Role Player Blues

You can ask Grant: I love role players. In every sport, you have to have the guys to fill the roster, have to have guys to do the little things, the lunch pail guys, the guys who specialize in one area, and not afraid to do the dirty work (Roman Whitehair on the basketball court comes to mind here). The superstars cannot always simply carry the load.

But right now, the Mav's bench players play is showing us exactly why they are sitting where they are: on the bench.

I am sick of role players, for both teams. I'm sick of watching the Miami Heat, with their superstar team, molded by the basketball god's to create a team that is "supposed to win 3,4,5,6,7" championships, beat us with guys like Mario Chalmers and Mike Bibby. If LeBron, Wade, and maybe even Bosh (although this is a stretch) beat us, it happens. Sometimes, as seen in all sports, you just get beat. And when it is by 2 of the best players in the world, you deal with it, you accept it. But when it is Mario "I'll never be as good as I was at Kansas" Chalmers and Mike "Only good because of C-Webb" Bibby are beating you. It hurts.

And what hurts even worse is that you have guys on your bench, guys that you believe in and have succeed all season long, including the post season, that decide to go absolutely ice cold. Peja Stojakovic, one of the leagues all time great shooters, is abysmal. Jet Terry, who is supposed to be our #2 scorer, is nowhere to be seen at times. And these aren't all contested shots that these guys are missing (as the media members, who drool all over the Heat want you to think). These are routine, open jump shots and three's that these guys need to knock down, and are getting paid to knock down. It's unbelievable. If the spares that Miami are throwing at us can make these kind of shots, why can't we?

Which brings me to what is bugging me most about this. I'm sure, if your reading this now, you have watched the Mav's in the playoffs (and if you haven't, you should be ashamed of yourself), and you know how well Dirk has been playing. But what I want to know is, why is it only in the 4th quarter? He makes it look so easy at times, why don't we give him the ball more often? There will be stretches in the game when D-Wade will score something like 10 straight points, but for the Mav's, it seems as if we save Dirk up for the end. Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning Carlisle, but these guys are superstars, so let them be superstars!! Make sure Dirk gets a touch every position. Let the guys who are the best in the world do what they know how to do best. Because let's face it, both teams are in the Finals because of their superstars.

Rewind this same scenario to the Laker's series, you would probably be getting a different response from me. If the Mav's bench showed up through 3 games this series, this conversation would never happen. But after watching these games, after sitting and waiting for these guys to perform like they have all season, I'm on the brink of pulling the plug on them. Hopefully, they can step up and prove me wrong.

Like I said earlier, I love role players. But right now, I despise them, for different reasons.

Please, please Mav's bench, restore my confidence in you.

If not, it will be a long off-season filled with "what if's" and "If only _______ would've done this".

- Taylor

TAG Radio Founding Father