Not everybody can be a star in the NBA. As the greatest basketball league in the entire world, there’s so much only room at the top for guys like LeBron James and Stephen Curry to shine. But for every title contender, there is more to their success than the play of the stars. In the NBA, every role matters, and the collective efforts of a deep and well-oiled group can oftentimes dominate against teams stacked with more top-end talent.
While these types of players don’t often get the proper recognition, Jamal Crawford had some people talking after he gave his starting five of the best NBA bench performers ever.
“I never put myself on those lists… so I would put Lou, Manu, Detlef, Kevin McHale, Havlicek.”
Jamal Crawford gave his All-Time 6th Man starting five 👀
Thoughts? 🤔
(via @PlayersChoice_)pic.twitter.com/ntpoq7oYOe
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 27, 2023
Of course, Jamal Crawford can be ranked right up there with Lou and Manu. As a 3x Sixth Man of the Year winner and career 14.6 points per game scorer, Jamal was a legend off the bench and is still widely known for having some of the best ball-handling skills in modern NBA history.
Lou Williams isn’t too far off from Jamal in terms of accolades. As a 3x Sixth Man winner, his expertise in scoring the ball helped a number of teams throughout his career, especially the Clippers in 2018 when he averaged a career-high 22.6 points per game.
Beyond those players, the All-Time Sixth Man ranking becomes much harder, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t put McHale and Manu somewhere near the top.
How Can Players Become The Ultimate Sixth Man?
Accepting a role off the bench is not easy for most NBA players. When you’re a starter-level player assigned to a Sixth man role, it can be a humbling experience but there are some who learned to embrace it.
“I gotta have it. I don’t shy away from that because when we start having the sixth man conversation, I’m the only one that embraced it, this is a lifestyle, you know what I’m saying,” said Lou Williams. “I was like, if this is my job, I’m going to make it embarrassing for me to come off the bench. I just embraced the lifestyle of it.”
The NBA has so many factors that can alter the course of a season, and what role players accept or deny typically has a massive impact on how well they perform. While Crawford and Lou are out of the league already, their ability to thrive in the role has begun to change the narrative about how we view bench players in the NBA.
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