Who Will Develop into Houston Rockets' 6th Man?

The Houston Rockets’ early season is manifesting one essential thing: While their starters are shining, their bench is not. That is something that could be helped with the emergence of a true sixth man.

According to HoopsStats.com, while the first string is plus-31 in efficiency—fourth best in the league—the reserves are 24th at minus-9.0. Furthermore, the bench is getting outscored 33.3 to 23.7. That is not a part of the recipe for success.

So, what is the problem, and how can the Rockets resolve it?

There are a few reasons that the Rockets are so stagnant in bench scoring, but the primary one is evident by looking at raw box-score numbers. Per RealGM.com, they have just 5.33 assists per game. They need more ball movement if they want to get the scoring up for the second unit.

The right sixth man can resolve that, but such a player requires certain attributes. He must be able to do three things: drive the lane, distribute the ball and hit the three.

Troy Daniels and Jason Terry are both shooters, but neither is much for breaking down a defense. Per NBA.com/STATS, Daniels has not driven the ball at all. Terry has done so five times but has failed to score on any of them. Isaiah Canaan has six drives, but he too has failed to turn them into points.

Kostas Papanikolaou also has six drives, but he has shown more ability to create points out of them, with the Rockets totaling 2.0 points per game off his drives.

He’s not the type to blaze down the court in the blink of an eye and finish with a rim-rattling dunk, but he has a nice bag of fakes and skills that get him open shots in the restricted area. He’s able to get to the hole in one bounce, create space, and drop the shot off. Case in point:

He can also create shots for his teammates out of his drives. Such as the case below, where he penetrates, drawing three defenders on him with Jordan Clarkson coming over (ill advisedly) to help. That leaves Terry all alone for a corner three.

Papanikolaou has the instincts and vision to run the team as a point forward, and that may be the answer for the Rockets.

He is averaging 4.0 assists on the season, which is second on the Rockets. That also means that just 1.33 are coming from the rest of the reserves. Or, put another way, Papanikolaou is responsible for 75 percent of the bench’s dimes. So why not let him run the offense when James Harden sits?

He’s not just the best passer on the bench. He’s the only passer on it.

And, per Basketball-Reference.com, his 12 assists have resulted in 28 points, meaning half of them have been from deep. That’s important because the three-point shooters on the Rockets bench, such as Daniels and Terry, are better in catch-and-shoot situations.

Finally, while he’s an adept ball-handler and passer, Papanikolaou is a plenty capable shooter too, going 5-of-11 from behind the arc so far in the young season. He can play off the ball just as easily as with it. Witness:

He may not be the stereotypical sixth man, but he’s the best the Rockets have. For this reason, the best solution for their bench-scoring woes is to let the offense run through him. Let Papanikolaou play point forward.

That's going to take gaining Kevin McHale's trust, and it looks like that is happening. After the Rockets knocked off the Utah Jazz on Oct. 29, per Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune, the coach said, "Pop really saved our bacon in the second quarter with those threes. We went small — we played small ball and they went small with us. But he did a really nice job."

There is a need for growth. Specifically, he could improve his handles. He’s only taken two shots this season with more than one dribble, and missed them both. But that’s the sort of thing that can improve through time.

Manu Ginobili is similar in many ways: an unusual and versatile left-hander who made his name in Europe but then carved out a career as the best sixth man in the history of the NBA. Papanikolaou could certainly serve as poor man’s Ginobili. Given time and opportunity, he’s the best option the Rockets have for a sixth man.

Stats for this article were obtained from Basketball-Reference.com, HoopsStats.com, NBA.com/STATS and RealGM.com.