Los Angeles Lakers Bench Mob Providing Much Needed Production

For Lakers fans, this offseason had to have been rough. The called off trade for Chris Paul, the departure of Phil Jackson—the patriarch for the Lakers franchise the last decade—and horrific images of J.J. Barea and Jason Terry torching last year’s Lakers squad have inevitably haunted the dreams of quite a few die-hard fans.

Lakers fans often ask, where is our version of Barea or Terry? The closest thing to those two, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom, was jettisoned to the Dallas Mavericks, which left the Lakers bench in shambles at the time of the trade.

Due to the diligent work of perhaps the best general manager in the NBA, Mitch Kupchak, the organization has constructed a bench one may argue that may have fewer holes than the one in the previous year. Even without the talented yet lackadaisical Odom, this year's Lakers team is deeper and much better constructed.

Let’s face it, recent Lakers teams often relied on their supreme talent as opposed to effort, energy and enthusiasm. How many times have we seen the Lakers sleepwalk into places such as Cleveland or Charlotte and lay an egg? Hungry, younger and more athletic teams during the regular season often can beat the Lakers because those regular season games simply are not of much importance to a Kobe-led squad.

That lack of urgency plagued the Lakers in the playoffs and ultimately led to their downfall against a hungrier and grittier Mavericks team. To remedy that problem, Kupchak made a series of under-the-radar but thus far effective moves.

Signing power forward Josh McRoberts from Indiana (or "McBob" as I affectionately refer to him) has injected athleticism and energy into the front court. At 6’10", he does not look for his own shot nor does he do anything spectacular, but he runs the floor well and plays hard-nosed defense. His effort plays that often result in dunks or blocks get the crowd going, and he definitely is becoming a fast fan favorite here in Los Angeles.

For the veterans minimum, signing center Troy Murphy was an absolute steal. Not many people realize that Murphy has averaged a double-double in five of the last 10 years in the league, and that production apparently has been much under-appreciated.

Murphy brings a veteran moxie to the second unit and has been extremely productive rebounding the basketball. He’s also adept at hitting the outside jumper, which will open the floor up for either Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum in the post when they play together. Murphy’s play just epitomizes hustle, and in this early season he’s gotten numerous tip outs and deflections which have resulted in second chances to score.

One area that definitely needed to improve was outside shooting. The Lakers have such an advantage against anyone with their size in the paint that it will open up the perimeter for countless open shots, but to the Lakers' dismay, they haven’t had a knock-down three-point shooter. They do now with the addition of former UCLA star small forward Jason Kapono.

Kapono has not only led the NBA in three-point field goal percentage twice, but is also a two-time winner of the three-point contest in the All-Star Game. His strengths as a player do not include taking anyone off of the dribble or creating his own shot, but his propensity to hit open shots and to space the floor is of great importance to this team.

Kapono is a threat, and opposing teams have to play him "honest," which will inevitably take away from possible help defense in the post against Bynum or Gasol. Conversely, if a double team comes in the post, Kapono is wide open on the wings to do what he does best: knock down open shots. His ability to consistently do that will be imperative for the second unit.

These new additions definitely added punch in many areas to the team, but especially in terms of the team’s basketball IQ (although it helps that the team lost Shannon Brown in that regard, even if it sacrifices athleticism and a fantastic dunk every game). They play an unselfish brand of basketball which hasn’t been seen much in Los Angeles lately.

These new acquisitions have been noteworthy, but arguably the two most important members of the second unit are returning players who’ve had a renaissance of sorts to start the season compared to last year.

Steve Blake entered last season with big expectations. He was brought in to become the stabilizer on the second unit while providing creativity and shot-making from the perimeter. Whether it was nerves playing for a perennial title contender or just having an off year, simply put he was dreadful. I believe he was pressing in order to not only to perform well for a new team, but also to justify the four-year deal given to him.

Fast-forward to this year and he’s a completely new player. He’s not tentative to shoot the ball, and out of everyone on the bench he has easily provided the most scoring punch. New head coach Mike Brown seems to like Blake’s play enough to insert him into the game during crunch time, and Blake more often than not finishes the game with the starting unit ahead of Derek Fisher.

Metta World Peace, aka the artist formerly known as Ron Artest, has been relegated to the second unit by Brown. Brown wanted the offense to be run through MWP and the thinking was that this "banishment" to the bench was to light a fire under Peace. The eccentric Peace has taken this mission to heart, and has performed much better than he did last year.

As opposed to taking difficult fade-away jumpers that he has a minimal chance of converting, Peace has been taking his impressive physique down to the painted area and has been absolutely punishing opposing small forwards. Why settle for a contested jumper when someone with his size and physicality can bully his opponent for a shot in the post?

His play thus far has been a pleasant surprise, and the Lakers hope that with all of MWP’s quirks and idiosyncratic tendencies that he can perform at a consistent yet high level. 

What are the key underlying elements to the new found success of the Lakers bench?

Unselfishness. Energy. Exuberance.

This new feel of a hard-working second unit is extremely refreshing and beneficial for an aging starting five. If the bench can sustain these qualities for the duration of the season, it will lessen the toll on the starting five and it will allow for the superstars to remain fresh and not log the minutes that they have in years past during the regular season. Although this unit may not be the flashiest or most exciting, they look much improved and are producing at a good rate.