2013-14 NBA Bench Power Rankings

May 3, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Omer Asik (3) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

5. Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are suddenly a contender, at least that is the conventional wisdom around the sports addicted intelligentsia. They were a exuberantly dangerous team last season, and if it was as simple as adding the best center in the game to that “danger” then I would agree, the Houston Rockets are definitely a contender. Best case scenario? The Orlando Magic of a few years ago with James Harden. That’s a scenario I think the majority of Houston fans would be pleased with. And judging from their bench, they may just have the right soldiers to match the ferocity of their generals.

So what do we have here? Patrick Beverly showed energy and fearlessness, epitomizing the pace pushing intensity the team as a whole embraced. Beverly is an easy guy to root for, a frenetic sparkplug that was not overmatched defensively and was granted the opportunity to close out games in favor of  the much more lauded (though much more disparaged as well) Jeremy Lin. Beverly made the most of it and in the process pissed Russell Westbrook off. The soon to be forty year old man known as Marcus Camby is piggybacking onto the Houston freight-train. You know what you’re getting with Camby (he averaged almost as many points as a single basket is worth last year), and anything beyond that is a bonus. And then there’s Omer Asik, last year’s superlative minor success story. Spurned bench player turned quality starter turned spurned bench player. Some pundits have suggested Asik slide over to the power forward spot which obviously won’t be conducive to the four-out strategy the Rockets employed so successfully last season. No, Asik is an asset to any bench, a backup capable of starting (he’s a burlier Marcin Gortat!) and hopefully one that doesn’t harbor too many ill feelings. Reports of his trade demands have yet to force the mysterious clawed hand of Daryl Morey and likely Asik will start the season as probably the best backup center in the league. Former Rockets starting point-guard Aaron Brooks is back to be very small and inefficient, though perhaps he will give Beverly and Lin a run for their money in practice! And then you’ve got two capably mediocre to decent wings in Francisco Garcia and Reggie Williams. Garcia endeared himself to the Houston loyalists last year with his defense and hustle, as well as his all around amiability. He’s long been known as one of the more nurturing benchwarmers in the NBA, the kind of guy who is going to talk you through a tough sitch. Reggie Williams is a poor man’s James Harden. Keep the plays simple and Reggie has the ability to flat out score, though his last few years in Charlotte are best forgotten. The addition of Omri Casspi is yet another possibly genius signing, a player toiling in obscurity after an explosive rookie season. Casspi, the first Israeli player in the NBA, averaged ten points as a rookie, and has deceptively good size and a sound shooting stroke. He should find a home in the loose firebomb blitz schemes that the Rockets prefer. Houston, you are the problem.

Post Script: Ronnie Brewer.