NBA Awards Watch: Ranking Top Candidates for NBA Sixth Man Award

Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers has made a case for himself to become only the fourth player in NBA history to be named the NBA Sixth Man Award winner for the second time. (NBA.com photo)

As we are fast approaching the end of the regular season and the beginning of what will certainly be an exciting playoff adventure, HoopsHabit.com takes a hard look at the candidates for many of the year-end awards. Today, we are presenting a statistical analysis of the top candidates for the NBA Sixth Man Award. This is awarded annually to the top player in the league that has been a reserve in more games than he has started.

Over the course of history, some of the league’s greatest players have won this award at some point in their career. The NBA’s top reserve has received the award every year since the 1982-83 season and two Hall of Fame players–Kevin McHale (1984 and 1985) and Bill Walton (1986) have won the award–both while playing for the Boston Celtics. McHale is one of three players to win the award twice along with Ricky Pierce (Milwaukee Bucks 1987 and 1990) and Detlef Schrempf (Indiana Pacers 1991 and 1992).

Jarrett Jack has guided the Warriors back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007 as potentially the NBA’s Sixth Man Award winner. (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)

This season, there is the chance that we could have a fourth player win the award for the second time in his career with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Jamal Crawford. Crawford, certainly one of the favorites, won the award back in 2010 while playing for the Atlanta Hawks. This season, he has helped the Clippers land in their first back-to-back playoff trips since the 1992 and 1993 seasons. In addition, he helped guide the Clippers to their first division title in history and their first sweep of their season series with the Lakers since the franchise moved to Los Angeles from San Diego in 1984.

There is, however, a very solid group of contenders that may make it difficult for Crawford to join the short list of two-time winners of the award. As we take a look around the league, there appears to be seven solid nominations for the award, led by front-runner Jarrett Jack of the Golden State Warriors. In addition to Crawford and Jack, the other top contenders for the best reserve in the league are: Kevin Martin (Oklahoma City Thunder), J.R. Smith (New York Knicks), Ray Allen (Miami Heat), Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz) and Ryan Anderson (New Orleans Hornets).

As we try and compare the different players, it is important to keep in mind that this award is to be given to the player that, as a non-starter, means the most to the success of his team. He is a player that, despite not being a starter, is contributing to the success of the team to the point at which we can justify his worth to his team statistically. He needs to be someone that is making a difference to his team when he is on the floor. He needs to be someone that, in close games, the head coach feels as though he needs to be someone on the floor; as opposed to the starters.

Taking a look at the seven candidates, we look at the following overall season statistics: Average minutes played per game, overall PIE (percentage of the team’s success), overall +/-. In addition, since this award is going to the player that means the most to his team’s success, we look at their statistics in the last five minutes of every close game this season. Games in which, with five minutes to go, there is only five points or less separating each opponent. This is a measure of how important these players are to their team when the games are on the line. Remember, this is the league’s MVP for non-starters. We rank the players in the last five minutes based on: Average number of minutes, PIE and their +/-.

With seven players to rank, the scoring system we used is a scale of 12-10-8-6-4-2-0. The player that leads each category gets 12 points, second-best in each category received 10 and so on. The player with the lowest ranking in each category received 0 points. In the end, we add up the total number of points to see how the players rank in terms of their candidacy for the NBA Sixth Man Award.

Average Minutes Played Per Game (statistics through April 10):

Ray Allen continues to prove he is one of the most underpaid players in the NBA this year as a candidate for the Sixth Man Award. (Photo Credit: JamesBoydPhotos.com , Flickr.com

PIE (Overall for season):

Average Plus/Minus Per Game (Overall for season):

Last Five Minutes of Games

Average Minutes Played (Games of 5 points or less):

Average Plus/Minus Per Game (Games of 5 points or less):

Making a huge contribution as a reserve, Utah Jazz’s Gordon Hayward is one of the top sixth men in the league.(Photo Credit: RMtip21, Flickr.com)

PIE (Games of 5 points or less):

Total Points

Our pick for the NBA Sixth Man, based on a statistical comparison of the top candidates, should be Jarrett Jack. What he means to the Warriors and their qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2007–and only the second time since the 1993-94 season–is clearly more than a bunch of numbers. The numbers, however, tell a story about where Jack is when the games are on the line.

He is on the floor.

Not only is Jack on the floor in those waning moments of the close contests, he is contributing at an alarming rate. His PIE rating, under these circumstances, is ranked #8 in the NBA for players with over 30 such games. He seems to be a front-runner for the award according to many of the experts and publications and, statistically speaking, he has earned it.

Ray Allen, who was featured as one of my Top 10 Most Underpaid Players of 2012-13, is a very close third in the rankings. Of particular note with Allen and a sign of his worth and experience to the defending champions,;when the games are close and in the closing minutes, his leadership and ability on the floor is what is helping to keep the Heat striving towards an historic season.

The NBA Sixth Man Award, in our opinion, is heading to a Golden State Warrior for the first time in franchise history.