6th Men of 2023

[Mike G]

Reading that the Knicks' Immanuel Quickley has vaulted into the 6th man forefront, maybe it's time to categorically examine the candidates.
Players with at least 800 minutes who have started fewer than half their games. Tot. is merely the total of per game Pts+Reb+etc (-TO).

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Tot.    per game :      %Sta   Tm    Pts   Reb   Ast  Stl  Blk   TO
27.1  Russell Westbrook .17   tot   15.7   5.9   7.6  1.1   .4   3.6
26.1   Christian Wood   .31   Dal   17.1   7.7   1.6   .4  1.1   1.8
24.7   Bobby Portis     .31   Mil   14.0   9.7   1.7   .4   .2   1.3
21.8   Malcolm Brogdon  .00   Bos   14.6   4.2   3.7   .6   .3   1.6
20.9 Bennedict Mathurin .09   Ind   16.6   4.0   1.4   .6   .1   1.8

20.8   Norman Powell    .13   LAC   16.6   2.9   1.8   .8   .3   1.6
20.7  Bogdan Bogdanović .12   Atl   14.4   3.3   3.0   .9   .3   1.2
20.5  Immanuel Quickley .18   NYK   13.3   4.0   3.2   .9   .2   1.1
20.3   Cole Anthony     .06   Orl   12.2   4.4   4.0   .6   .6   1.5
19.3   Walker Kessler   .46   Uta    8.5   8.1    .8   .4  2.3    .8

Tot.    per game:       %Sta   Tm    Pts   Reb   Ast  Stl  Blk   TO
19.0   Malik Monk       .00   Sac   13.7   2.6   3.9   .6   .2   2.0
18.8   Caris LeVert     .42   Cle   11.4   4.0   3.9   .8   .3   1.6
18.5   Malik Beasley    .24   Uta   13.4   3.6   1.7   .8   .1   1.1
18.5   Bruce Brown      .43   Den   11.1   4.0   3.4  1.0   .6   1.6
18.4   Onyeka Okongwu   .27   Atl    9.3   7.1   1.0   .7  1.3   1.0

18.4   Zach Collins     .30   SAS   10.3   6.1   2.7   .5   .7   1.9
18.4   Malik Beasley    .32   tot   13.2   3.6   1.7   .9   .1   1.1
18.3   Collin Sexton    .32   Uta   14.3   2.2   2.9   .6   .1   1.8

IQ is squarely in the middle of the top 15.
Kessler may well be >.50 %Starts before it's over.

[Mike G]

ESPN Experts think it's between Brogdon and Quickley and don't even mention anyone else.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/360 ... id-giannis
Looks like they have done their homework, though. Top 10 from the per-game rankings I did earlier:

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player     Tm    PER    WS  WS/48   BPM  VORP
Westbrook LA*2  15.7   1.6  .038   -0.1   1.0
C Wood    Dal   20.7   4.8  .136    1.7   1.6
Portis    Mil   17.6   5.0  .138    0.4   1.1
Brogdon   Bos   18.2   5.6  .161    2.7   2.0
Mathurin  Ind   13.3   1.8  .042   -3.5   -.8
N Powell  LAC   16.5   3.0  .098    0.0    .8
Bogdan B  Atl   17.4   3.6  .090    0.8   1.4
Quickley  NYK   15.9   6.3  .134    1.5   2.0
C Anthony Orl   15.9   3.6  .117    1.1   1.2

VORP calls it a toss-up. Other numbers suggest Wood and Portis..
Kessler has now started 40 of 74 games.

[Crow]

For 6th man voters always (to my memory without checking) emphasize points over everything else.

[Mike G]

Right.
And if it's close, maybe other categories. That's why I just added up per-game averages. And points are the big one.

By pure points, it should be C Wood, Mathurin, or N Powell.
Next is Westbrook, plus he brings assists; rebounds.
Portis with almost 10 Reb/G off the bench.
All nope.

[v-zero]

For me it is Quickley and it isn't close.

[Mike G]

Well it sure looks close
Is there a deciding factor that makes it not close?

[Italian Stallion]

Quickley's best attribute is his defense.