Who is the worst player to win each of the major NBA Awards?: Sixth Man of The Year – Jamal Crawford (2016)
Jamal Crawford is among the greatest sixth men of all time. In fact, he’s so influential at that position that he practically reshaped what it means to be a Sixth Man of the Year candidate.
Around 2010, largely due to his scoring performances off the bench, the award transitioned away from being simply the best bench player to being who can score the most. Lamar Odom in 2011 didn’t fit this description, but the rest of the 6MOTY winners up until today do.
By 2016, the 35-year old Crawford had declined. While he had never been a great defender, he was now a negative on that end. Offensively, he was averaging only 14.2 PPG with lackluster efficiency, his shooting splits being 40.4/34/90.4.
There have been other bad Sixth Man of the Year winners, but Crawford’s 2016 stands in contrast to his other wins in 2010 and 2014.
Ironically, Andre Iguodala is probably the player who deserved to win this award the most. The veteran swingman played a crucial role coming off the bench for the super-powered 73-win Golden State Warriors team.
Despite averaging only seven points, he was an even bigger part of their success than starting small forward Harrison Barnes.