Western Conference Insider: Jazz bench tops our list

The NBA honors the best bench player every season with the Sixth Man Award but often times the success of that super substitute can be attributed to him being part of a second unit that comes in with a different gameplan than that of the starters.

Inserting bench players into the game as a group, like a line shift in hockey, can provide a team with a different look without having a dropoff in production.

Thanks to the infusion of international ballers from overseas and the rule that requires players to either be 19 years old or attend a year of college before becoming eligible for the draft, the NBA talent pool is the deepest it's been in years.

With only 10 players on the court at any given time and teams carrying 13-15 players on their roster, teams are bursting at the seams with quality second and third options to spell the starters when they need a rest or find themselves in foul trouble.

Here's a look at the top 10 benches in the Western Conference.

There are several factors I took into consideration when doling out the ranks including statistical rankings as of Nov. 8 in the five major categories (thank you, Elias Sports Bureau), as well as the amount of impact players vs. specialty players (for instance, the amount of five-tool swingmen vs. backup big men) and the overall style of play that the bench crew is able to will on the game.

PPG: 1 (41.4) APG: 1 (11.6) RPG: 1 (19.8) SPG: 1 (5.6) BPG: 4 (2.2)
Impact Player: Andrei Kirilenko
Key Reserves: Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Brevin Knight, Ronnie Price

Ronnie Price has been starting in Deron Williams' place while D-Will recovers from an ankle injury, so the Jazz bench stands to get even stronger once Williams returns. Kirilenko is a player who can control a game both offensively and defensively when he gets going and is a former All-Star. Millsap is a bull who recently put up 15 points in just over four minutes of playing time against the Clippers. Korver gives Jerry Sloan a shooter to bust open a zone and spread the floor and Knight is as reliable a backup as they come and started an average of 48 games over the last four seasons.

PPG: 2 (39.3) APG: 5 (8.0) RPG: 2 (19.0) SPG: 2 (4.0) BPG: 10 (1.5)
Impact Player: Lamar Odom
Key Reserves: Jordan Farmar, Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujacic

People were skeptical at first about moving Odom to the bench -- including L.O. himself -- but the change has helped the Lakers' "Bench Mob" morph into the "Minute Men" because of their impact in short spurts. As starter Derek Fisher says, "Forget the Big Three, we're the Big 12," because the Lakers are so stacked from their starters down to their subs. "I think it helps when you have competition at positions and you have guys who are confident and capable of going in there and not missing a beat when the next person gets in foul trouble or is not having a good day," said Farmar, the de facto leader of the group. "If you have unselfish guys, it can work."

PPG: 5 (32.4) APG: 9 (6.2) RPG: 7 (15.0) SPG: 4 (3.2) BPG: 12 (1.4)
Impact Player: Rudy Fernandez
Key Reserves: Travis Outlaw, Channing Frye, Sergio Rodriguez

Outlaw was Nate McMillan's ace in the hole last year and now Portland's coach is sitting on pocket rockets with the addition of Fernandez. Frye was a starter in New York and Rodriguez could probably start on at least five other NBA teams. Plus, when Greg Oden returns they'll either have him or Joel Pryzbilla to fill in at center.

PPG: 15 (21.8) APG: 14 (4.0) RPG: 9 (13.3) SPG: 14 (1.3) BPG: 15 (0.5)
Impact Player: Shane Battier
Key Reserves: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Brent Barry

With Battier out until at least Thanksgiving with a bum ankle, Houston has integrated Ron Artest as the starter at the three and Luis Scola at the four. When Battier returns he could start at the three, sliding Artest to the four, but that will still give the Rockets Scola to use as a sub. Battier calls it the deepest team he's played for since he was a youngin' for the Grizzlies when Hubie Brown was playing a 10-man rotation and cited Brooks' speed, Landry's energy and Barry's ability to stretch the defense as game-changing skills. Brooks told me they go by "The Goons" or "The Goonies," but he has no idea how the nickname came about.

PPG: 10 (28.8) APG: 6 (7.3) RPG: 12 (12.2) SPG: 3 (3.3) BPG: 8 (2.0)
Impact Player: Leandro Barbosa
Key Reserves: Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, Robin Lopez

Barbosa isn't off to a hot start after missing most of the preseason dealing with a family issue, but the former Sixth Man Award winner should round into form, considering he's one of the quickest players in the league with the basketball. Hill and Diaw are versatile vets at Terry Porter's disposal and Lopez can give good minutes as well.

PPG: 4 (34.2) APG: 11 (5.4) RPG: 4 (17.2) SPG: 6 (2.6) BPG: 5 (2.2)
Impact Player: Russell Westbrook
Key Reserves: Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, Desmond Mason

Westbrook provides the same jolt to the Thunder when he checks in for Earl Watson that Farmar gives the Lakers in Fisher's place or Brooks gives the Rockets in Rafer Alston's spot. Wilcox, Smith and Mason remind me of the Celtics' Leon Powe, P.J. Brown and Tony Allen of a year ago -- three solid pros that you can plug in there and know you'll get production out of.

PPG: 9 (29.2) APG: 10 (5.8) RPG: 5 (15.8) SPG: 10 (2.6) BPG: 2 (2.2)
Impact Player: J.R. Smith
Key Reserves: Linas Kleiza, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman

Anybody who watched Denver's playoff series with the Lakers last season knows how good Smith can be when given a chance and Kleiza has the ability to dominate, witnessed by his 41 points against the Jazz in January.

PPG: 3 (37.0) APG: 2 (8.6) RPG: 10 (13.2) SPG: 8 (2.4) BPG: 7 (2.0)
Impact Player: Rashad McCants
Key Reserves: Ryan Gomes, Craig Smith, Randy Foye

Coming into this season in the last year of his rookie contract, McCants had a lot on the line and hasn't delivered quite yet as his points per game (10.8) and shooting percentage (.393) have both dipped considerably since last season. Kevin Love vaulting into the starting lineup downgraded Gomes into an excellent player to bring off the pine. Smith and Foye are two young talents who have shown flashes.

PPG: 8 (29.2) APG: 7 (6.8) RPG: 3 (18.5) SPG: 9 (2.3) BPG: 13 (1.2)
Impact Player: Hakim Warrick
Key Reserves: Kyle Lowry, Darko Milicic, Quinton Ross

Warrick is a guy who scores in his sleep while Lowry, Milicic and Ross are three defensive minded players, giving coach Marc Iavaroni the luxury to go one of two ways when he makes his first in-game player swap.

PPG: 14 (22.5) APG: 3 (8.3) RPG: 13 (12.0) SPG: 7 (2.5) BPG: 3 (2.3)
Impact Player: Mike Taylor
Key Reserves: Ricky Davis, Paul Davis, Eric Gordon

The Clippers round out the top 10, which means suspiciously absent from the list are the Hornets and Spurs -- two teams that made it to the second round in last year's playoffs. With Manu Ginobili out for San Antonio and New Orleans really only bringing James Posey and Rasual Butler off the bench consistently, neither team is as deep as the rest of the conference.

• Kobe Bryant exited a recent game against the Clippers and punched the bench as soon as he sat down, causing the whole row of chairs to rock backwards. What was eating Kobe? He thought his team was giving up too many points to their hometown rivals.

"I was just pissed," Bryant said. "Offense is not going to piss me off, it's defense that is going to piss me off."

The Lakers are currently first in points allowed per game (84.4) and second in opponent's field goal percentage allowed (.390). I'd hate to see what he'd do if L.A. falls to second and third in those categories.

Keep him away from the Bobby Knight footage.

• Shaquille O'Neal, playing in his 1,049th career game on Monday, needs 20 points to tie John Havlicek for 10th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Hondo averaged 20.8 points over his 1,270 game career en route to 26,395 total points. Shaq's career points per game average is 25.2, but would have bumped up to 28.1 if he had Havlicek's .815 mark from the free throw line instead of his own paltry .525 percentage. Then again, Hondo would have benefitted from Shaq's .581 career field goal percentage compared to his pedestrian .439 average.

• When Deron Williams heard about the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade last week, he immediately pulled out his phone to send his Olympic teammate, Carmelo Anthony, a message.

"The Northwest just got real," Williams texted.

"Yup," Anthony replied.

• Magic Johnson held an impromptu press conference last Wednesday to comment on Barack Obama's historic win in the Presidential Election. The 15-minute session covered a range of topics including whether Johnson would ever enter politics like his former peer Kevin Johnson who won the race for mayor of Sacramento (No, he'll stay in the private sector, but will help Obama with any business initiatives he may have for urban communities); why he felt comfortable backing Obama after campaigning for Hillary Clinton (Magic praised Barack's discipline and intelligence); and why he'd like to be a fly on the wall when Obama moves into the White House ("Just to see his girls run around the White House and pick out their rooms. That would be a great joy.")