As one of my favorite commentators of all time Malik Rose called them, The Night Shift. The Night Shift were the best bench in the league hands down. Led by Thad Young and Lou Williams, these guys came in and did what a bench player was suppose to do: change the game or impact the game. Other members of this “squad” were Evan Turner and Nikola Vucevic. Later, as Vuce fell out of rotation, it was Lavoy Allen.

The question is, will the Sixers’  bench be as effective this season? Lou Williams became a rare guy in that he led his team in scoring without starting a game. that just gives and idea of how the bench players outplayed the starters. Lou is gone, Vucevic is gone, and I’m thinking Evan Turner should be starting. Let’s say these are the starters:

PG Jrue Holiday

SG Jason Richardson

SF Evan Turner

PF Lavoy Allen

C Andrew Bynum (yay!)

So then here’s some guys off the bench:

Nick Young, Dorell Wright, Spencer Hawes, Kwame Brown, and Thad Young. Notice I didn’t put Royal Ivey in there. He’ll probably play but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Turner run the point too. The big question is will this group of guys coming off the bench be better than last year’s group. My initial thoughts are “no”. But, after some soul searching and sleepless nights I said “no”. Yeah I didn’t change my mind.

I think there are a couple of reasons why The Night Shift was so successful. For one thing, last year was the year of the bench. It was all about rotation management. Lucky for coach Collins, he already had a solid bench going into the season that barely changed from the previous season. The chemistry and level of need for the bench gave them the ability to be so effective.

Another reason why this bench will not be as good as last year is because the starting 5 will be a much better unit. Again, The Night Shift had to bail out the starting 5 last season from poor start after poor start to 1st and 3rd quarters. Bynum pretty much changes that.

Also, I just don’t feel the skill level is as good. I don’t think Nick Young is better than Lou Williams (you know how much I hate Lou’s game!). Dorell Wright adds a scoring punch so I guess the two of them could be subbed for Lou. Thad is Thad and I mentioned in a post about his new contract that I really thought Thad was at his ceiling. Still feel that way. Spencer Hawes is a former starter who is now in the role he was meant to be in. Kwame Brown is Kwame Brown. Both are better than what Vucevic brought to the table.

Basically, the bench’s shrunken role really prevents them from having the same impact. The starters will be getting back their minutes and the role players will be in constant battle for playing time. Collins has each player where he wants him: If you don’t play well, I’ll just put somebody else in there. Remember that “it felt like a Tony Battie night”? Maybe instead of Jason Richardson, it’ll be a Dorell Wright night. Instead of Lavoy Allen, coach wants to put in Hawes.

That’s the beauty of the roster, and yet that’s a bad thing for the bench. If Collins keeps changing the lineup at the start of each game, we won’t really know how good our bench is. I mean, Collins isn’t going to be changing up every night but you know him; he’ll do what he thinks is best for the team.

Will the bench still be one of the best in the league? For me, that remains to be seen. I think they have the potential.

Any-hoo, we’re trying to figure out who the best team is when the colors are red, white, and blue. Last season, I pretty much gave that title to the Clippers. All season, my power rankings were a grand battle between the Clippers and Sixers but the Sixers had their late season collapse and it cost them. But this season is shaping up to be another grand battle between the two teams.

I’m leaning to the Clippers again though. I feel like they’re better than the Sixers but it’s not going to be easy. Sixers will be dangerous if Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner have a breakout season. I was one of those guys who thought Iguodala’s role held back Jrue and Evan’s chance to take charge. Now, they’ll be the primary ball handlers so they have no excuse for failing. And if they do breakout, Sixers could be contending in just about 2-3 years assuming Bynum does stick around. Still need a consistent perimeter scorer but having an elite Center that can score goes a long way.

We already talked about the Clippers in the California post so I won’t get too deep on them here. But Chris Paul and the overrated Blake Griffin will put up a fight for RWB supremacy. Jamal Crawford is quite the addition for this team. And really, back to Griffin. He needs to improve on defense. Also, his offensive “game” needs more work. Some post up moves would be nice. He has a nice jumper so that’s good. Less and less big men post up though so if he could really develop that skill, he’ll be a force. I’m sure he can pull it off.

Ok, so now for the other 3 teams. Hawks trading Joe Johnson takes them back. Playoffs might still be an option but they’ll need some time before they’re back to the decent team we’ve seen the past few years. They got their hands on Lou Williams (good luck with that!) and Kyle Korver so you know they want some Sixers magic. Out of the Pistons, Wizards, and Hawks, Hawks win out. Right now they’re stuck in what I like to call, “Sixers Land”. Not good enough to do anything but not bad enough to get some potential stars in draft. Sixers fans know this too well. Hopefully Bynum changes that (no pressure. Just a lot of pressure).

In a battle for the best of the worst, I have to give it to the Wizards. Wizards have improved their team but are a long way to contending. They’ve been making moves and showing they’re building around John Wall. I thought grabbing Nene was cool. They got Emeka Okafor. So…yeah. While the Wizards may be the better team, I would prefer to have the Pistons’ roster. Brandon Knight, Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond, Austin Daye, I mean Pistons have a core that, in a few years, could be deadly. They’ll be ok. But I feel that thier youth would keep them from being better than the somewhat more experienced Wizards.

So here’s the rankings I anticipate:

1. Clippers
2. Sixers
3. Hawks
4. Wizards
5. Pistons

If the Nets were still around, it would look like this:

1. Clippers
2. Sixers
3. Nets
4. Hawks
5. Wizards
6. Pistons

Now obviously, I want the Sixers to win this thing. But, I have some feelings about this season and it’s not sitting well with me. Maybe because years of mediocrity took away any hope of a championship away from my heart and now that the Sixers have actually moved in the right direction, I’m in complete shock. Plus, the roster has so many new guys that I don’t know about so I’m not sure how the team will play together.

It doesn’t mean I’m not excited though. Go Sixers.