Yesterday, the NBA announced the three nominees for each award given out at the end of each season. One of the awards they give out is the Sixth Man of the Year Award which is given to the best player that comes off the bench. The nominees for the 2017-18 season are: Fred VanVleet from the Raptors, Lou Williams from the Clippers, and Eric Gordon from the Rockets. In this article, I make the case for VanVleet to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Why he should win
The purpose of the award is to recognize the best player in the NBA that comes off the bench and is not a starter.
VanVleet perfectly fits that description, as he appeared in 79 games this season and didn't start one of those games. In comparison, Eric Gordon started 30 of 69 games that he appeared in which is 43 percent. Williams and Gordon both averaged 2.5 rebounds a game and VanVleet came extremely close, averaging 2.4 rebounds a game -- but VanVleet averaged 2.4 rebounds in a lot less time on the court. VanVleet averaged 20 minutes a game while Williams averaged 32.8 minutes a game and Gordon averaged 31.2 minutes a game.
VanVleet averaged one more assist a game than Gordon did but Williams averaged the most assists per game out of the three, with 5.3 assists. VanVleet averaged 3.2 assists a game. VanVleet also had the highest 3PT percentage of the three with a three point percentage of .410 -- while both Williams and Gordon had an identical 3PT percentage of .359.
VanVleet also committed the least amount of turnovers among the three as he only averaged a turnover a game while Gordon averaged 1.9 turnovers and Williams averaged 3 turnovers per game.
VanVleet's competition
Some consider VanVleet to be the least likely to win the award due to the stats of Williams and Gordon. Williams averaged the most points of them all with 22.6 points a game, while Gordon averaged 18 points a game, and VanVleet only averaged 8.6 points a game.
VanVleet also has the lowest free-throw percentage as he has a free-throw percentage of .832 -- while Williams has a free-throw percentage of .880 and Gordon has the highest free-throw percentage of the nominees with a free-throw percentage of .899. VanVleet also has the lowest field goal percentage with .426 but Gordon and Williams' field goal percentage is pretty close, as Gordon has a field goal percentage of .428 and Williams has a field goal percentage of .435.
Another thing to keep in mind is that both Williams and Gordon are former winners of the Sixth Man of the Year Award. Williams won the award in the 2014-15 season as a member of the Raptors. In the 2014-15 season, Williams appeared in 80 games (starting none of them) and averaged 15.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists while averaging 25.2 minutes a game. That was his first career Sixth Man of the Year Award and he also became the first player in Raptors franchise history to win the award. Toronto rapper Drake made a song in his honor called "6 man."
Gordon won the award for the first time last season. He averaged 16.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists while averaging 31 minutes a game in 75 games played.
If he wins the award this season, he would become the first person to win two consecutive Sixth Man of the Year titles since Deltef Schrempf did so in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
Both Williams and Gordon are going for their second career award, while VanVleet is hoping to become the second player in Raptors history to win the award. We will find out who wins on June 25 when all of the winners are announced.
