Andre Iguodala: Sixth Man Of The Year Favorite?
In his 10-year career, Andre Iguodala has started in each and every single one of his 758 regular season games. He’s started in all 48 of his postseason appearances too. But in Iggy’s second season with the Golden State Warriors, it appears new head coach Steve Kerr wants to bring him off the bench for game No. 807.
According to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, Iguodala is more than happy to play his role as sixth man as long as the team is winning:
"“I’ve been in the league for a really long time and there are a lot of stories about anything and little things,” Iguodala said. “If my shoes are tied the wrong way, that can become a story. I’m not trying to make (coming off the bench) a story this year, and I’m trying to win a championship.”"
Sorry Iggy, but you just became a story.
We could rant and rave about Iguodala’s selflessness all day, but this is really no surprise considering the 30-year-old’s role as a perennial glue guy on every team he’s ever played on. The question now is, with Harrison Barnes in the starting lineup and Andre Iguodala playing the sixth man role as the Dubs’ point forward, where does he stand in the race for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award?
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Earlier this summer, I ranked the top 10 candidates for the 2014-15 Sixth Man of the Year award, and Iguodala wasn’t on it because at the time, Kerr hadn’t given any indication he might be switching up his starting lineup. Iguodala’s teammate Draymond Green came in at No. 7 because of his (seemingly) improved touch from three-point range, but bringing Iggy off the bench could throw a wrench into this conversation.
Last season, Iguodala averaged 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 32.4 minutes per game, numbers that were by-and-large the lowest marks of his career since his rookie season. Knee tendinitis sidelined Iggy for 19 games last year and Simmons reports that the Warriors are considering limiting his minutes this season. But with Shaun Livingston still out with his toe injury, Iguodala is now the most important player off the bench for a team that fancies itself a Western Conference contender.
Without Livingston, the Warriors will use Iguodala as their backup point guard for the time being. During the preseason, Iguodala came off the bench in three games and posted a 19-0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Not bad, especially for a team that already commits way too many turnovers.
That being said, being the most impactful player off the bench for one of the league’s best 10 teams doesn’t necessarily mean much in the Sixth Man of the Year race. Though Iggy is still capable of putting up balanced numbers, and despite the fact that Iggy may have one of the largest impacts in the league coming off the bench, when you take a look at the winners of this award in the past decade, you’ll noticed the category is overwhelmingly geared toward shoot-first guards.
Last year, Jamal Crawford won the award for the second time in his career by putting up 18.6 points per game. Despite the fact that he only shot 41.6 percent from the field and Taj Gibson‘s efficiency and two-way excellence being far superior to that of Crawford, the Los Angeles Clippers’ bench gunner still won the award. Before that it was J.R. Smith and his 18.1 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting that took home the prize.
The year prior, it was a very efficient and well-balanced James Harden who won the award, but even he still averaged 16.8 points per game off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The point is, in the last 10 years, the recipient of this award has averaged no less than 13.7 points per game (Mike Miller in 2005-06). For Iguodala to be in the conversation, he’d need to somehow increase his scoring from last season, when he was the team’s starting small forward.
Even with Livingston sidelined and Iguodala taking on the responsibilities of being a backup facilitator, that seems highly unlikely. Last season, Gibson’s defense, shot-blocking, efficiency and rebounding prowess were all overlooked because his final stat line of 13 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game weren’t overly impressive. Voters didn’t care about all the advanced stats that favored Gibson as a more impactful player on both ends of the floor; they wanted to see guys like Vinnie Johnson go full Microwave off the bench and heat up in a hurry.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why guys like Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Pelicans or Isaiah Thomas and Gerald Green of the Phoenix Suns have a much better chance of winning this award. They’ll have the opportunity to come in off the bench and shoot as much as they want on teams that might not even make the playoffs.
In the last decade, only one forward — Lamar Odom — has won the Sixth Man of the Year award. Iguodala can be classified as a guard, but he has more responsibility to run the offense and is really more of a point forward whose impact probably won’t show up in the stat columns.
There’s also the issue of what happens once Livingston returns. Does Iggy continue his role as sixth man with another backup ball handler in the second unit? Does he return to the starting rotation? Do he and Draymond Green form one of the league’s most formidable defensive duos off the bench? It’s too early to tell, but even with such an impactful player coming off the bench, it’s hard to consider Andre Iguodala a top Sixth Man candidate right now.