, thus House wont have to worry too much about bringing the ball up the court. House will help space the floor with his shooting and I think will provide an excellent change of pace to Rondo.

Ive seen pretty much every game for both teams and I feel that both benches bring some nice depth, but I think the notion that the Lakers bench is that much better is really misguided.