There's 26 all-stars. Borderline all-stars would be about the 27-40th best players. There's 150 starters in the league (5 players, 30 teams). So borderline all stars are generally 6th men? Lol.
There isn't one borderline all star coming off the bench in the NBA. The best bench player is Crawford who isn't even close to being a borderline all-star.
On most contending teams your 6th man is often better than your fourth and fifth starters.
Lets look at the 6th man of the year awards and who the have gone to over the years.
Jamal Crawford...No All Star Appearances
Lou Williams...No All Star Appearances
Jamal Crawford...No All Star Appearances
JR Smith...No All Star Appearances
James Harden...4 time all star
Lamar Oden...No All Star Appearances
Jamal Crawford...No All Star Appearances
Jason Terry...No All Star Appearances
Manu Ginobli...2 time all star
Leandro Barbosa...No All Star Appearances
Mike Miller...No All Star Appearances
Ben Gordon...No All Star Appearances(BTW, I see Ben was a Monster at CHI. What happened
@Denny Crane ?)
Antoine Jamison...2 time all star
Alright Bones, you got me. Your right. Shit. I thought for sure 6th men of the year were at least all stars.
I still think your 6th man is better than most 4th and 5th guys in the starting lineup, though they might not play the same position. For example, Crabbe was the closest we had to a 6th man last year and some would say he is better than Plums and Leonard, who were both starters(Prior to injury).