The greatest sixth man from each NBA team

Greatest sixth man in Brooklyn Nets history: Aaron Williams

The Brooklyn Nets franchise began in New York and in the ABA, where they won two titles behind Julius “Dr. J” Erving. After joining the NBA in 1976, moving to New Jersey and trading away Erving, the Nets would not make it past the second round of the playoffs until 2002.

The previous summer the Nets made the move to bring in All-Star point guard Jason Kidd, and he was at the center of a tough defensive team that twice made the NBA Finals, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002 and the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.

The backbone of those teams defensively was Kenyon Martin, but his partner down low was big man Aaron Williams. The 6’9″ Williams played more than four seasons with the Nets, appearing in 317 games and starting just 45 of them. Williams was not a heavy-minutes player in New Jersey, averaging around 20 minutes per contest in 2002 and 2003, but defensively he was a wall when he was on the court.

Williams averaged 2.4 defensive win shares in his four full seasons on the Nets, second only to Martin on the team. Many sixth men are offensive-minded, and Williams was no offensive slouch, but it was his defense that made him a valuable part of two conference-winning teams.