SAN FRANCISCO鈥擳he group that came to be known as The Bench Mob became the darlings of 海角社区官网Raptors fans last season, a group of mainly young and unproven players who took the league and the team鈥檚 fan-base by storm.
Energetic, up-tempo 鈥 able to win games while the more senior starters sat and watched many a fourth quarters 鈥 they were stars.
They also spoiled things for anyone expecting the same this year.
There were expectations things would continue unabated, that the Bench Mob 2.0 would be the same as the original, that coach Nick Nurse could run out two groups of five different players and all would be well in the Raptors world.
Not so much, and one of the originals wants to make sure everyone understands that.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 expect different guys to replicate what other guys did,鈥 Fred VanVleet said before the Raptors struck out on a four-game road trip that lands here Wednesday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not as easy as just plugging in OG (Anunoby) for Pascal (Siakam) or Jonas (Valanciunas) for Jakob (Poeltl) or whoever the case might be. Even CJ (Miles) for Norm (Powell).
鈥淚t鈥檚 a different group. That鈥檚 not to say we can鈥檛 be as effective, but the notion that we have to do exactly what the bench did last year? I mean I think we should probably let that go and focus on what we can do as a bench unit this year.鈥
It鈥檚 true that one-in, one-out alterations cannot work the same, the personal dynamics are different, the roles are different, the group鈥檚 usage is different. To expect the same dominance from different personnel is ridiculous.
But it is now up to Nurse to figure out how to mix and match players from two separate groups, because five on and then five more isn鈥檛 working.
The coach has already toyed a bit with different substitution patterns but he鈥檚 too often been caught with five backups on the floor and it鈥檚 not working well. Some nights, the subs hold their own but on too many occasions so far this season, they鈥檝e struggled and haven鈥檛 helped the starting group enough.
On Sunday, he sounded more than willing to discard the distinct groups approach.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to have to look at the tape before we decide that,鈥 he said, when asked if he could stick with the five backups playing at the same time idea. 鈥淥bviously that鈥檚 two games in a row (Friday and Sunday) and a couple of stints (in Sunday鈥檚 loss to Milwaukee) that they really weren鈥檛 as productive as they need to be.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 need to set the world on fire, they just need to hold serve a little better. Some really good players there that aren鈥檛 playing well enough collectively and individually. We鈥檝e got to get them going.鈥
Nurse has to decide just how drastic any change will be.
Does he stagger the minutes for the starters better so that one or two are always on the court?
Does he move someone from the starting lineup to the backup group for more balance and a change in roles?
Does he try a little bit of both?
It鈥檚 not all on the coach, of course. Miles hasn鈥檛 played well often enough, Anunoby hasn鈥檛 taken an expected leap and Valanciuans can鈥檛 give the second unit the kind of athletic boost that Siakam did.
All of them have to be better, regardless of how the coach deploys them.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still figuring out our roles and our rotations,鈥 VanVleet said. 鈥淚 think the hardest part is everyone wanted to take a leap forward. We all had great years last year. I signed a contract, OG had a great year as a starter, we come back better players, but the roles are different so you have to figure out how to maximize the minutes you get, and just trying to stay even-keeled and go out there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a process. We鈥檒l figure it out as the year goes on. I鈥檓 not too concerned about it.鈥
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