How Excited Should We be Getting?

I was watching Game 3 of the 2008 NBA Finals last night, and I was struck by the immense amount of talent we had coming off our bench. James Posey, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, and Leon Powe. Still sitting on the bench were Eddie House and Glen Davis. Even Tony Allen looked pretty good as our 10th man (in fact, if one were ever to ask what role TA was meant to fill, it was 10th man on a good team).

This year we look to be even deeper and more talented. Rasheed Wallace is better than anyone we had coming off the bench in 2008, and he's three years younger than PJ. A Sheed-Baby combo looks to be better than a Powe-Baby combo, unless Sheed totally disappoints. While James Posey in 2008 was a better defender and perimeter shooter than Marquis Daniels in 2009, Bruce Bowen, if we get him, might make up for some of those deficiencies. Plus, Daniels is better than Nails at getting to the rim.

Most of you weren't too impressed with Sam Cassell. So it won't be hard convincing you that E.House is an upgrade over Cassell. I liked Cassell, and still believe he was a valuable contributor. The fact that we don't have a real point guard backing up Rajon is of no moment to me. If there ever was a position we can wait on until veterans get bought out later on in the year, it is back-up point guard on the 2009-10 Boston Celtics. E.House is a passable ball-handler and an excellent shooter. He'll spread the floor and keep the defense honest like just about no other back-up point available.

For fun, we'll have a variety of utes coming deep off the bench, including JR Giddens, Bill Walker, and Shelden Williams, although Giddens or Walker could be gone in the deal that finalizes the Daniels-to-Boston trade. Oh yeah, we still have Brian Scalabrine, too.

So on paper we look pretty strong, which should give us plenty of reasons to be optimistic. I won't be getting too excited, however, until I see the finished product play a few games. The Lakers started the 1987 season with a vengeance. There was no way to have predicted this, since they almost broke up the team the summer before in a James-Worthy-for-Roy-Tarpley trade. It looked like Houston was now the team to beat.

So we shall see if this is 1987 in reverse, meaning that the Lakers take a step back while the Celtics return to glory. It's August. Too early to say anything with great confidence. After all, August was the month Bill Walton ended his 1986-87 season, hurting his foot on a stationary bike.