What about the Bench?

The "Basketball for Thought" is a commentary by Kris Gardner.

September 1996

Basketball fans in Los Angeles (re: not Clippers' fans), Houston, and Chicago will have the pleasure of watching 3 of the best starting lineups throughout the NBA.

The defending champion Bulls have the 3 best players at their respective positions in the league in Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman. While the Rockets can now boast they have 3 future Hall of Famers in Olajuwon, Drexler, and, newly added, Barkley. The young, upcoming, and still immature Lakers have added Shaq to team with Elden Campbell, Cedric Ceballos, Eddie Jones, and, referee Ronnie Garretson's favorite point guard, Nick Van Exel. Each club has an impressive starting five; however, with all the money spent on each team's first unit, an important question has to be asked: "What about the bench?"

Consensus around the league is a club needs to have at least 2 superstars in order to compete for the championship. The Bulls and Rockets clearly meet that criteria; whereas the Lakers have one legitimate superstar and some up and coming stars. (Some people will argue the Lakers one superstar - Shaq - is only a superstar when it comes to marketing and not to basketball). However, let's take a look at each team's bench. The Bulls have an edge over the Rockets and the Lakers when comparing 6th men. Toni Kukoc has more offensive skills than Mario Elie in Houston and whoever becomes 6th men in LA: Jerome Kersey, Sean Rooks, Kobe Bryant, etc. Obviously, Elie is a better defender than Kukoc as well as any Laker bench player.

After 6th men is where the interests picks up. The Bulls have the edge mainly because their bench players have already proved they can perform in their roles. Steve Kerr provides 3 point shooting, Randy Brown provides defense in the backcourt, and the Bulls multi - headed monster at center: Bill Wennington, John Salley, and James Edwards provide bulk. The Bulls will probably utilize forwards Jason Caffey and Dickey Simpkins early in the season in order to see if they are ready to contribute.

The Rockets' bench, as of now, consists of swingman Sam Mack, forward Othella Harrington, guards Emanual Davis and Tracy Moore, plus elder statesman Charles Jones at center. This assumes coach Rudy T decides to start Kevin Willis in the front court. Houston's bench is not a pretty picture; therefore, good health in their starters is of the utmost importance.

The Lakers' bench is similar to the Rockets'. Journeyman point guard Rumeal Robinson, rookie guards Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher; the aforementioned Kersey and Rooks, and forward Corie Blount do not make opposing teams shake and shiver. Obviously, these guys will not be asked to deliver starter's minutes on a regular basis because, after all, they are bench players. It is an obvious understatement to mention: "Any club that loses its star player to injury for an extended period of time will suffer greatly." If Jordan is injured, the Bulls are pretenders not contenders. The same can be said regarding Hakeem and the Rockets as well as Shaq and the Lakers and any team and its best player.

The point is the drop-off from starters to bench players is now huge for teams throughout the league as opposed to a marginal difference in talent 6 to 10 years ago. Ironically, fans may finally get what they have been clamoring for: players who deserve it, i.e. starters, get the most money and those who don't deserve it, i.e. bench players, get what's left of the pie. The two teams who may have the deepest benches in the league could be Seattle and Detroit. However, in Detroit's case, having a deep bench means they don't have a great starting five, while the Sonics have a shot to win it all. Everything will come in to focus on Nov. 1, when the NBA begins its 50th season . When the ball is tossed on opening night, questions about a lack of depth will begin to be answered.