The talk of the bench's poor play is in a way misleading. The system is designed to give a chosen set of players their fill of shots. In order for the bench to score, it has to come from Lu, A-Train and/or Rogers because they're the only ones on the bench designated to take their fill of shots. If they're out, their shots mostly revert to the starters.
The Nets' DEEP bench players can't count on scoring to break the rotation. They won't get the PT, plays won't be run for them and/or they won't get the shots.
Slay, Armstrong and Veal were all drafted for their scoring ability. But, when they had good offensive showings this season, they didn't receive a fair chance to follow up and establish a rhythm. It almost seems like PT is reduced following a good offensive showing. Recently, Veal was rewarded for 4/6 in the Mavs game - with his typical solid floor game - with 3 garbage minutes against the Spurs, then, 2/4 in the Heat game with 4 garbage minutes against the Celtics. (I'm sure a similar pattern will emerge with BA and TS.) It also can be argued Scalabrine should have received MORE shots against the Mavs and Heat, as he was one of the better shooting Nets in both games. His role on the team conspicuously limits his touches in the post, despite being drafted as an inside-out scorer and his evident skill level in the paint area.
Scalabrine is the best example of a prejudiced shot distribution, due to his increased PT. While his PT has gone up, his FGA has remained suppressed. Rogers and Scalabrine basically compete for the same minutes with similar roles, except for one facet. In 21 more minutes (520-499), Rogers has taken 83 more shots (192-109). Rogers averages 6.4 FGA per game compared to Veal's 3.3, which is the lowest of any Net with consistent PT. Few of those shots have been taken in the paint area. (BTW, with the 21 minutes, Rogers also has 21 more TOs than Veal - 44-23.) The point is, Veal has earned his minutes this season despite being barred from the scoring strength of his game.
Armstrong and Slay lack Veal's all-around utility game, so if they can't shoot their way into the rotation, there isn't much else they can do to carve out minutes. Even with Scalabrine, he isn't rewarded for making shots, is punished for missing them, and his minutes have been returned to Rogers anyway. They're anxious not because of any reward, there isn't any, but because they fear the penalty for missing shots. It's tough enough as a deep bench player on the Nets to receive a fair chance to succeed - or fail. Then, to also be blamed for the team's poor bench scoring seems downright unfair.
Hopefully, the system will adjust better to incorporate Eddie Griffin and Hubert Davis.