| Did the Grizzlies Screw Up the Bench? |
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| Written by Chip Crain |
| Friday, 13 November 2009 08:29 |
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Did the Grizzlies screw up their bench this year?  Wow. Can you believe after the disaster that was the Grizzlies bench last season that this question can even be asked? But it is being asked and for good reason. The bench isn't better than last season at this time. Last season's bench was horrible and the changes made by the team appear to have only made it worse. But why? It has a lot to do with the lack of veteran presence anywhere. Last season fans complained about Quinton Ross. He is starting for Dallas now. People hated Greg Buckner saying he was over the hill but he brought consistent veteran leadership when he was on the court too. Marco Jaric was not even invited to come to training camp this season and yet his veteran presence could have been a stabilizing influence on a young team with the right attitude. Darko Milicic was a strong defensive center and while no one is arguing that Randolph isn't an improvement over Milicic, his absence on the bench is noticeable. Hasheem Thabeet has been painful to watch on most nights. Hamed Haddadi hasn't been an improvement. Hopefully, Sam Young and DeMarre Carroll will be better than Ross and Buckner at some point in their careers but they aren't right now. Their inexperience and the lack of a positive role model coming off the bench with them has contributed as much as to their slow start as anything else. Rookies can start strong. Rookies can contribute right away but it is much easier for a rookie to do these things with a strong veteran leader helping him along. It's not who is on the bench. it's who is not on the bench that is the main problem. The LA Clippers announcers said when AI left the locker room that the players were saying it was like a breath of fresh air. That AI sucked the life out of the team. This is the man the team courted so furiously this summer? Allen Iverson should learn from other teams in our division who have superior players coming off the bench too. Dallas has Q Ross starting and Jason Terry coming off the bench. San Antonio has Michael Finley starting and Manu Ginobili coming off the bench. There is NOTHING wrong with helping the team by filling a need that has to be filled. So come back AI and play the role the coach assigns you to the best of your ability. It is just going to take a while to get there. |
Comments
My dissappointment with the bench is the lack of 3 point shooting/scoring. For the first 5 or so games, they played an uptempo style of ball, and the bench are all defensive orientated players. It's all mixed up. Either draft uptempo guys who fit, like other teams like the Suns or Nugs do.. or draft defensive orientated players, and play defensively from the very first game of the season like it's a deliberate plan. Being young and inexperienced just makes it ten times worse.