Jeremy Lin Can Learn From These Five Legendary NBA Sixth Man of the Year Winners

Forget Stella, it's Jeremy Lin who's gotten his groove back.

Since Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale made the decision to move the popular point guard with the rabid international fan base to the sixth man role off the bench for the Rockets, Lin's stats has reignited and the Rockets are looking dangerous with a record of 8-4, only 2 games behind the San Antonio Spurs in the Southwest Division.

That's not to say that it was all Lin's doing, as the presence of All-Star center Dwight Howard, James Harden and the 108.8 points per game Houston is racking up-second highest in the NBA behind the L.A. Clippers --all key reasons for Houston's success. However, with most of Houston's firepower in the starting five, the Rockets have been lacking reinforcements from the bench, a price they paid when they let Carlos Delfino head north for Milwaukee. The sixth man position off the bench is often overlooked, but make no mistake, it's a spot just as important and being in the starting five-- even more so, at certain times.

And Lin has certainly played his part well since he slipped into the sixth spot role this season. In the last 10 games, Lin has been steadily producing off the bench with 33.3 minutes of play during that stretch-the Rockets going 6-4 in that time--scoring 18.1 points off of 52.6 percent shooting from the field with 1.3 steals and 5.4 assists. Whereas he struggled last season in his first 10 games as a Rocket-scoring only 10.3 points on a paltry 34.3 percent field goal shooting mark-Lin has finally appeared to have settled into a groove in Houston. His bench role has allowed him to become aggressive and attack the basket, while his offseason work in improving his shot has started to yield very effective results.

At this pace, if Lin continues to produce and be as deadly coming off the bench for the rest of the season as he has been in his first 12 games, he could be a lock for being the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. The prestigious award has not been around for as long as some of the other NBA awards have been, but it has been won by stars, icons and Hall of Famers since its inception in 1982. Lin might have started his career off the bench, but the sixth man role--the first man called off the bench to aid the team--is a new one for him, and comes with pressures of its own. Can he be the go-to guy from the reserve corps, the first one in when the team needs help? Can he thrive without the complications he faced last year of deferring to Harden and playing off the ball?

However, there have been sixth men off the bench that have thrived in the role, and Lin could do well to learn from some of these past Sixth Man of the Year winners:

J.R. Smith

Erratic, unpredictable, but explosive, Smith thrived in the sixth man role last season, despite his reluctance to come off the bench and his preference towards being a starter. Yet the stats he posted were starter-like, Smith torching opponents with 18.1 points off 42.2 percent shooting for the Knicks as the primary sixth man off the bench, even garnering serious consideration for the All-Star Game with his phenomenal scoring in reserve. While he didn't make the All-Star Game, Smith took home Sixth Man of the Year honors. He's been reinserted into the starting lineup for the Knicks, although they could surely use his electric play in reserves these days.

Kevin McHale

This three-time NBA Champion and Basketball Hall of Famer made quite a nitch for himself both as a starter and as a monstrous sixth man. For years in the early 1980s, there was nobody better in the sixth man role than McHale, who won back-to-back Sixth Man of the Year trophies in 1984 and 1985, when he scored 18.4 points in the 1983-84 NBA title season-the same year he became an All-Star for the first time--and 19.8 points the following season for the Celtics. Agile and versatile close to the hoop, McHale's presence off the bench helped make the Celtics a three-time world champion and a force in the NBA for years. Ironically enough, McHale now coaches the Rockets and has decided to put Lin in the sixth man role that made McHale famous.

John Starks

The prototype for sparkplug players, Starks was deadly from three-point range and explosive driving to the basket. He made the All-Star team in 1993-94, a year where Patrick Ewing's New York Knicks went to the NBA Finals, but he struggled with his shot in the following season when his shooting percentage fell from 42 percent to 39.5 percent in 1994-95. He never averaged more than 15 points per game again after that season, but he found his new niche as a sixth man off the bench quite successful, giving opponents fits with his relentless energy and affinity for shooting the three-ball. He won the sixth man award in the 1996-97 season, where he racked up 13.8 points on 42.1 percent field goal shooting.

Danny Manning

In his prime, Manning was a lethal scorer, garnering two back-to-back NBA All-Star Game appearances in 1993 and 1994. However, reoccurring knee injuries thanks to a torn ACL he sustained early in his career forced him to play part-time eventually. But that didn't stop Manning from tearing it up for the Phoenix Suns in the 1997-98 season, where he averaged 13.5 points and played 26 minutes in 50 games for the 56-26 Suns, who finished third in the Pacific Division before being bounced 3-1 by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. Still, for Manning, that season proved that he still had something left in the tank, which translated to offering plenty off the bench.

James Harden

Ironic, but if there is one guy Lin can emulate, it's one of the guys he plays with now. Harden, a quick guard who is nearly unstoppable driving to the hoop, made a name for himself backing up Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Two season back in the 2011-12 season, Harden, the third best player on the talented Oklahoma City Thunder, terrorized the league with his torrid offense off the bench, netting 16.8 points on a 49.1 percent field goal average with 3.7 assists that season as the Thunder powered their way to the NBA Finals. However, he left the Thunder, seeking a bigger contract and a chance at starters' minutes, and now the Beard has helped turned the Rockets from lottery team to title contender.