Insider Special: 6th Man...and Mike Miller

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Sixth Man Watch: Miller belongs in different category

By Terry Brown

Friday, November 29 Updated 11:09 AM EST

They can't have Mike Miller's Rookie of the Year Award back.

The Orlando Magic can take away the number of shots he gets in a game now that Tracy McGrady is leading the entire league in scoring. They can cut his minutes because former all-star Grant Hill is back after two years of reconstructive surgery and rehab on his ankle. They can even deny him a starting position because as good as those two previously mentioned players are, Darrell Armstrong is still the best point guard on the roster and teams are still set in a traditional format with fundamental duties.

But to say that Miller, a player who has started 115 of 145 in the first two years of his NBA career, is a sixthman still sounds as forced as a bad accent on a bad actor in a bad movie.

In the first week of this season, Miller came off the bench and scored a total of 55 points in four games. In the second week, he continued to come off the bench and scored another 55 points in four games. In the third week of the season, Miller scored 41 points in four games while shooting 33 percent. After averaging 15.5 points per game last year as a starter, Miller was down to 12.5 as a reserve.

Then McGrady's back spasms flared up. Hill's ankle became brittle. And Miller became a starter again, scoring 53 points in two games, which included the game-winning bucket versus the Nuggets and four three-pointers versus the Lakers, shooting 50 percent from the field, 45 percent from long range and going 8 of 9 from the line.

Mike Miller was Mike Miller again.

He came into the league as a starter, won the Rookie of the Year Award as a starter and helped push the Magic back into playoff contention as a starter.

Desmond Mason

Seattle Sonics

Numbers: 15.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1 spg, 45% shooting

He will toil as forward or guard, shoot threes, crash the boards or lock down on the other team's flashiest player just to get on the floor. Felt tip on cardboard: Will play for food. The only reason Mason isn't a full-time starter in the NBA as we speak is because Brent Barry continues to perform flawlessly in complement of four other Sonic starters. Any four other Sonic starters. But Mason 10 feet in the air, back arched and arm cocked on a missed Sonic shot is, at times, the center of the Seattle universe. As audacious as it sounds, the Sonics are only two games out of leading the Pacific Division. Gary Payton gets the credit. Rashard Lewis gets the cash. The least we can do is get Mason some crumbs.

Michael Jordan

Washington Wizards

Numbers: 16.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.6 spg, 47% shooting

If His Airness can't trust his teammates, then why in the heck should we have ever trusted him when he said he'd be an honest sixthman. Four losses in a row will not only crimp any individual sixthman statistics but also cramp any intentions said sixthman had of remaining on the bench for the opening bell. And while a bench player shouldn't really be held to MVP-type responsibilities, MJ's candidacy here will be directly linked to the team's ability to ultimately win games. If the Wizards win, then, most likely, Jordan will, too. Lose, and Jordan will most likely end up clutching his knee and screaming profanities as we cut away to commercial to cue music for his eulogy.

Michael Redd

Milwaukee Bucks

Numbers: 15.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1 spg, 47% shooting

Michael Redd shoots. Michael Redd scores. Who would have thought that a guy who averaged 2.2 points per game less than two years ago after becoming a second-round round draft pick would be able to gun his way into a rotation featuring Ray Allen, Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson, formerly known as the Bucks' starting small forward, which Redd did last season. All he's done this year is run off 12 straight games of double-digit scoring (if you count the preseason) and three of the last four. And if you thought his 47 percent field goal shooting was good, then you've got to try his 43 percent three-point shooting, which, by the way, are both his career averages, to boot.

Toni Kukoc

Milwaukee Bucks

Numbers: 3 starts, 11.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2 apg, 0.9 spg, 44% shooting

I know what you're saying. If Michael Redd is a legitimate sixthman candidate, then the best Kukoc can be is the world's greatest, most stupendous, outstanding seventh man, if my math is correct and he continues to play on the same team. Wrong. He is the team's fourth-leading scorer, fourth-leading rebounder, second in assists, first in steals and third in three-pointers made while playing only 28.4 minutes per game, which should tell you how good Redd is playing these days to be ranked ahead of Kukoc.

Stephen Jackson

San Antonio Spurs

Numbers: 11.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.3 spg, 43% shooting

The question is not where the Spurs would be without Jackson, but rather where will Steve Smith, the starting shooting guard, and Emanuel Ginobili, his savvy backup, go to get minutes now that Jackson has arrived. Last year, Tim Duncan averaged 25.5 points per game to this season's 20.2. The team's top four scorers (Duncan, David Robinson, Smith and Malik Rose) averaged 58.7 points per game. Those same for are now putting up only 47.5. The team as a whole is scoring 4.9 points per game less. Jackson, on the other hand, went 8-for-10 from three-point range against the Lakers off the bench one night then scored 22 points in 23 minutes against the Nuggets the next. He is the third-leading scorer on the team despite having five players who average more minutes. Eventually Duncan will get better. But so might Jackson.