Los Angeles Lakers’ Bench Disappointing So Far

The Laker bench was the worst, least productive pine in the entire NBA last season. They aren’t faring much better this time around. Per the L.A. Times: “Antawn Jamison was brought in to score but has scrimped. Jodie Meeks was brought in to shoot but has sat. Little has gone as planned for the Lakers or their top two new reserves, who have struggled to make much of an impact in the season’s early going. Jamison and Meeks were supposed to bolster a bench that ranked last in the NBA last season in points scored. Perhaps the best reflection of their play is that the Lakers now rank No. 29 in the league in bench scoring with 18.8 points per game, ahead of only Portland. Hey, it’s progress, though not exactly the kind the Lakers had envisioned. Their reserves have been outscored, 148-75, by their counterparts. […] Jamison is a 14-year veteran with career averages of 19.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. As a Laker, he’s been relatively quiet as a reserve, scoring just 4.3 points per game in just 16.8 minutes. ‘I’ve never been the one who tried to rush into anything,” said Jamison. “I just kind of go with the flow of things and eventually things will start to click. You know, I’ve been hearing it, ‘You gotta be aggressive. You gotta be aggressive,’ but I’m just going to stay within the flow of the offense.’ So Coach Mike Brown is urging him to be more aggressive? ‘It’s my kids, my mom,’ corrected Jamison. ‘Nah, the coaches, they know what they want me to do. Coach has tried to get me on the box a little bit more in the past game or two. It’s going to take time.'”