While everyone in La-La Land is concerned with who is going to start for the Lakers this season, it might be the bench that eventually grabs everyone's attention. As of now, Phil Jackson has decided to go with a starting five of Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Vladimir Radmanovic, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. That means the Lakers have Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, and the Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic coming off the bench. All four of those guys have started or could start somewhere in the league. Quite the scary proposition for the rest of the teams in the league.
Talent aside, what really might fuel the bench this season is the desire for dinero. Yes, Vujacic already updated his nickname to "The ATM Machine" after cashing in this summer, but Farmar is eligible for an extension next summer, and Ariza and Odom will both be unrestricted free agents. With this second unit's skills, and those three's need to inflate their numbers, we could be seeing tons of breakout performances from the Lakers bench mob. Last night Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza gave us a little preview of what to expect from the Lakers bench this season:
