Enes Kanter’s case for 6th Man of the Year
Has Enes Kanter’s efficient season made him the frontrunner for 6th Man of the Year?
Enes Kanter is possibly poised to join a pretty exclusive category, as the only other pure center to win the sixth man of the year is Bill Walton. Just putting Kanter’s name in the same sentence fills me with a fair bit of pride, and if the Turkish Tower can have half as successful a career as Walton, then OKC fans will be in for a treat.
This year the race for this award is wide open with names put forward at the start of the year like Isaiah Thomas, Joakim Noah, Tristan Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams, Gerald Green, John Henson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Ryan Anderson, C.J. McCollum and David West. Thanks to changes in their team structures or not playing up to expectations, this list has whittled down to a few less, with others putting their hands up. I can see the winner coming from the following list
Will Barton: The reserve shooting guard from the Denver Nuggets is having a year to remember. In just 28.6 minutes per game, Barton is putting up great numbers in points (14.8) and rebounds (6.1). Playing along side a rookie point guard in Emmanuel Mudiay and Danilo Gallinari has been injured regularly, but Barton has played well and taken some games off better teams. Pity that Denver are sitting 10th in the West. If they were higher, Barton might get a few more votes.
Jamal Crawford: You hear about the perennial All Stars all the time, but what about the perennial sixth man? In 26.6 minutes per game, he is putting up good number in points (13.6) and assists (2.2) to carry a woeful Clippers bench. His total disregard for defense will certainly be a factor in losing votes and that the Clippers bench has been so dysfunctional.
Manu Ginobili: Always in the discussions for sixth man, Ginobili has only won it once. He is having another great year in limited minutes (19.5). In that time he has put up good number in points (9.5), steals (1.1) and shot well from three (36.5 percent). He has missed almost a quarter of the season with injury and this has to take votes away. You can’t be the best sixth man if you are not on the court.
Jeremy Lin: After last seasons debacle of a season in Los Angeles, you would have thought I was Linsane to be discussing Lin in any awards. Such has been Lin’s season however with Charlotte that he is a legitimate contender for the sixth man award. In 25.9 minutes per game Lin is putting up good numbers in points (11.7), assists (2.9) and rebounds (3.1). Interestingly, he is the only player from the Eastern Conference to make this list.
Andre Iguodala: In the Warriors quest to win everything this year, the title, MVP — Stephen Curry has that all but won — most improved, Curry could contend here too, the Warriors have taken a genuine starter and used him off the bench for the last two years. Some experts are saying that this award in Iguodala’s to lose but I am not so sure. Everyone talks about his defense but let’s be honest, if Crawford can win this award twice, it can’t be about defense.
Iguodala is playing 26.8 minutes per game and in that time he is putting up interesting numbers, in points (7.5), steals (1.2), rebounds (4.1) and is shooting the three well (35.6 percent). I just wonder that any team consisting of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes allows the players on the bench to have the role required that wins this award.
Enes Kanter: A genuine sixth man who has not seen the start of the game on the court this season, Kanter has been the difference between the Thunder winning and losing on a number of occasions. In the smallest minutes of this list (20.6) Kanter has the third highest scoring. Add to this his ability to dominate on the glass, with a huge amount of rebounds per night (7.8)
He is the only player on the list who has good numbers in two categories. Kanters main drawback for this award is his defense. If you want to win an award based on defense, then you can be eligible for the All-Defensive team. Now, Kanter will probably never be named the starting center of that team, however, he is the spark that comes off the OKC bench and usually assists getting OKC back into games. All-Defensive team? No. Sixth man of the Year? I would rather have no other man come off the bench at the moment than Kanter and for me, should be named the best in the league at doing this.