Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're turning
our attention away from the spotlight, away from
the starting five. I want you to picture it.
It's about, you know, six, maybe seven minutes
into the first quarter of a big NBA game. The
first time out just hit. Exactly. The starters
are already sweating. The game plan is kind of
unfolding. And there's this one player on the
bench. He's been watching it. I mean, really
watching every single play like a film session.
And you see him get the nod from the coach. He
pulls off the warm ups, walks over to the scorer's
table. It's a moment that, you know, usually
gets lost in the arena shuffle. Totally. People
are getting food. They're checking their phones.
But that specific moment, that walk from the
bench to the court. That's where our deep dive
begins today, because sometimes that's where
the entire game or even a championship. really
pivots it's the ultimate paradox in sports isn't
it the starting lineup gets all the fanfare the
big introductions the fire cannons all of it
but the guy who comes in after them he might
be the one who's on the floor when the final
buzzer sounds that's the one the sixth man The
player who wasn't considered essential for the
opening tip, but is absolutely critical for the
final five minutes. It's a role that has I mean,
it has totally transformed over the decades.
It went from being, you know, maybe a slight
demotion to being a full on strategic weapon.
A weapon is the perfect word for it. And that's
what we're doing today. We are conducting a let's
call it a full forensic audit. of the NBA Sixth
Man of the Year Award. You'll see it in the box
scores as 6MOY. Right. And we're not just, you
know, going to read you Wikipedia lists. We've
got a mountain of source material here. We're
talking voting data, historical records from
the awards creation back in the early 80s, all
the way through the just completed 2024 -25 season.
We've got the player stats, the team records,
even some of the, you know, the quirks and the
oddities in the voting that have popped up over
the years. Our mission today. is to trace that
evolution you mentioned because the profile of
the winner has changed so dramatically it started
out as an award for like defensive specialists
and glue guys then it morphed into this trophy
for instant offense scoring machines and now
in the modern game it feels like it's becoming
something else entirely and we have to get into
the legends who define the role Because when
you look at the names in these documents, we're
talking Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, James Harden,
Manu Ginobili, you realize this isn't a consolation
prize. Not at all. It's the award for the guy
who finishes the job, even if he didn't start
it. I love that framing. It's perfect. Okay,
so let's start at the very beginning. Ground
zero. The league didn't always have this award
for, what, 30 plus years? The bench was just...
The bench. Right. It's where you went if you
were in foul trouble or if you were tired or,
you know, to be blunt, if you just weren't as
good as the starters. So what was the turning
point? When did the NBA formally decide, OK,
we need to recognize the best player coming off
the bench? You have to go back to the 1982 -83
NBA season. That's the official birth date of
the award. And the timing, I think, is really
key to understanding the why. The early 80s was
this. This inflection point for the league. The
ABA merger was still relatively fresh, so the
talent pool was deeper than ever. You had Bird
and Magic bringing in this new era of stardom.
And coaching strategy was getting a lot more
sophisticated. It's not just roll the ball out
and let the best guys play anymore. Not at all.
Coaches were starting to understand that staggering
minutes, having a real rotation, wasn't just
about managing fatigue. It was about applying
constant pressure on your opponent for a full
48 minutes. You never wanted to drop off. So
you needed a legitimate talent, a weapon, ready
to come in and keep that pressure on. Precisely.
And so the award was created. Now, the official
criteria... On paper, it's pretty straightforward.
It's for the league's best performing player
who comes off the bench as a substitute. But
there has to be a catch, right? To stop teams
from gaming the system. What stops a coach from
having his best player come off the bench for
one game just to be eligible? There is a catch,
and it's a very strict mathematical one. A gatekeeper
rule, basically. I was looking at this in our
source notes. It all comes down to a simple ratio.
It's a math problem. To be eligible for the Sixth
Man of the Year award, a player must come off
the bench in more games than he starts. It's
that simple. So in a standard 82 -game season,
you need to come off the bench for at least 42
of them. At least. The moment you start that
40 -second game, you're out. You're no longer
eligible, even if you come off the bench for
the other 40. Which is a brilliant little rule,
because it forces a real commitment to the rule.
We see this all the time. A key starter gets
injured for, say, a month. The team's sixth man
steps into the starting lineup. And he plays
great. He puts up huge numbers. He does. He might
even look like the frontrunner for the award.
But if that injury to the starter lasts too long,
and he ends up starting more games than he comes
off the bench, he accidentally disqualifies himself.
It's happened. And it's tough. But it preserves
the spirit of the award. It's for someone whose
primary function, whose identity for that season
is being the anchor of that second unit, not
just a temporary starter. Now, before we dive
into the winners, let's talk about the trophy
itself, because it wasn't always just a generic
trophy. The league recently made a change that
I think is just perfect. Oh, absolutely. As of
the 2022 -23 season, the winner receives the
John Havlicek trophy. Hondo. Yeah. The legendary
Celtic. It's such a fitting name. You couldn't
pick a better namesake. I mean, John Havlicek,
you're talking about an eight -time NBA champion,
a Finals MVP, a Hall of Famer. But more than
that, he basically invented the modern concept
of the super sub back in the 60s. He was good
enough to start on any team in the league. He
was an all -star every year. But his coach, the
legendary Red Auerbach, knew the Celtics were
more dangerous with Havlicek's energy coming
off the bench to overwhelm the opponent's second
unit. And his stamina was the stuff of legend,
wasn't it? The guy just never got tired. He was
a machine. He would just run and run and run.
So by naming the trophy after Havlicek, the NBA
is sending a powerful message. It's not the best
backup award. Exactly. It's the Havlicek. It
says this is a role of honor, a strategic position.
It's not a demotion. And for a professional athlete's
ego, you know, that distinction matters. The
ego part is a huge piece of this puzzle. And
we'll definitely circle back to that. But first.
Let's get into the nitty gritty, the mechanics
of the vote. How is the winner actually chosen?
Well, thankfully, it's not a fan vote on social
media or anything like that. Could you imagine
the chaos? It would be a disaster. No, it's decided
by a panel of sports writers and broadcasters,
people who cover the league every day from all
across the United States and Canada. OK, so it's
the media, but it's not as simple as everyone
picks one guy. Right. I saw the breakdown of
the point system. Correct. It's a weighted ballot,
which is really important. Each voter selects
a first place, a second place, and a third place
candidate. And the points are different for each
spot. Right. A first place vote gets you five
points. Second place is worth three points. And
a third place vote gets you one point. So let's
think about what that means in practice. You
could have a player who is, I don't know. Super
flashy. A high -volume scorer who doesn't play
a lick of defense. A very polarizing player.
Exactly. Maybe half the voters love him, so they
put him first on their ballot. He gets a bunch
of those five -point votes. But the other half
of the voters can't stand his game and leave
him off their ballot entirely. Meanwhile, there
might be another guy. A solid two -way player.
Maybe not as spectacular, but universally respected.
He doesn't get as many first place votes. But
everybody puts him second or third. Exactly.
He just quietly racks up all those three point
and one point votes from across the entire panel.
And under the system, the winner is the player
with the highest total point score, regardless
of who got the most first place vote. I actually
really like that. It rewards the consensus candidate
over the divisive one. It smooths out the biases.
It does. It prevents a guy from winning just
because he plays in a huge media market. If the
writers in the smaller markets all think someone
else was better. It finds the calming ground.
And that system was put to the test right away.
That very first year, 1982 -83, the player they
chose as the inaugural winner. I mean, he set
an incredibly high bar for what this award was
supposed to represent. They could not have picked
a better prototype. We're talking about Bobby
Jones of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Secretary
of Defense. That's him. And what's so fascinating
is that he is the complete opposite of what...
Many fans today think a sixth man is. Right.
If you ask a fan now, they'll say, oh, it's the
guard who comes in and shoots a lot. Instant
offense. A microwave scorer. Obby Jones was not
that guy. Not even close. He was a defensive
mastermind, an elite, long, versatile forward,
a future Hall of Famer. And he was playing on
a Sixers team that was, I mean, just. That was
the team with Julius Irving, Dr. J. Dr. J, Moses
Malone, who was the MVP that year, Maurice Cheeks,
Andrew Toney. They were a juggernaut on a mission
to win a championship. And they did win it that
year. The famous faux faux faux prediction from
Moses Malone. That's the one. He predicted they'd
sweep the entire playoffs. They only lost one
game. And Bobby Jones was a linchpin for that
team. He didn't come off the bench because he
wasn't good enough to start. He came off the
bench because their coach, Billy Cunningham,
had a brilliant strategy. What was it? He saved
his best defensive weapon. He'd let the game
start. And then he'd unleash Bobby Jones with
fresh legs to go lock down the other team's best
scorer right when they were starting to get tired.
He was the ultimate chess piece. So the award
is born with this identity of defense, of team
first sacrifice, of being a key part of a championship
team. And being a Hall of Famer. it instantly
legitimized the whole concept. It sent a message
to the rest of the league. This award is for
winners. It's not about padding your stats on
a lottery team. It's about impacting winning
at the highest level. But the stats part of it,
over time, that's where this, what I call the
minutes paradox comes from. Well, this is one
of the biggest misconceptions about the award.
I think the casual fan hears... And they automatically
assume that means, you know, 18, maybe 20 minutes
a game. You come in, you give the star a quick
breather, and you sit back down. And for some
role players, that's true. But for the winners
of this award, the data tells a very, very different
story. I was digging through the numbers for
the 2008 -09 season. The winner was Jason Terry
of the Dallas Mavericks. The Jet. I looked at
his minutes per game average. for that season.
And I genuinely thought it was a typo. I had
to go look it up on a second source. It's a number
that just doesn't compute with the term bench
player. 33 .7 minutes per game. 33 .7. That is
the all -time record for the highest minutes
per game average for any six -man winner in the
season they won. That's insane. There are perennial
all -stars in today's NBA who don't play 34 minutes
a game. He was playing more than most starters.
He was a starter in everything but name. He just
didn't participate in the opening tip -off. He
was on the floor to close the first half, to
start the second half, and he damn sure was on
the floor for the entire fourth quarter. So the
strategy there was what? Let him watch the first
few minutes, see how the defense is playing,
and then he checks in with a mental scouting
report. That's exactly it. He was a basketball
genius. He'd identify the weak defender, the
mismatch. And then for the next 30 plus minutes,
he would just surgically attack it. It really
hammers home the point that in the NBA, starting
is often ceremonial. Finishing is what's real.
And Jason Terry is the poster child for that.
The award doesn't care when you punch the clock.
It cares about the impact you make while you're
on the floor. Okay, so we've got the prototype
in Bobby Jones, the paradox in Jason Carey. But
as we continue to comb through this list of winners,
just the sheer pedigree of the players is kind
of staggering. It's not just good role players.
No. We're talking about some of the absolute
titans of basketball history. Yeah. The Hall
of Fame club within the six -man fraternity.
It's elite. It's a short list, but it's an incredibly
powerful one. It gives the award a gravitas that,
you know, maybe something like Most Improved
Player doesn't always have. Let's run down the
list of Hall of Famers who have a six -man trophy.
We were talking about Bobby Jones, the first
one. But right after him, in the mid-'80s, the
Boston Celtics dynasty basically took over the
award. You start with Kevin McHale. He won it
back -to -back, 1983 -84 and 1984 -85. It's hard
to even wrap your head around that. Kevin McHale,
with his, you know, thousand different post moves
in the torture chamber, he's on the NBA's top
75 players of all time list. And he was a bench
player. It was just unfair. Imagine you're the
backup power forward for like the New Jersey
Nets in 1984. You see Larry Bird take a seat
and you think, OK, I can breathe for a second.
And then Kevin McHale checks into the game. It's
a nightmare. It was a luxury that only a team
as stacked as those Celtics have. They could
afford to bring a legitimate superstar off their
bench. He eventually became a full time starter,
of course. But those two seasons defined what
a sixth starter could be. And staying with those
Celtics the very next year. 1985 -86. Another
Hall of Famer wins it for them. Bill Walton.
Walton is such a special case. We need to put
a pin in him because his story arc is one of
the most unique in all of sports. But yes, he's
on the list. Okay. Then you jump forward to the
90s to another dynasty, the Chicago Bulls. And
you get Tony Kukoc, the Croatian sensation. He
won the award in 1995 -96 on the legendary 72
-win Bulls team. The ultimate third banana. Behind
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, another Hall
of Famer. A brilliant do -it -all point forward
who sacrificed his own stats and glory for the
team. And then you've got the modern standard
bearer, the guy who is maybe the most beloved
sixth man of all time. It has to be Manu Ginobili.
From the San Antonio Spurs. Four -time champion,
Olympic gold medalist, first ballot Hall of Famer.
So that's the club. Jones, McHale, Walton, Kuko,
Ginobili. These are not just stars. They're foundational
figures in the history of the sport. But there's
a subgroup within that list that I find even
more incredible. The players who have won both
the sixth man of the year and the league's most
valuable player award. It seems like it should
be impossible. They feel like mutually exclusive
awards. MVP is for the undisputed number one
guy, the alpha. Sixth man is for the ultimate
supporting actor. And yet two players in the
entire history of the NBA have won both trophies.
Just two. Bill Walton, who we mentioned, and
James Harden. And their career paths to achieving
this are like perfect mirror images of each other.
Completely opposite trajectories. It's fascinating.
Let's start with Walton. His story is, you know,
it's triumphant, but also tinged with the sadness
of what could have been. In the late 70s, with
the Portland Trailblazers, he was on top of the
world. He was the league MVP in 1978, finals
MVP. He was the best player alive. A revolutionary
passing center. He was changing the game, but
then his feet just, they just betrayed him. The
chronic foot injuries. They derailed what could
have been an all -time great career. They did.
He missed season after season. Many thought he
was completely washed up. But he was determined
to contribute to winning again. He signs with
the 86 Celtics, accepts that he can't be the
guy anymore, and he embraces this new role off
the bench. And he wins Sixth Man of the Year.
He does. He was a phenomenal backup to Robert
Parrish and Kevin McHale on what might be the
greatest frontcourt ever assembled. So for Walton,
the MVP came first when he was in his prime.
The six -man award was the epilogue. It was the
landing strip for his career, allowing him to
go out as a champion. It was a story of resilience
and adaptation. Now, you flip that coin over
and you get James Harden. Harden is the complete
reverse. He's the launching pad. Perfect way
to put it. He comes into the league as a high
draft pick for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a young
team that is just overflowing with talent. You've
got Kevin Durant. You've got Russell Westbrook.
Two future MVPs themselves, so there aren't enough
shots to go around. Harden, to his credit, accepts
the bench role. He becomes the offensive creator
for their second unit, and he's brilliant at
it. He wins sixth man of the year in 2011 -12.
That was the year they made the NBA Finals. He
was a critical part of that run. But then, of
course, the Thunder make that infamous trade.
They send him to the Houston Rockets because
they didn't want to pay him the max contract.
And in Houston, he finally gets the keys to the
car. He gets his own team. He becomes a full
time starter. His usage rate skyrockets and he
transforms into one of the most dominant offensive
players the league has ever seen. And eventually
he wins the MVP award in 2018. So for him, the
six man award wasn't the end of the story. It
was a prologue. It was the proof of concept that
this guy was a superstar and waiting. Two men.
Two awards, two completely different journeys.
It's really incredible. And while we're on the
subject of just, you know, incredible achievements,
we have to go back to Manu Ginobili for a second.
Because while he never won an MVP, he did something
in his sixth man winning season that I would
argue is statistically even more unique. This
is one of those stats that sounds fake when you
first hear it. It's a true deep dive gem. In
the 2007 -08 season, Manu wins sixth man of the
year for the Spurs. But that's not the whole
story. That same season, the media voters also
named him to the All -NBA third team. And just
so everyone is clear on what that means, the
All -NBA teams, first, second, and third, are
designed to recognize the 15 best players in
the entire league for that season, regardless
of position or whether they start. It is the
single most exclusive honor besides MVP. And
Manu Ginobili is the only player in NBA history
to be named to an all NBA team in the same season
that he won the sixth man of the year award.
That just blows my mind. The voters simultaneously
said he is the best bench player in the league
and also he is one of the top 15 players in the
world, period. Think about what that does to
an opposing team's psyche. It was psychological
warfare from his coach, Greg Popovich. You prepare
your game plan. You survive the first six minutes
against Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. And you're
feeling pretty good. You're holding your own.
And then Pop calls a timeout. And a literal top
15 player in the world checks into the game with
fresh legs to attack your tired defenders. It
was cheat code. An absolute cheat code. It really
cemented Manu's legacy as the ultimate team player.
He sacrificed the personal glory, the starting
spot, the bigger numbers, all for the benefit
of the Scourge dynasty. And he made it look so
fun. The behind -the -back passes, the Euro step.
He brought this beautiful chaos to the game that
was mesmerizing to watch. He did. And that excitement
he brought, that's actually a great bridge to
the next group of players we need to discuss.
Because there's a certain archetype of sixth
man that really came to define the award in the
21st century. century the specialists the kings
of the bench the multi -time winners yes there's
a small group of players who didn't just win
the award once they made it their entire identity
they mastered the craft of coming off the bench
and this is where we see that archetype really
shift away from the versatile forwards of the
80s like McHale and turn a very specific type
of player. A very specific type. So who is at
the absolute pinnacle? Who has won the most Sixth
Man of the Year awards in history? It's a tie
at the top. Two players have won it three times
apiece, Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams. Jay
Crossover and Sweet Lou, the godfathers of the
modern Sixth Man. They absolutely are. They dominated
an entire decade of this award. Jamal Crawford
won his first in 2010 with the Hawks and then
two more in 2014 and 2016 with the Los Angeles
Clippers. And Lou Williams won his first in 2015
with the Raptors and then one back to back in
2018 and 2019, also with the Clippers. The Clippers
connection is a whole topic in itself that we
need to get to. For sure. But let's focus on
their style of play. These guys were not Bobby
Jones. They weren't being brought in to lock
down the other team's best player. No, they were
the polar opposite. They were brought in for
one reason and one reason only, to get buckets.
They were offensive savants. They were the living
embodiment of the microwave player, instant heat.
The game plan for their teams was beautifully
simple. Are the starters struggling to score?
Is the offense looking stagnant? All right, put
in Jamal or Lou, give them the ball, and get
out of the way. And they could create a shot
out of thin air. Jamal Crawford's crossover was
legendary. Lou Williams had this uncanny ability
to draw fouls and hit tough, off -balance shots.
They didn't need a system to run for them. For
the second unit, they were the system. It really
felt like, for that entire 2010s decade, the
unofficial criteria for winning the award became,
are you a guard who can average about 20 points
a game off the bench? It basically became a scoring
title for non -starters, and the numbers they
put up were incredible. I mean, Lou Williams
had multiple games where he scored 40 or even
50 points off the bench. A 50 -point game off
the bench is just a statistical absurdity. It
is, but that was their value. It was demoralizing
for the other team. You fight so hard against
the starters, you finally force a timeout, you
think you get a moment to breathe, and then Lou
Williams checks in and hits a 30 -foot step back
on his first touch. The underground goat, as
he was known. A truly professional scorer. Absolutely.
Now, before the Crawford and Williams era really
took hold, there were a couple of other two -time
winners who sort of bridged that gap. Right.
We already mentioned Kevin McHale winning two
in the 80s, but we also have Ricky Pierce and
Detlef Schrempf. Ricky Pierce. He was with the
Milwaukee Bucks, if I remember correctly. That's
right. He won in 1987 and again in 1990. And
he was very much in that professional scorer
mold, just in a different era, a deadly mid -range
shooter. And then Deliff Shrimps is a really
interesting one. He won back -to -back awards
in 1991 and 1992 with the Indiana Pacers. Shrimp
was fascinating. He was a 6 '10 forward, but
he had the skills of a guard. He could shoot
the three. He could handle the ball. He was a
great passer. He was less of a pure bucket getter
and more of a point forward who stabilized the
entire second unit. Winning it back to back is
so hard to do. Usually, if you're that good for
that long, your team just gives in and starts
you the next season. That's usually what happens.
But he embraced that role for those Pacers teams
before he eventually did become a starter for
the Seattle Supersonics. You know, the name Detlef
Schrempf is actually a perfect transition. Because
it reminds us that the NBA has become a global
game. And the Sixth Man Award, interestingly,
has a very rich history of honoring international
players. You're absolutely right. It's been one
of the more internationally diverse awards in
the league, sometimes even more so than the MVP.
Why do you think that is? Is there something
about the international game that prepares players
for... a role like this. I think that's a really
sharp insight. In many basketball cultures outside
the U .S., there's a much heavier emphasis on
team concept and playing a specific role within
a system from a very young age. The me -first
superstore culture isn't as prevalent. So they
might be more psychologically prepared to accept
a bench role, even if they're hugely talented.
I think so. And Detlef Schrempf, born in West
Germany, was the trailblazer. He was the first
non -American to win the award. He really opened
the door. And then the floodgates opened behind
him. They did. We already talked about Toni Kukoc
from Croatia winning it with the Bulls. Then
you've got our guy Manu Ginobili from Argentina.
But we also have to mention the Brazilian blur.
Leandro Barbosa. With the Phoenix Suns. Yes.
He won it in the 2006 -07 season, playing for
those electrifying seven seconds or less Suns
teams. Man, that team was fun to watch. And Barbosa
was like pure adrenaline off the bench. He was
one of the fastest players in the league with
the ball in his hands. He would just come in
and create chaos, running opposing bench units
into the ground. He was a perfect fit for that
system. And then there's another international
player who holds a record that is, I think, One
of the most unbreakable in the sport. Ben Gordon.
Ah, yes. The Ben Gordon anomaly. He's a great
trivia question. First, the international part.
He was born in London, England, and holds dual
British and American citizenship. But that's
not the unbreakable record. No. The record is
this. In the 2004 -05 season, as a member of
the Chicago Bulls, Ben Gordon won the sixth man
of the year award as a rookie. Let that sink
in. He is the only player in NBA history to win
this award as a first year player. It's a true
outlier. It seems impossible. Think about the
typical path for a rookie. If you're a high draft
pick, you usually start right away, especially
if the team isn't very good. Right. You're thrown
into the fire to get experience. And if you're
a lower pick or you're on a very good veteran
team. You're usually buried at the end of the
bench. You don't get enough playing time to even
qualify for an award like this. So to win it
as a rookie, you need this perfect storm of circumstances.
You need to be talented enough to make an immediate
impact. You need to be on a team that's good
enough to have established starters blocking
your path. And that team needs to have a specific
need for your skill set off the bench. And that
was the Baby Bulls that year. They were a young,
scrappy team. but they desperately needed a go
-to scorer, especially in crunch time. And Ben
Gordon was just fearless. He had this incredible
knack for hitting huge shots in the fourth quarter.
He became their de facto closer as a rookie.
It's a feat we haven't seen repeated, and with
the way player development has gone, we might
not ever see it again. It's a true one -of -one.
Now, sticking with rookies for a second, is there
any other crossover between, say, rookie of the
year and sixth man of the year? Has anyone managed
to win both over the course of a career? It's
very rare, but it has happened. Two players have
pulled off that particular double. Okay, who
are they? The first is Mike Miller. Mike Miller,
of course. Sharp shooter. One rookie of the year
with the Orlando Magic. He did. And then later
in his career, he really settled into that role
as a specialist shooter off the bench. He won
a six -man award in 2006 with the Memphis Grizzlies.
And who is the second player? Malcolm Brockton,
the president. He won Rookie of the Year with
the Milwaukee Bucks in a surprise. He did. And
then much later in his career, after being a
full time high level starter for the Indiana
Pacers, he accepted a move to the bench when
he was traded to the Boston Celtics. And he won
sixth man of the year in 2023. His story is another
great example of a player sacrificing their individual
role for a chance to compete for a title. It's
a sign of real professionalism. It really is.
And Brogdon is a perfect segue into the modern
history of the award. All right, let's bring
it home. We've gone through the origins, the
legends, the archetypes. Let's look at the recent
timeline, say from 2020 to the present day in
our data, which is the 2024 -25 season. The 2020s
have been a really interesting mix. We started
the decade in 2020 with Montrezl Harrell winning
for the L .A. Clippers. He was an undersized
high energy center, a throwback in some ways.
Then in 2021, we got Jordan Clarkson with the
Utah Jazz. Back to the classic bucket getting
guard. And Clarkson has another international
tie, right? He does. He's American born, but
represents the Philippines in international competition.
So that global flavor continues. Then in 2022,
Tyler Harrow of the Miami Heat. The ultimate
modern six man. He had the scoring, the confidence,
the swagger. He embraced the identity completely.
He really did. 2023 was Malcolm Brogdon, who
we just discussed. But then, in the 2023 -24
season, we saw a really significant pivot, a
real break from the trend. Nas Reid. Nas Reid
of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The cult hero.
The entire state of Minnesota just writes Nas
Reid in comment sections. He's become a phenomenon,
but what was so important about his win was that
he was a center. A true big man. For the better
part of a decade, the award had been dominated
by scoring guards. Reid's win felt like a throwback
to the McHale and Bobby Jones era. It felt like
voters were finally remembering that impact can
be more than just scoring. It can be rebounding,
rim protection, and versatility from a big man.
Exactly. And then that brings us to the most
recent winner in our data set, the 2024 -25 season.
And the winner is Peyton Pritchard of the Boston
Celtics. Back to the scoring guard mold. But
also another Celtic. It does feel like we're
saying Celtics and Clippers a lot here. Is there
a pattern of team dominance with this award?
Oh, it's a huge pattern. If you look at the all
-time leaderboard for this award by franchise,
two teams are sitting at the top, tied. Let me
guess. The Celtics and the Clippers. You got
it. The Boston Celtics have five total wins.
You have McHale's two, Walton's one, Brogdon's
one, and now Pritchard's. And the Los Angeles
Clippers. Also five wins. Jamal Crawford's two,
Lou Williams' two, and Montrezl Harrell's one.
It's fascinating because they represent two totally
different philosophies. The Celtics' wins are
spread out over 40 years. It speaks to a long
-term organizational culture of valuing depth
and team -first players. From Red Auerbach in
the 80s to Brad Stevens in the front office today,
it's just part of their DNA. Whereas the Clippers,
five wins, are all clustered in the 2010s. That
was a specific strategic decision. During the
Lob City era and right after, they built their
entire team identity around having the league's
best bench. They knew they couldn't always match
the top -end star power of teams like the Warriors,
so their strategy was to win the 15 minutes a
game when the superstars were resting. teams
that are close to that level of success? The
Phoenix Suns have a strong history here. They
have four wins also spread out over time. Eddie
Johnson in 89, Danny Manning in 98, Ronnie Rogers
in 2000, and Leandro Barbosa in 07. But Annie
Manning, that's a great pull. Former number one
overall pick who had to reinvent his career after
devastating injuries. Another story of adaptation.
And it makes sense for the Suns. They've historically
favored a fast -paced, up -tempo style. And to
play that way, you need a deep and talented bench
to keep guys fresh. Okay, so we've covered the
history, the voting, the legends, the archetypes,
the teams. Let's try to synthesize all of this.
If we step back and look at the big picture,
what is the ideal sixth man? If you were building
a championship contender from scratch, what kind
of player are you looking for in that role? Well,
after analyzing over 40 years of data, it seems
to come down to two primary winning archetypes.
The first and most common in the modern era is
the high scoring guard. The microwave. You're
Jamal Crawford, Tyler Harrow, Lou Williams. Exactly.
You deploy this weapon when your starting offense
gets bogged down in the half court. You need
someone who can just go create a good shot for
himself at a nothing. And what's the second architect?
The second is the versatile big. This is your
McHale, your Bobby Jones, and more recently,
your Nas Reid. This player doesn't just add points.
They change the entire geometry of the game.
They can provide a post -up threat the starting
center doesn't have, or they can be a better
rim protector. Or, like Schrempf, they can be
a playmaking hub from the forward position. They
give the coach a completely different tactical
look to throw at the opponent. And it feels like
the league has pendulum swings between those
two. We had the versatile bigs in the 80s, then
a long, long run of high scoring guards. And
maybe with Nas Reed's win, the pendulum is starting
to swing back a little. The game is always evolving.
But the one thing that has remained constant
is the value of the role itself. This award has
truly grown up. It's not just the best of the
rest anymore. It's a legitimate career path.
It's a path to a massive contract. Guys like
Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Hero got paid because
they excelled in this role. And it's a path to
the Hall of Fame. And by renaming the trophy
after John Havlicek, the league has finally given
the role the respect and reverence it's always
deserved. It sends a message that team success
is more important than the vanity of a starting
spot. So that brings me to my final provocative
thought for you and for everyone listening. We've
talked about all this history. We've seen guys
like Jason Terry play nearly 34 minutes a game
off the bench. We've seen Manu Ginobili, an all
-NBA player, come off the bench. We see today's
starters playing fewer minutes than ever because
of load management. The lines are getting blurrier
and blurrier. So my question is this. Does the
distinction of starting even really matter anymore?
Is it an outdated concept? Or should we just
get rid of the sixth -man title and rename the
award The Closer? Because at the end of the day,
isn't the only thing that truly matters who the
coach trusts to have on the floor when the game
is on the line? That is the million -dollar question
for the future of the sport. The first five minutes
of the game are about setting a tone. The last
five minutes are about winning. And maybe in
another decade, we won't even list games started
as a primary stat. Maybe it'll just be games
closed. Something to think about the next time
you're watching a game and see a team's best
player check in for the first time with five
minutes already gone. Thanks for taking this
deep dive with us. My pleasure. It was a great
one. We'll catch you on the next one.