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With some injuries hitting the Wizards right at the start of the season, Jordan had to empty the whole bench almost every game. Yet, he relied on the starting unit playing big minutes. The bench played second fewest minutes per game in the league and scored third fewest amount of points. However, the numbers are somewhat malformed as true bench guys like Roger Mason, Andray Blatche and Darius Songaila started 40 games in total.
Overall, the bench has done a decent job. No common names, three youngsters. Somebody stepped up every night. In first couple of months, Blatche had nice streak of good games, later in the season Mason brought consistancy and calm, even with Butler out. Young has shown flashes, but still has to improve. Songaila was a non factor at the beginning, but raised his form after the All Star break.
With Arenas now coming off the bench, things change for the playoffs. As a matter of fact, the bench will be the most important part of the equation with him. If he can settle in the sixth man's role, Wizards would get a big boost from the bench. It also gives Mason, Blatche and Songaila a better player to work with and more space to create on their own. But if Agent Zero will be driven by trying to prove that he is worth every cent of the maximum contract he's been asking, things could ugly for the Bullets, ahem, Wizards...
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