Insider Special: 6th Man Watch

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Sixth Man Watch: Redd alert

By Terry Brown

Thursday, March 13 Updated 4:29 PM EST

Robert Horry averages 6.5 points per game this season for the Lakers on 37 percent shooting in 60 games with 24 starts.

Last year, he averaged 6.8 points on 39 percent shooting.

His best season for the Lakers, statistically speaking, was when he averaged 9.2 points per game on 45 percent shooting. But that was six years ago and half way through a trade with the Suns, after he force fed his former coach Danny Ainge a towel in the middle of a game.

His best statistical season came in 1996 when he put up career highs of 12 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for the Houston Rockets.

He lost his starting spot five years ago and almost his job two seasons later. He's been traded twice, rumored ten times that many, and will be a free agent next year.

For his 12-year, five ring and counting career, Robert Horry has averaged 7.994 points per game, an even 8 if you look it up on the official NBA website under Common Household Names Who Have Never Made a Single All Star Game.

But it's the 0.01589 per game over 755 contests that had radio jocks crooning for his Hall of Fame nomination last week after he drilled yet another game winning shot at the buzzer.

Ask the Knicks or Spurs or Kings or Pacers. Ask Shaquille O'Neal, who suffered as a member of the Orlando Magic against him, then celebrated as a Los Angeles Laker with him.

He plays solid defense, doesn't take bad shots on offense, and earns every bit of his $7M-plus salary with single flips of his wrist worth ten times that much.

Robert Horry is in the details.

And if the three-time defending champs are going to make it four in a row, it will be by several digits to the right of the decimal point in the boxscore and on the game clock.

1. Michael Redd

Milwaukee Bucks

Numbers: 14.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.1 bpg, 134 triples, 46% shooting, 14 starts

He has been superb all season. But this whole thing could come down to a technicality (see player below) and that's the best that Michael Redd could have possibly hoped for when, less than 64 games ago, he was looking up at a line up that featured Sam Cassell, Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, and Tim Thomas, not necessarily in that order. Sixty-four games later, he is often the best offensive threat the Bucks have on the floor. And because of that, the 22 points and 7 boards on 50 percent shooting with three triples against Golden State in a 5-point win last week will help his cause, while the four points and 2 boards on 28 percent shooting with zero triples against San Antonio in a 3 point-loss will not. Especially when his team has a half-game margin of error in the playoff race.

2. Bobby Jackson

Sacramento Kings

Numbers: 17.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.07 bpg, 73 triples. 49% shooting, 26 starts

He's the starting point guard for the Sacramento Kings. He isn't the starting point guard for the Sacramento Kings. He is the most improved player in the league this season. He isn't the most improved player in the league this season. He's the Sixth Man of the year. He isn't the Sixth Man of the year. A. B. C. Both B and C. All of the Above. None of the Above. True or false. Can I use the back of this paper if I need more space for my answer? The only one who's got this whole thing figured out is Bobby Jackson himself, who continues to post gaudy numbers for a team that could very well win the championship this season. Mike Bibby, of course, is the starting point guard for the Kings. It says so right there in his contract right after all those dollar signs. But how do you ignore Bobby Jackson's 26 starts in 42 games? How do you ignore 13.3 points per game on 47 percent shooting after taking away all those stats? Or 15.4 points per game on 48 percent shooting in March with his bench role defined and right hand not broken? How do you possibly figure this all out with less than 20 games to go in the season when it's getting more tangled as we go?

3. Desmond Mason

Milwaukee Bucks

Numbers: 14.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.4 bpg, 20 triples, 44% shooting, 22 starts

lt's been almost a month since they changed the rules on Desmond Mason, the scenery, uniform colors, and players around him. His scoring is up since then, nearly a point, and his shooting is at a crisp 51.8 percent, despite playing two or three less minutes a game for his new team. The problem is that in 8 of the last 11 games, he's started. It's a little late in the game to add him to the likes of Lucious Harris, Stephen Jackson, and Al Harrington, all players who would have made this list had they not eventually earned starting positions on their respective teams for some extended time. But this guy is stuck, nonetheless. Either he's the starting small forward for the Milwaukee Bucks or, clearly, the seventh man since they've already got this guy named Michael Redd coming off the bench.

4. Andrei Kirilenko

Utah Jazz

Numbers: 11.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.5 spg, 2 bpg, 25 triples, 49% shooting, 11 starts

He ended February by going five straight games in single digits and then went 0-5 against the Heat in March for the goose egg. He went 5 of 10 from the line in a three-point loss to the Kings at home. You can no longer eat off his shooting percentage. But how many guys on this list, or any list for that matter, can cram 36 blocks and 28 steals into possibly the worst 18 games they've played as a pro?

5. Corliss Williamson

Detroit Pistons

Numbers: 12 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.3 bpg, 45% shooting, 0 starts

The defending champ strong arms his way back by scoring 39 points in his last two games on 62 percent shooting to lift his team out of their seven-game funk and into the top seed in the East.