I find it interesting that when a national guy says something positive about the team it's gospel, but if it's negative then he is an idiot, and must not watch the Blazers.
I also find it "interesting" that you post this exact same comment every time someone in the national media says anything positive about the Blazers. Must suck to live in a world where every silver lining has a cloud.
Seriously, it's not like everyone in this thread is in adamant agreement with Fratello's assessment. For example:
Fratello turned a bad coaching career into an incompetent media career. He knows nothing about the Blazers and just said a few hackneyed nothings, like, "They're deep."
The consensus is the Blazers have a young bench with potential that has shown improvement recently. Barton, Robinson, Leonard and Dorell Wright have all made valuable contributions recently, but lack consistency. To be fair they also lack consistent playing time. But, I think even the homers here will agree that Barton, Robinson and Leonard all still have a ways to go before our bench can be considered anything more than mediocre.
In terms of our actual bench production, we remain dead last in the league in bench scoring at 24.1 ppg (up from 18.5 ppg last season). But that's not a surprise, our bench is also dead last in minutes played. Other teams of note with low scoring benches:
HOU - Rank 25th, 26.4 ppg
IND - Rank 26th, 26.2 ppg
GSW - Rank 28th, 25.3 ppg
And again, all those teams play their benches more minutes than the Blazers.
In terms of PTS/48, our bench is 18th, so a little below league average, but not as abysmal as the raw numbers would indicate. In terms of PTS/48, our bench outscores all of: OKC (24th), IND (26th) and MIA (28th).
The Lakers rank 2nd in raw bench scoring and 1st in bench PTS/48. I prefer our 41-18 record and "shitty" bench to their "great" bench and 20-39 record.
In terms of overall bench production (Deff/48 - Efficiency Differential/48), I find it interesting that we are right in the middle of a group of teams that are closest to us in the standings and fighting for HCA in the playoffs. In terms of Deff/48, the Clippers are 23rd, we are 24th, Golden State is 25th and the Rockets are 26th.
So, we aren't the only good team that relies heavily on their starters. I'm actually surprised to see the Clippers ranked that low given the reputation of their bench, but they have also had significant injuries, so that plays a role.
In a nutshell, our bench is WAY better than last season (our bench truly was historically bad last year). Last year, Meyers Leonard was our best bench player. This year, he's not even part of the regular rotation. Joel Freeland made a huge jump last year from totally lost to solid rotation player. Barton, Robinson and Leonard have made positive contributions, but are all still works in progress. If we hold on to them, our bench should be much better in a couple years.
For now, our bench is dead last in scoring, but not so bad when you look at PTS/48. Our bench is not a strength, but in terms of production/48 is on par with the teams we are battling in the standings for HCA in the Western Conference.
BTW, hoopsstats.com is the source for all the data I used when compiling this post.
BNM
