Which NBA teams have had the best benches thus far this season?
Kobe Bryant once said:
"“I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on the bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”"
We all know that’s a complete lie, but that sentiment is really what defines a great bench. The teams who exhibit the “next man up” mentality generally thrive in the modern NBA. Resting players has become more common, and minutes are watched by the careful eye of trainers, assistant coaches, and even fans. I can’t ever imagine thinking “man, Karl Malone has played 35 minutes on the first night of a back-to-back, what the hell is Jerry Sloane thinking?”
However, we no longer live in the age of the halftime cigarette break. No, we are in the age of wine baths and platelet replacements, and thus, we ration our minutes accordingly!
This offseason, plenty of teams made moves to bolster their bench. Other teams just clawed to get their mitts on any talent available in an attempt to throw it all at the wall and see what would stick.
Like most people, I loved what Minnesota did in the offseason. Signing an aging Jamal Crawford for pure offense off the bench seemed smart, as did acquiring Teague, Butler, and Gibson. Regardless of those moves, Shabazz Muhammad is still playing heavy minutes, Nemanja Bjelica has struggled with injury, and Justin Patton — a player I really like — has yet to see the floor due to injury. This team almost made all the right moves, but “almost” is as good as dirt in the NBA.
The Spurs are always major players in this category, but with the loss of Dewayne Dedmon and Jonathon Simmons, new players have had to step up and contribute. A case could certainly be made for the Spurs’ bench being one of the best in the league, but the combination of extremes in players like 40-year-old Manu Ginobli and 24-year-old Bryn Forbes have resulted in less consistency than I believe coach Popovich was hoping for at this point in the season.
Truth be told, the injury bug has bitten them pretty good. The Spurs will be fine, but they probably just get edged out of our top five here.