The LA Clippers had a deep bench last year.
It’s why the team was able to withstand so many injuries all season and finish as a top four seed in the West, and a Western Conference Finals team in the playoffs.
The bench is going to be particularly vital once again for the Clippers in a year where we’re already missing Kawhi Leonard.
My likely starting lineup is this group:
PG: Reggie Jackson
SG: Paul George
SF: Nicolas Batum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Serge Ibaka
If this is what we have as a starting five, the three most essential bench players are as follows:
No. 3 player who will be essential off the bench for the LA Clippers: Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe will finally be able to play his natural position again now that he’s back with the LA Clippers.
And we need strong play from our backup point guard. We can’t even remotely struggle when we have our second team in. The players are too talented.
When we have the likes of Terance Mann, Ivica Zubac, Luke Kennard, and the rest of the playmakers off the bench out there, we need to take advantage of having impact players on our backup squad. When Bledsoe was able to be a point guard for a high majority of the time on the floor in this league, he’d toss out five or six assists every game. We need that type of facilitator for the talent we have on our bench.