FanPost

Fifth Quarter

Portland Trail Blazers

Listening to the fifth quarter last night I could not help but make the following observations.

Everyone on the show seemed in agreement that our bench was the major weak link in our playoff hopes. It is amazing to me that we can go, in a few short weeks, from having the "deepest bench in the NBA" to one that threatens our playoff hopes. If Brandon or LaMarcus have shooting slumps no one is in favor of throwing them under the bus. We remain patient and look for the good they are doing simply waiting for their game to return. Unfortunately this courtesy has not been extended to players like Rudy or Bayliss. Why is that? It takes time to cultivate your skills on the floor and very rare is the player who can do it on demand for just a few minutes at a time.When our bench guys were needed to save our season they stepped up and surprised everyone with their ability to play and produce wins against the best teams in our division. Now that Nate has focused in on producing a winning starting lineup these same players are experiencing a draught in scoring proportional to their minutes played; surprised? I am not. Perhaps a more defined roll for those warming the pines is in order. If Nate intends to play X minutes for player Y and his job is to shoot the 3 let him know it! Then maybe they can relax a bit and enjoy their own performance playing in a defined role for a coach, team, and fans who appreciate their talents.