In today’s NBA, the term “bench player” is often thought of synonymously with “role player.” Which is in part understandable. Teams want options off the bench that well compliment their star players in the starting lineup. But that’s not all a bench should be.
The Houston Rockets are a great case study. The team won a league high 65 games last season but ultimately came up short of the finals, losing in seven games to the Golden State Warriors. There are a lot of reasons they didn’t win a championship.
The most obvious reason is the injury to Chris Paul combined with the fact they were playing against arguably the best team of all time.