Luke Schenscher to stay benched?

Luke Schenscher returned to the starting 5 for the Perth Wildcats last night after starting off the bench earlier in the week against Wollongong. The result was far from encouraging as Luke picked up 1 rebound and 4 points. Maybe there is more to be read in the fact that Jesse Wagstaff, Luke's brief replacement in the starting 5, ended up playing more minutes than Luke. Whilst Wagstaff is visually never going to be as intimidating as a 7 footer the cats seem to gel far better when he is out there.

But just how intimidated are opposition players by the former NBA player. Well based on most performances Schenscher has not hurt opponents enough for them to be worried. Schenscher didn't play a single minute in the fourth quarter, new import Galen Young did and played almost twice as many minutes over the entire game. At one stage, Schenscher had the ball in the low post with New Zealand shooting guard Kirk Penney as his only defender and yet he spent what felt like an eternity looking for a team mate to pass to before attacking the basket.

Benchings are the sort of thing that coaches spruik as a chance to get the hunger back or rebound from adversity but in reality Schenscher has been struggling for some time now. The Wildcats big man stocks of Schenscher, Rogers and Redhage were sold as the key to the side during the pre-season. Redhage's season has been reasonable and it's a nice luxury to not have to rely on him as a go-to but in reality most games have been won due to superior long range firepower from the guards. Schenscher's season so far could be graded as a C at best.