Developing a Sixth Sense : The Role of Key Reserve Continues to Blossom in the NBA

Wayne Gretzky wouldn’t be used only to kill penalties and Bruce Smith isn’t saved for third-down situations, but logic surrenders to reality in the NBA: Sometimes the best players are reserves.

Detlef Schrempf led the Indiana Pacers in rebounds and was third in scoring but had only three starts. Ricky Pierce spent nearly the entire season among the 20 best scorers in the league and plays behind Sedale Threatt in Seattle, as he did behind Jay Humphries in Milwaukee before being traded. Kevin McHale, still producing for the Boston Celtics, is now better known for coming off the bench, as is star-in-the-making Dan Majerle of the Phoenix Suns.

Pro basketball has long given way to the theory that the best materials go in the front of the window.

Red Auerbach, for instance, made a sixth man out of no less a talent than John Havlicek in the early 1960s. It simply took a couple of decades for everyone to catch on.

“Because he had such good teams, it was a way to get a sixth starter, a kind of guy who could be proud of his role,” said Don Nelson, coach and general manager of the Golden State Warriors who was the heir to Havlicek’s spot for about half of his 11 seasons in Boston. “He didn’t have to be a starter, but he wasn’t neglected. A pretty smart tactic, but it was also pretty effective. Usually, reserves came in and tried to tread water.”

Now, teams view such a player, whether featuring the offense of a Pierce or the defense and rebounding of a Dennis Rodman, now a Detroit Piston starter, as a necessity to consistent success. Future No. 1 draft picks being traded for a reserve is no longer unusual.

These players have their own honor--six different players have won the Sixth Man Award in the eight years since Bobby Jones won the first in 1982-83--and a following. They are heroes unto themselves--with Seattle’s Eddie Johnson checking the statistics of counterparts McHale and Schrempf and others--and they are often admired by the starters.

Ask Scott Skiles. Three days after breaking the record for most assists in a game, a mark that stood for 13 years, he stood at his cubicle in the Orlando Magic locker room and proclaimed: “The guys I respect most in this league are guys like Ricky Pierce, guys who can come off the bench and hit shots immediately. It is beyond my thinking how they do that.”

Which is why some players can do it and some can’t.

“It is definitely different,” said Johnson, once a starter who was the league’s top sixth man with Phoenix in 1988-89, when he started in only seven of 70 appearances but still averaged 21.5 points, second best on the team.

“As soon as I touch the floor, I’m getting plays run to me. I’m trying to warm up as much as I can on the bench. You have to be loose when you go in, you have to be mentally prepared. You can’t just go in and say, ‘I’m going to get in the flow of the game.’ I don’t have that luxury.

“When I go in, I’m supposed to get it going. The advantage to it is, the guy who’s been guarding you has probably been out there six or seven minutes. He’s tired.”

McHale, along with Pierce a two-time winner of the sixth man award, has been an All-Star in 1990 and ‘91, both while largely coming off the bench. Pierce was also an All-Star this season despite not starting once in 46 games.

The majority of the best sixth men are also the most versatile, coaches agreeing that the ability to play more than one position is a key. Majerle, for example, is a defensive stopper who has guarded power players such as Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, and quick players such as Michael Jordan and Ron Harper, usually with success.

McHale can play center or forward. Johnson, lately a SuperSonic starter, plays small forward and shooting guard.

Some don’t mind the role: “It’s more relaxing, I think,” McHale said.

“Before the game, I usually go in (the locker room) right before the national anthem and have a soda, a little popcorn, tape my fingers and use the men’s room. And I come walking out again and the game is ready to start. You miss all the introduction stuff. I told Chris (Ford, the Celtic coach), ‘I don’t play until 8 o’clock anyway.’ (He laughs.) Seven-thirty, I just monkey around for a half-hour. You sit on the bench, watch the flow of the game, and relax.”

Some prefer the alternative: “I think it would be fun to be starting and getting all the minutes,” Pierce said. “The starters get all the publicity and the exposure, make the most money, so that’s something I’ve always dreamed of.”

On March 5, Pierce signed a contract extension for a reported $6 million over three seasons. There will be additional income from endorsements.

Unlike pinch-hitters in baseball, who often leave the game after one at-bat, the top NBA reserves are shuttled in and out. That’s usually the reason they don’t start--coaches prefer to hold them back until a jump start is needed.

After dealing with Larry Bird and Robert Parish, do you think the opposition wants to see McHale, rested and popcorn-fueled, tearing off his sweats at the scorer’s table?

“There’s a lot of ways to do it,” Nelson said, noting that the momentum swing could come with offense or defense. “The main thing is that it gives a team a spark, no matter what end it’s on.”

Inevitably, the role of sixth man will become as precise that of the relief pitcher, some of whom are groomed to be set-up relievers, some stoppers. Basketball might be headed to sixth-A man and sixth-B man, one the offensive charge and the other a wall of defense. The Pistons have had it with Vinnie Johnson and Rodman.

“It’s a blend, it’s a mixture,” McHale said. “You come to a point in your career--and I’m lucky that I played on championship teams early where I realized this--the individual stuff goes by the board. It’s what you do as a team that wins.”