Could benching Bass improve this team?
Bass seems to be experiencing growing pains. He seems to have improved on his handles, his footwork and/or his physicality as he's getting to the rim on his own. However, he can't seem to finish.
Benching him would line him up against weaker competition, allowing him to improve at his own pace if he should improve.
Perhaps the reason AB's return has improved the team that much is not just because of his defensive intensity but also because he is not a jump shooter with Pierce and KG already being so perimeter oriented. Attempts away from the basket means bad offense and fast breaks against our aged vets, giving the opponents confidence and the early lead, which seems to be a huge problem of late (the early deficits for us).
We could have another case of Courtney Lee. When AB was out and Lee started, Lee's playing time was uncertain due to the shaky performance by various lineups, much like what Bass is going through right now.
The only real but I could think of would be chemistry. Come playoff time, Rondo knowing where Bass is at all times could be valuable. The logistics of starting and not starting and shifting rotations could break this up.
Who?Sully - the most obvious candidate. He makes a lot of sense next to Garnett (hiding Sully's defensive shortcomings on one end and having Sully cause mismatches on the other).
Wilcox - the Rondo-Wilcox connection is fantastic. Again, the big's defensive deficiencies are covered by Garnett. The problem is if he can stay healthy because he's apparently injury prone.
Jeff Green - people are worried about the lack of a backup small forward if Jeff Green is started but this puts the best five players on the floor from the start.
Courtney Lee - Put Pierce at the 4 and Lee at the 3? There would be a lot of energy with AB, Lee and Rondo but taking Lee away from his role yet again could be detrimental. Plus, the defensive issues with being so small and the wear and tear on Pierce sure would suck.
Jason Collins - no comment.
Start different players each game - with a Swiss Army knife of power forwards at disposal, pulling a Popovich and doing something stupendously unconventional might work. Having Wilcox defend the likes of Tyson Chandler one night and exploiting Boozer with Jeff Green does not sound too bad.
A quote from Doc:
I do believe we will start more than one starting lineup this year. That’s something I haven’t done unless we were bad. This year, I know of three lineups we’ll start.
I am curious about starting different players each game. But then again I was curious about Jajuan Johnson, Brandon Roy and some guy named Chris Johnson.