The Bench

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Lots of chatter about potential trades and free agent pick-ups to help improve our bench, and understandably so. However, I think it's probably too late to do anything at this point, especially since we already used up the Derrick Williams bullet (which I supported, but honestly, has been neutral at best so far...Hoping Mbah Moute pays more dividends as the season progresses). That means the moves that might be available either keeps us mostly in neutral (e.g. Barea for Andre Miller) or is a science experiment (e.g. Turkoglu, Arenas, etc.). At this point, Adelman probably prefers dealing with the devil he knows, not to mention the fact he is going to be slowly integrating Budinger and Turiaf back into the rotation soon.

I'm hoping that the addition of Bud and Turiaf, combined with some honest-to-goodness legitimate practice reps with this homestand, that our second unit will improve from horrible to average-ish. Do I think it's enough to suddenly surge into the upper echelon of the West? Heck no. But I do think we have the talent to displace Dallas from the 8th seed. That's at least 45+ wins this year, which is simply a massive improvement from anything we've seen around these parts in around a decade.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

forums are full of trade proposals, but one thing to consider is that it actually takes time to incorporate new players into the system and get some chemistry going, there is going to be mid season very soon, and i dont think that we can trade like crazy and expect good outcome, also the more you trade the more clueless you look as a GM, i think we are stuck with what we have, also considering that we have like zero tradeable assets excluding 2016 first ofc

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

I was going to start a threat today to talk about our bench, but since Q beat me to it, hopefully this will augment what is intended for this thread and not alter it.

I agree that we are not going to trade to improve our bench at this point. My reasons are a bit different though.

On the season our bench is 2nd to last in the league with about 1.58 pts per minute played. The only team that was worse than that is WAS (at 1.55 pts/min). That is terrible and everyone should panic about that......except.....

Over the last 10 games our bench is 22nd in the league with 1.67 pts per minute played. Over the last 5 games our bench is 17th in the league with 1.71 pts per minute played.

So, we can see how much we have been better in the past 10 (and 5) games at bench scoring. Just assume, if you take out out bench's performance over the last 10 games, then it becomes pretty obvious that for the first 20 games, our bench was the worst in the league in scoring per minute.

Over the last 1/3 of this season our bench has been scoring much better than before.......and it appears to be continuing to improve.

If you think about why this is occurring, there are some pretty simple reasons for this obvious improvement. First, the players on the second unit are understanding their specific role on the team better. Understanding where to be in the offensive rotation and knowing the tendencies of the other players on the court is making them more effective. Keep in mind that of 10 player with over 250 minutes so far this season that 5 of them either did not play or did not play much for the wolves last year (Love, Brewer, Martin, Luc, and Hummel, which account for over 1/2 the minutes played this year). Obviously this team is learning how to play better.

Second, and sort of similar, (and I know that D-Will fans will hate this one) we have smarter players now that know their role (and can be good at their role) on the team. The Wolves never needed a "caged lion" on the team. Adelman runs a systematic offence. People doing what they need to do is critical for the success of the offense.

Just from a group dynamics perspective, and having a competent coach, we should have expected to see something like this level of improvement relative to other teams. I expect to see further improvement from the bench, and the team as a whole. This team's learning curve is pretty steep right now.....and it probably will continue to be.

I agree with Q that the return of Bud and Turf will help the bench to continue to improve.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Meaningless thought, but wouldn't it have been kinda nice to have had Shabazz last year? With all those injuries and a lost season, he would've been forced into the rotation and we'd be better for it now. Actually, that's kinda what happened with Shved. Shved wasn't supposed to see much time last year. He hasn't blown us away this year either, but he looks like he's about to become a pretty useful player for us. We need a creator on that second unit and he can do that. He just needs to be smarter.

I'll continue to think that Bud and Turiaf will be really big for us. Even through the little stretch of games last year when Bud was on the court you could tell how much smoother the offense ran.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'll bring this question up: When Bud is fully back and has been in the rotation long enough to get himself right, do you make him a starter and put Brewer back on the bench?

[KiwiMatt]

The two major things our second unit lacks is a consistent 3pt shooter and a rim defender and rebounder................ Enter Chase Budinger and Ronny Turiaf.

The return of these two should not be underestimated. Budinger is the type of player that will threaten to score 15 points on any given night, exactly what we've lacked coming off the bench except when Barea's got hot.

Turiaf's return will allow Pek and Love to play more aggressive on D. It seems that both are deliberately trying to keep out of foul trouble due to the fact we have no front court depth. Turiaf is the type of bench player which every team needs, to come in and play tough D, block a couple of shots, grab a few boards and give away a few fouls in the process.

Shved and Barea are showing signs of breaking out, and Cunningham has been playing very well lately. I'm not panicking yet...

[mjs34]

I'll bring this question up: When Bud is fully back and has been in the rotation long enough to get himself right, do you make him a starter and put Brewer back on the bench?

Cam, there is a chance that Bud will never be right. He had a surgery last year to repair the damaged meniscus and so being out for four months wasn't out of the norm. This season he had the damaged part removed and most recover from that surgery in 4-6 weeks. He has been out twice that amount of time, so it is possible there was significantly more damage than they expected. He may very well be bone on bone in that knee, and I am guessing here, but may still be experiencing pain. This is all guess work on my part, but I think we should all limit our expectations.

I do agree with Matt, that we need his shooting on that second unit. We don't want Brewer having to provide more offense than he is capable of.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Understood. I just wonder if it would be better for the team if we put the most shooters around Love/Pek that we can. Also, instead of Brewer taking those wide open 3s, Bud would and I have more faith in him knocking them down. The starting unit has been among tops this year, but I feel like there's a chance it could be even better with Bud.

I've also suggested that Mbah a Moute be a starter since he does what we want Brewer to do better (defend the best wing player). I guess I just agree with Flip/Adelman that Corey's intended role was to be off the bench.

[mjs34]

Luc starting might not be the worst option. While it might slow down the starting unit offensively, it would likely improve them defensively and on the boards. It would also give the bench another option with the fastbreak. I would like to see Adelman give that a try when Bud gets back.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Markkbu, Great numbers. It's good to hear the bench is gradually doing better. Let's hope they sustain the momentum from the past 5 games.

Cam, I like the idea of having complimentary wing combinations on the floor at all times, meaning one guy that can create offense and another guy that focuses on defense. We have that right now with Brew and Martin. Budinger and Luc could be that combination coming off the bench. Now, to your point, you could mix that up a bit by putting Luc in for Brewer as our starting 3 and then have Budinger and Brewer combine together off the bench. I kind of agree that Luc's positional style of man on man defense works better against the league's top scorers versus Brewer's gambling style of defense. Another interesting combination would be Budinger and Brewer to start, with Luc and Martin to come off the bench. Martin and Barea would make for a pretty offensively dynamic backcourt off the bench.

All of that being said, I wouldn't tinker with our starting lineup. It's been really good overall this year. Where Adelman may start changing things up is how he ends games. I could see a lot more situational substitution patterns and matchups that potentially have Brewer sitting out at the end of games and Budinger out there with the rest of the starters.