Take Toni Kukoc during the Bulls' second threepeat. Aside from any strategic advantage their team may have by bringing them off the bench, consider that the position(s) they are most suited to relegate them to the bench despite being one of the top five players on the roster. Historically speaking, the sixth man isn't necessarily the sixth best player on the team though. They simply can't be the 4th or 5th best player on the team or better. Ginobili, Gordon, & Terry are guys like this that I can think of right now.

Qballer wrote:I think people who qualify for 6th man should not be people who you would start unless the person you usually play there is hurt. Top 20 players with less than 50% starts last season by PER, with Playing Time %

Players who met Pdub's criteria last season, along with number of sixth man points they got: Just because Manu has been playing as a superstar player doesnt mean he doesnt deserve to win it this year. who should win this award? for me it is clear enough. Ginobili become starting when Tony/Tim suffer injuries.so. Barbosa is scoring less than 4ppg than Manu, who this season is tied in 28 teamhighs leadingpoints with Tim Duncan (who is consider one of the best PF in the nba history). Jason Terry/Leandrinho Barbosa, both are playing around 30 mpg (just as manu), Terry started more than him. I dont know why you cant understand who should win this award. In my opinion its fairly enough to play less than half, Manu is around 35%. For a guy off the bench who played 25 minutes and scored 26 points, that's a pretty good sixth man.'' He gets to the line, he gets in the lane, he can make 3s. He can score in multiple says,'' said Minnesota coach Randy Wittman about Ginobili after San Antonio's Friday win. The criteria for selecting a winner from the qualified candidates would then simply be a comparison of each player's performance with conclusions drawn on each player's importance to his team, with the award going to the player with the most impressive results. So I guess my criteria would basically come down to potential candidates satisfying the requirements for percentage of games started and being the most prominent reserve on their team, thus fulfilling the traditional role of sixth man by being the most productive/talented player coming off the bench for considerable minutes because it is a role they are better suited to or because it offers a strategical advantage. If the Sixth Man award is to be considered the MVP of reserve players as defined in NBA.com's Hoopedia, team records and production when the Sixth Man candidate is on the floor would also presumably come into play.

Perhaps bringing that number down to 30% (ie no more than 25 games assuming a player appears in all 82 regular season games) would fairly eliminate those who are on the border of being sixth men and frequent starters.ДЇrom there, the statistical production of each qualified candidate could be analysed and compared to decide the league's best reserve player. You do have to invoke some limit on the amount of games started and less than half seems fair enough. In that regard, I don't think you can disqualify players because they are arguably better choices to start regularly, start some games during the season or play a lot of minutes, comparable to (or more than) one of the regular starters as they're still being utilised in the traditional sixth man role. To further define the characteristics and role of a sixth man, I would say that sixth men are players who are better suited to coming off the bench either personally or strategically, are prime candidates to take the place of a regular starter when needed (and could perhaps be a regular starter on another team in the league) and provide their teams a capable and productive player in a reserve role, generally being the first substitute to enter for their team. I think it would be fair to define a sixth man as a reserve player who sees significant minutes and is arguably the best player coming off the bench (certainly the bench player with the best statistics). To be eligible for the award, a player must come in off of the bench in more games than he starts. NBA.com's Hoopedia wrote:The NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award is the award given by the National Basketball Association to the league's most valuable player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute (sixth man).

6th man of the year candidates