our bench has the potential to be one of the better benches in the league. I do not think they would outplay most other teams' Starting Five.

I do, however, think our Starting Five is better than most, if not all, of the benches in this league.

I'm all over that one!

Finally! Thanks, Merc. I've always worried that I'd miss it because those boobs at NBA TV only show today's schedule.

call me a kool aid drinker then. darko absolutely owns nesterovic, mcdyess is better than horry, barry can't create his own shot no duncan to draw doubles = no 3's , oberto will be manhandled by jmax, finley will be locked up by evans and just too old to keep up on offense, arroyo will school udrih have him asking for tips, nve is too old to keep up a high intensity for a long period of time. delfino will run wild with the no defense second unit of san antonio.

san antonio's bench is more proven than our bench. i'll give you that but better is not something i'm ready to give them the title on just yet.

bball jay, I have a healthy respect for the Spurs. If you watched NVE play last year, he's still got lots of game. Oberto is an excellent player as well.

You made the point they are proven. You're right. I think we have more upside, but there are no guarantees that all of our guys meet their full potential. Right now, based on who can do what (based on results), the Spurs have a clear advantage IMO.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

i agree with you based on past results they are better. oh yeah and i forgot about lindsey hunter who just makes udrih sit on the bench. i still say our bench potentially better. but san antonio has a superstar that makes those guys around him better.

[quote=themicrowave]For sure. At one point, player development ends and the focus needs to be on winning. I'm not saying to ignore players, but if Ben can go at a high level for 35 MPG, I don't think we have many better players at his position who should be eating away at that".

I am happy to say now that Flip has gone record saying that he will play Darko because he helps the team. I think that was very close to the words he said, although I cannot go back right now and find them. It, of course, depends on Darko continuing to EARN the minutes, but he seems to be at least temporarily into the zone where will help the team more than just playing for development.

As for me, I believe that there will be times during this season where Darko might indeed be a better solution against certain players or certain teams, to take some of Ben's minutes. For instance, against Shaq and Zo. He could very well be an asset by taking some of Ben's minutes and be able to hold his own and allow Ben to come back in refreshed. During that time, Sheed can continue to OWN Antoine rather than switching to Shaq.

I would venture to say that dosCarlos fit into that category, as well. They will be the solution to some problems this year, rather than having to play Rip and CB so many minutes. Evans will be a better solution than having Tay play 40 minutes.

It's all good. And by the end of the season, I think we will be able to compare favorably with SA's bench. I think right now that although SA's bench has proven themselves more and can individually fill in well, that our bench could come in as a unit better than SA's. I think we could clean their clock, as a unit. What do you think? What to ALL of you think?

Gotta go now but I will be back to see if anyone has an opinion on that.

I think we have a dynamic bench. I am not looking at individual players, our bench plays solid as a team. Sure we don't have any marquee players on our bench except for maybe McDyess. Our Bench will sneak up on a lot of folks this year. Our bench have been seasoned by our starting five, no other team in the NBA has better team chemistry, cohesiveness and sense of family than our pistons. This fact has been proven over and over again. No other player is a Rasheed who is so paternal wth these young guys.

Sure, you have a lot of other teams with great individual players yet no cohesiveness. Again, I think our bench will take a lot of people by surprise this year. Dumars is very selective when adding to this team.

Harper is an excellent addition to the coaching staff. He will consistently call out and challenge our starters using whatever mind games necessary to motivate even if he has to flash those 5 championship rings every night.

I have a different viewpoint of our bench.

I like having 5 good bigs and am especially glad to see Darko finally showin somethin! Also like the two rooks hoverin around the 3/4 spots. Acker and Hunter can share the 5th guard-spot this season. Mo Evans looks to be the 7th or 8th player so our top 8 plus the end of the bench looks good. It's the part in the middle that has me worried.

I'm nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs about Delfino. No question he has game. But no tellin if/when he might punk out again. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he ain't got much of a track record to run on. I like Dupree's game, but he still reminds me of an athletic "energy-type" 9th or 10th man, rather than a "6th man potential-type."

I've got mixed feelings on Arroyo. If he has added a shot, some defensive hustle, and the propensity to finish at the hoop then I would feel a lot better. He has to make other teams respect not only his shot, but particularly his ability to drive and finish at the hoop. Smart teams will shut down the passing lanes and force him to use up the clock. Let's see if he's added/improved this part of his game.

Except for the frontcourt and the rooks, I'm still callin us a weak bench. Hopefully Mo Evans will prove to be better than advertised. Dupree, Delfino and Arroyo don't inspire great confidence in me, especially the the first two. We outta be lookin at a possible upgrade (if possible) to allow us to get to 15 spots without losing somebody for nothin.

Good to have you here, man. I'm with you on Delfino. I'm as nervous as a bare-footed blind man walking around with a pooper scooper in a backyard inhabited by five squatting Saint Bernards. I'm not buying into this preseason performance either. If Delfino does it in the regular season, I'll be happy to eat my words. Darko, too. I do think Darko has the makings of being a good shot blocker.

It all comes down to understanding Fred Flip-stone's offense. Arroyo and Delfino should thrive in an uptempo situation.