Sixth Man of the Year Ladder 3.0 still about those LA Clippers

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NBA Sixth Man of the Year LA Clippers Montrezl Harrell Lou Williams

In our 3rd edition of the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Ladder, the LA Clippers are well-represented. They are on pace to lead the NBA in bench scoring again.

In the race for NBA Sixth Man of the Year, our Ladder 3.0 tells a clear story: If it’s not just the LA Clippers and everyone else, it’s awfully close.

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The Clippers went out and signed free agent Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George last offseason, bringing two superstars into the fold after a surprisingly successful 2018-19 season, but a big chunk of the load continues to be carried by the guys coming off the bench for the Clippers, who are 32-14 and third in the Western Conference.

Last season, the Clippers set an NBA record while becoming the first team in NBA history to average more than 50 points per game from non-starters, finishing at 53.4 points per game. This season, the Clips again lead the league at 51.4 points per game. They are being pushed this season; the Washington Wizards are getting 51.1 points a night from their reserves.

The bulk of that scoring in LA belongs to the NBA’s two leading scorers among bench players. Among players who have come off the bench in at least 30 games, Montrezl Harrell leads the NBA at 19.0 points per game and two-time defending Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams is second at 18.8 points a night.

Williams is actually ahead of Harrell for the season, averaging 19.8 points per game when factoring in his six starts. Harrell averages 19.3 points a game overall, having started twice this season.

There have been a couple of players drop out of the top seven (roughly the number of players with first-place votes in Sixth Man of the Year balloting over the last five years) since Ladder 2.0 came out three weeks ago.

Joe Ingles of the Utah Jazz was fifth on the last ladder, but now has started more games (24) than he’s come off the bench (20), so he’s no longer eligible for inclusion. The other player who dropped off the ladder is New York Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson, who was seventh on the last ladder, but was passed up by a pair of newcomers to the list.

A reminder that for inclusion, players have to have appeared in at least 72 percent of their team’s games (the historic low for a Sixth Man of the Year winner), played more than half of their games off the bench and averaged at least 20 minutes per game (only one player has averaged less than 20 in the year they won the award).

So with all of the caveats and addenda taken care of, let’s climb the ladder.