"We have a Playoff Bench"

"By that, I mean you take one of our studs and put the bench around him and I think that's a playoff team." --Brian Scalabrine

Whoa!!!

Dem der is fightin' words.

Larry Bird recently said that the 1986 bench was better than most starting units, and he was probably right. I mean, how many teams could have beaten Wedman, Walton, Sichting, Thirdkill, and Carlisle? In fact, KC started just that unit against the Bucks late in the year and won by 21 points.

Now back to this year's squad.

Clearly, this bench is not as good as the 1986 bench.

But how good is it?

The 1987 and 1988 Lakers had Michael Cooper, Michael Thompson, and Kurt Rambis coming off the bench. This bench is not that good.

The Bad Boys had Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Rick Mahorn, and Vinnie "the Microwave" Johnson coming off the bench. I don't think this bench is that good either. But we've got some potential.

While Eddie House and Vinnie Johnson are probably a wash, Dennis Rodman was defensive player of the year, and James Posey won't win that award this season. Mahorn and Salley are probably better than Tony Allen, Glen Davis, Brian Scalabrine, Scot Pollard, and Leon Powe--right now.

At the same time, we've already seen how much flexibility the second unit gives Doc. Posey and Scalabrine go down with injuries, and Glen Davis steps up with a big game. Tony Allen is still on the mend, and PJ Brown is still a free agent. My point being that regardless of how good you think the bench is now, there is a very good chance it will be much better come April.

Don't forget Gabe Pruitt, either. Expected to play several months in the D-League, Pruitt very well could be regular contributor off the bench by season's end. He's already shown the ability to hit his shot and play solid defense. Even if he doesn't become a teriffic playmaker this year, he could easily be asked to fill in at the two-spot if Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, or Eddie House go down with an injury.