2019 NBA Awards Season

The 2019 NBA Bench Mob All-Stars

Anyone can make 1st Team All-NBA. What about 31st Team All-NBA? Bench players matter, and it’s time we give them their due

The NBA awards one lone Sixth Man of the Year award to its most outstanding bench player, but depth matters so much more than that. Each team fields 13 active players each night, and 62% of them start on the bench. A full 530 men played NBA minutes this year; only 150 start.

Sixth Man of the Year has become an afterthought, a way to recognize the volume-scoring two guard of the year. But benches are so much more than that. Benches give teams depth and versatility, providing scoring punch and defensive kick. The bench makes all the difference for teams like the Raptors, Pacers, Spurs, and Clippers. Stars can’t play all 48 minutes. Bench players deserve their due, and they deserve more than a single, solitary award.

We pick 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Team All-NBA — so why not 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Team to recognize the best bench guys, too? The rules are simple. Just like 6MOY, players must start fewer than half of the games played for a team to be eligible. Anyone else is fair game.

Without further ado, your 2019 NBA Bench Mob All Stars…

31st Team All-NBA

G Monte Morris, Denver

It is astonishing what Monte Morris has done this year. The counting numbers don’t really do it justice. Morris is putting up 10 points and three-and-a-half assists a game in 24 minutes. Ho hum. But his job isn’t to put up counting stats. It’s to take care of the ball and keep the Denver offense humming, and Morris does that spectacularly. Morris averages 3.6 assists and 0.6 turnovers per game. That is an absurd nearly 6-to-1 assist-turnover rate, and Morris is essentially a rookie. He played only 25 minutes last year. Rookie point guards are supposed to be mostly inept. They sure as heck aren’t supposed to post one of the best assist-turnover rates in NBA history.

Morris was supposed to be something of a placeholder, someone to hold down the fort until Isaiah Thomas got healthy. By the time he did, Morris had rendered him irrelevant. Morris is the king of efficiency. Beyond never turning it over, he also has a 58% true shooting and 124 offensive rating with a 41% three pointer. Think Malcolm Brogdon or Darren Collison levels of efficiency.

Monte Morris is top ten among all guards this season in win shares per 48 minutes. That list is Morris, Brogdon, Collison, and seven guys contending for the All-NBA slots. And he’s doing this in his first real season, when point guards typically don’t mature until age 25 or 26. Looks like Denver found a real Nugget in Monte Morris.

G Lou Williams, Los Angeles Clippers

Lou Will is going to win Sixth Man of the Year again, and that’s probably fine, but it’s also wrong. I ranked Williams behind Monte Morris on purpose, and I’d rank him behind a few others, too. That’s not really a knock on Williams, who has been terrific again. Players aren’t supposed to turn 30 and then start scoring 20ppg. Williams is so good and so much fun. He’s an efficient scorer that shoots well enough for a volume guy and gets to the line often.

You know plenty about Lou Williams, so we don’t need to talk him up here. I have only two small critiques. One, Williams hasn’t really improved much in his late career; he’s just seeing ever-increasing usage, and doing that with the same efficiency (and while older) is certainly impressive. It’s worth noting nonetheless. Williams is third among guards in usage, behind only James Harden and Devin Booker.

Second, Williams isn’t a bench player and it’s silly and ludicrous we still pretend otherwise. All the Clippers’ best lineups have Williams in them. He’s their leading scorer and their closer, and he should have started all year over the terrible Avery Bradley. If the Clippers don’t start Lou Williams in the playoffs and the Warriors are up eight before he ever comes in, they deserve the sweep they’re about to get.

F Domantas Sabonis, Indiana

This is, admittedly, cheating. Sabonis is a center, though he does play a quarter of his minutes at the four. Oh well. If Lou Williams counts as a reserve, I get to count Sabonis as a forward. There aren’t two deserving 31st Team forwards, and there are two centers worth starting, so sue me.

Sabonis would be a starter either way. He’s been outstanding, and he’s my Sixth Man of the Year. Sabonis is putting up 14 points, 9 boards, and 3 assists in 25 minutes a game off the bench for Indiana. And he actually needs to come off the bench, since Myles Turner and Thad Young are so great defensively and since the Sabonis-Turner pairing is still working out its kinks.

Indiana played most of its season without its superstar and heartbeat, Victor Oladipo, and still played Philly and Boston almost even until the final weeks. They did it with outstanding defense and a terrific bench. Sabonis led that bench unit. He’s second on the team in on-court rating and on/off metrics. Sabonis has his father’s array of post moves and a little bit of his passing too. He can do a bit of everything in the post and he’s getting better and better each year. Sabonis has seen his two-point percentage leap from 44% as a rookie to 52% last year and 59% this year, and he’s up to 63% true shooting. Sabonis is top 15 in the entire NBA in win share rate, and almost everyone ahead of him is a bona fide All Star. It’s starting to look like Sabonis could join them sooner than later.

F Andre Iguodala, Golden State

If you’re looking for a reason the Warriors won’t threepeat this year, I regret to inform you that Iggy won’t be that reason. It looked like Iguodala was finally done last regular season as his shooting fell off a cliff, but he’s back and as good as ever. Iggy’s hitting 50% of his field goals and 65% on twos, his second-best and best ever, and he’s back to a decent enough 33% trey.

Iggy is playing a career-low 23 minutes per game, but why push him for more in the regular season? His per-minute production remains as strong as it has anytime with the Ws, and he posted a 124 offensive rating, well up from last year’s just-fine 113.

There’s no way voters will give Andre Iguodala the Sixth Man of the Year when he’s slashing a 6/4/3 — and you have to round up to get those totals — but he’s deserving just as well. We’re going to look back on this in a few years and wonder how in the world we never gave Iggy a single 6MOY award. He’s as good as ever.

C Montrezl Harrell, Los Angeles Clippers

Part of the reason we moved Sabonis to forward was to give a 31st Team spot to the very deserving Montrezl Harrell, who might be my Sixth Man runner-up. Harrell, and not Lou Will, has been the best Clippers bench man. He’s posting 16 points and 6 boards of his own and doing it with his trademark efficiency and energy. Harrell can’t create his own shot like Williams, but he scores more efficiently at 63% true shooting, and he impacts the game more in other ways like on the boards and on defense.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to call Montrezl Harrell the most important Clippers player this season. He played all 82 games and brought voracious energy in all of them. He scores almost as many points per-possession as Danilo Gallinari and Lou Will (and more than Tobias Harris, when he was there), and he has the best defensive rating on the team, making up for his lack of size with smart positioning and hustle plays. Remember how Sabonis is top-15 in win share rate? Harrell is just behind him at 18th. The players in between them are Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid. Seems good.

32nd Team All-NBA

G Fred VanVleet, Toronto

VanVleet is going to get some support for Sixth man of the Year. I’m fine with that. He’s playing 27 minutes a game and the Raptors are +8 per 100 possessions with him on the court, and they’re +4 with FVV versus without. VanVleet’s hitting 38% of his threes and still often finding his way into closing lineups on this team, which helps the on/off metrics of course, but he gets credit for earning his way there, too. He’s still a little iffy finishing near the rim and in defense, so we’ll see how that holds up deep into the playoffs.

G Malik Beasley, Denver

Beasley is the second Nuggets guard to appear, which tells you just how deep the Denver guard rotation is and also how inconsistent Jamal Murray and Gary Harris have been at times. Beasley has been raining absolute fire much of the year. He hit 40% of his threes with 60% true shooting, though those numbers were even higher before the All-Star break. He has developed into a mercenary scorer who can absolutely come into the playoffs and win a quarter, and the rest of the NBA is about to find that out the hard way.

F Gordon Hayward, Boston

Hayward isn’t getting paid over $30 million a year to come off the bench, but here we are. There’s no way around it — Hayward has been far better in a bench role than as a starter. He actually averaged more points and assists per game in fewer minutes off the bench, and his +/- leaps from -0.5 as a starter to +6.3 off the bench. Maybe Hayward just needed some extra time to recover from that ghastly injury. Over a final eight-game stretch after a week injured, Hayward averaged 16 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists. Boston is going to need a lot more of that Hayward with Marcus Smart on the sidelines. He could be a huge X-factor in the East playoff race.

F Davis Bertans, San Antonio

And now we return to our more traditional bench players. Bertans was this year’s best stretch four off the bench. Three-quarters of his shots are three, and Bertans hit 43% of them this year. For a Spurs team that sorely lacks spacing much of the time, Bertans opens everything up. Maybe that’s why he posted an +8.6 on-court rating per 100 possessions and a ridiculous +11.1 on/off. Those are both tops among bench players, and they lead the Spurs, too. It turns out shooting and spacing is important in 2019.

C Ed Davis, Brooklyn

When I named my All-Sophomore Team and extolled Jarrett Allen, I couldn’t help but notice his poor on/off numbers and wonder what was wrong. It turns out the answer was Ed Davis. Davis continues to be one of the most overlooked players in the NBA. Every year he signs a cheapo one-year contract. Every year he far outperforms it for his new team. Davis is posting by far the best rebounding rate of his career, rebounding as effectively as Andre Drummond and Hassan Whiteside atop the league. He adds efficient offense and always reliable defense, a 129-to-105 off-def rating differential, and he has the best on-court and on/off Brooklyn ratings by far. He’s about to be a free agent again. And yet again, someone will get a bargain.

33rd Team All-NBA

G Cory Joseph, Indiana

Joseph has the best on-court ratings of any Pacer and deserves to be in the conversation for All Defense at guard. Too bad he can’t score, too.

G Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn

Dinwiddie has slowed way down since his injury and the D-Lo breakout, but he’s still scoring 17 a game off the bench. Now we need to see if the injury forced him to take the step back or if he’s just a high-end backup.

F Maxi Kleber, Dallas

Kleber is Davis Bertans on a worse team. He’s a valuable stretch four and will be a key piece for Dallas as they build around Luka and Porzingis.

F Royce O’Neale, Utah

Note well: Royce, not Crowder. O’Neale is the better shooter (39%) three, and he’s become the more stable and consistent defender too. Crowder has been good too, but the Jazz have better numbers all season with Royce on the floor.

C Bam Adebayo, Miami

Bam Bam stole Whiteside’s starting spot late in the year and put up 12/8/3 as a starter. His per-minute stats and advanced metrics have been better, not worse, as a starter. He won’t be a bench player next year, that’s for sure.

Honorable mention

G Patty Mills, San Antonio G Derrick Rose, Minnesota F Jae Crowder, Utah F Terrence Ross, Orlando F Marvin Bagley, Sacramento C Mason Plumlee, Denver C Kevon Looney, Golden State

31st Team All-NBA

G Monte Morris, Denver G Lou Williams, Los Angeles Clippers F Domantas Sabonis, Indiana F Andre Iguodala, Golden State C Montrezl Harrell, Los Angeles Clippers

32nd Team All-NBA

G Fred VanVleet, Toronto G Malik Beasley, Denver F Gordon Hayward, Boston F Davis Bertans, San Antonio C Ed Davis, Brooklyn

33rd Team All-NBA

G Cory Joseph, Indiana G Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn F Maxi Kleber, Dallas F Royce O’Neale, Utah C Bam Adebayo, Miami

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Thanks to Basketball Reference as always.