Empty the Bench

I’m stuck on you, I’ve got this feeling down deep in my soul that I just can’t lose. Guess I’m on my way. Mighty glad you stayed. – Lionel Richie, “Stuck On You”

They may not be ETB’s first-stringers, but these five players still play big roles in helping keep their respective teams from coming unglued. Earlier this week Andrew wrote a great feature that spelled out eleven of the NBA’s very best glue players: those whose “performance each night with hustle, defense, leadership, selfless play, grit and all-around games complement the big scorers and big names on their squad.” Many of you weighed in with your own picks, and we’ve featured a few of them here with our five-player addendum—our second-string, if you will—to Tuesday’s list.

And it’s all in honor of “Unsung Hero Day,” an annual (?) NBA holiday to be celebrated on April 5 and originally conceived by our friends over at With Malice… For this first edition, they’ve assembled a stellar cast of writers to weigh in on some of the league’s more unheralded players and to give them a moment in the sun. For a complete rundown of all the hullabaloo surrounding “Unsung Hero Day,” head on over to the central thread at With Malice…. Without further ado, here’s our contribution.

DeShawn Stevenson, G, Washington Wizards

There’s a good chance that if Gilbert Arenas hadn’t gone down early in the season, forcing eight-year veteran Stevenson into a much more prominent role for Eddie Jordan’s Wizards, we wouldn’t be talking about him here. A late first-round draft pick in 2000 by the Utah Jazz, the 6-5 Stevenson has been a solid, if unspectacular role player for most of his professional career, one which has seen him don the jerseys of the Jazz, Magic, and now Wizards. While fully capable of scoring in bunches when he’s hot, Stevenson doesn’t shoot an especially high percentage from the field, is incredibly inconsistent, and at times falls head over heels in love with gunning from behind the arc, as seen in his career-high 5 attempts/per this season.

But he’s been a minor revelation this year for the Wizards, who’ve been forced to deal with injuries of varying gravity to their three All-Stars in Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison throughout the season. For all of the things you can’t always count on Stevenson to provide, if anything he’s proven to be a warrior, playing in all 76 games this year despite a series of nagging injuries that could have easily landed some on the inactive list (Andrei Kirilenko comes to mind, for one). He’s not an exceptional man defender, but he doesn’t back down from anybody, be their name Kobe, LeBron, whoever. He’ll lay a scoring egg one month (7.3 points/per in November), but compensate it by elevating his game another (13.9/per in February). He’s also been known to drop some major daggers in late-game situations this season.

In short, the Wizards know they can count on DeShawn Stevenson to log 30+ minutes on most nights, that he’s going to bring some much-needed tenacity to a team that at times seems just a bit… limp, and that while he may not blow up in any one statistical category, he’s going to chip in at least modest contributions across the board (except in shot-blocking). Is he one of the very best glue players in the league? No, but this season the Wizards the Warriors have gone through some tough times, and Stevenson has been there all along to hold the team together.

Four more of the NBA’s unheralded glue guys after the break…

Thabo Sefolosha, G/F, Chicago Bulls

We’ve been harping on interim coach Jim Boylan the Bulls to quit juggling the minutes of his many assets at the off-guard position—it’s on GM Jim Paxson to sort though that mess this summer and figure out a solution—and to finally just let this amazingly versatile youngster from Switzerland sink or swim as the team’s unquestioned starter. Sure, he’s still rough around the edges, needs to develop a more consistent jumper, and doesn’t pack the same kind of instant-scoring punch that a Ben Gordon or Larry Hughes does. As a starter, however, the kid has impressed in just his second season, and his size is something the Bulls desperately need when the impish Kirk Hinrich is on the floor.

Over the 22 games the 6-7 Sefolosha was called on to start this season, he averaged an impressive 11.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 46% FG. That’s not too shabby considering that most scouts labeled this kid as a “project” when he entered the league last year as the 13th overall pick in the 2006 draft. As he gains confidence, works on the details of his overall game, and (hopefully) settles into a more consistent, defined role for the Bulls, he’s only going to get better… especially if Gordon is sent packing in the next few months, as many are predicting. Thabo can guard multiple positions, he’s atheltic and runs the floor and plays solid D. While Sefolosha’s importance may not be fully realized yet, in the seasons to come his impact will be greater, and he has all the tools requisite of becoming one of the league’s very best glue players.

Anderson Varejao, F/C, Cleveland Cavaliers

In the interest of full disclosure, we’re not especially big fans of Sideshow Varejao here at ETB. His unyielding hustle night in, night out is admirable, and obviously we appreciate enough elements of his game that we’ve included him here. Still, until he understands that there’s no place for flopping in the NBA and decides that he can still be an effective presence on defense without resorting to that cheap tactic, he’s going to be a permanent fixture on our collective shit list. He was bad about it during the Cavs’ run in the playoffs last season, and he’s been doing it again this time around. Please, Mr. Varejao: stop the flop.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at his more positive contributions to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Prior to Ben Wallace’s arrival, the bushy-haired Brazilian was probably the team’s top energy guy aside from LeBron, and honestly even with the aging Big Ben in the fold, he still might be. It’s a great luxury for coach Mike Brown to rest the underrated Zydrunas Ilgauskas and bring in a guy like Varejao, who’s capable of starting elsewhere but in actuality is probably better suited to his current role coming off the bench. While still not an especially good shot-blocker despite his 6-10 frame, Varejao is an excellent rebounder (he’s averaging a career-best 8.5/per, including 3 offensive) who can finish around the basket. At times he can dominate, or at the very least completely frustrate, his backup counterparts. And when matched up with slower, older big men, he often makes them look, well, even slower and older.

Like I said, Varejao played a crucial role during the Cavs’ improbable run to the NBA Finals last season, and if they’re to have any such success in the postseason this year (that likely second round matchup with the Boston Celtics is looming large), he’ll have to play at a high level again. Honestly, there’s a lot to like about him, but the flopping is a severe discredit.

James Posey, G/F, Boston Celtics

Posey is a dirty player. He’s not quite “Bruce Bowen dirty,” but he’s certainly in the NBA’s top ten. And every team can use a guy like that. He’s not afraid to give hard fouls on and get in the face of star players, and at times his hustle and ability to create scrums for loose balls can be easily mistaken as mucking up the game. And that is, precisely, what makes him so effective. Like the Utah Jazz’s defensive enforcer off the bench, Matt Harpring, Posey irritates. He bothers. He takes his opponents’ focus off of what they need to accomplish individually and onto what Posey is doing. He may infuriate you if you’re rooting for the other team, and you may think he’s nothing more than a glorified thug, but his defensive impact is undeniable.

And Posey can chip in a little offense, too, mostly from three-point land. He’s averaged at least 1 three-pointer/per in all but two of his nine NBA seasons, both of them coming early in his career while playing for the Denver Nuggets. He also has a knack for putting the nail in the coffin of close games. Back then he was a guy consistently hovering around 10ppg, but as he’s gotten older his scoring (and minutes) have dropped off and he hasn’t averaged double digits in scoring since putting up 13.7/per for the Memphis Grizzlies back in 2003-04. All he’s done since then, however, is win a ring with the Miami Heat and solidify the Boston Celtic’s depth with toughness and excellent man defense. In fact, behind Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce, Posey is probably Boston’s fourth-best defender. And you can bet he’ll be tasked with checking LeBron James, Rip Hamilton, etc come playoff time.

Maurice Evans, G/F, Orlando Magic

Quick: name the Magic’s starting shooting guard. Okay, since Evans is listed here he’s obviously the guy, but very few outside the Orlando area could probably answer that question correctly. While the 6-5 Evans has proven to be an NBA vagabond thus far in his career, having played for five different teams over the course of his first five seasons, he may have finally found a home in Orlando… at least for now, and probably not as the permanent starter.

Evans came to the Magic early in the season in a trade that sent Trevor Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers, and his arrival eventually pushed incumbent starter Keith Bogans—whom we also considered for this list—back to the bench. Evans’ game can be more up and down than the stock market, but he’s been relatively consistent in his first year in Orlando and helped shore up the team’s weakest position. He’s shooting 48% from the field and 39% from long range while averaging 8.8 points and 3.1 boards—all are career highs. Again, these aren’t staggering numbers and he probably doesn’t belong in most team’s starting lineup, but the Magic, at 47-28 and in firm control of the Eastern Conference’s 3rd seed, don’t need him to overwhelm statistically. He’s there to knock down the open jumper when Dwight gets doubled and keep people honest on both ends. They just need him and Bogans to be collectively steady and to keep that position from being more of a weakness than it already is. They need him to be a glue guy.

Tags: DeShawn Stevenson, Anderson Varejao, Thabo Sefolosha, James Posey, Maurice Evans