Dennis Schroder has been a spark plug off the bench, courtesy of Eurohoops
For Sixth Man of the Year Award, Lou Williams would be the easiest choice: The best player on the league’s best bench. However, a different Western Conference guard is deserving of this year’s award- OKC’s Dennis Schröder has helped lead the team to a surprisingly good fifth-best record in the conference.
Off the bench, Schröder is having a career year: 19 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while shooting nearly 47 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep. At 26-years-old, Schröder is reaching his peak abilities as a scoring. The three-guard rotation of he, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chris Paul have made the Thunder one of the league’s most interesting teams.
Schröder’s efficient scoring off the bench has helped make a team seemingly in a rebuild at the start of the season a dangerous team had the season continued into the playoffs. For that reason, he should be this year’s Sixth Man award winner.
Lou Williams lines up for a jumper, courtesy of Bleacher Report
The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award is one of the best awards in all of the sports. It recognizes players that are bought into the role their team requires and will do anything in their own power to help the team succeed. This year, like many others, Lou Williams has been that player. Lou Williams is the NBA’s second-leading scorer off the bench at just under 19 points a game, but he’s been much more than just a bucket getter. At times this season the Clippers have struggled to create ball movement but Williams has often been their saving grace.
Williams is the Clippers lead playmaker, averaging a league-best 5.7 assists off the bench. Lou Williams could easily start on most teams around the NBA but chooses to sacrifice that in an effort to fill the role his team needs. If Williams does win the award would become the first player to take it home in three consecutive seasons while also breaking his tie with Jamal Crawford for the most Sixth Man of the Year Awards in NBA history, with his fourth.
Harrell has been a menace on both sides of the ball this year, courtesy of ESPN
There are quite a few solid picks for the Sixth Man of the Year Award this season but two players from the same team stand out above the rest.
The first is perennial Sixth Man of the Year winner Lou Williams. Williams has already won the award three times in his career and he was right in the mix for this season’s award before the suspension. He was once again a valuable scorer off the bench for the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging over 18 points per game, while dishing out nearly six assists per night.
The second, and the player most deserving of the award this season, is Williams’ teammate Montrezl Harrell. Harrell and Williams led the best unit in the NBA but Harrell was just as valuable a scorer and did more on the defensive end. Harrell and Williams averaged the same amount of points per game but while Williams was a well below average defender Harrell was the best defender on the Clippers bench and can guard a variety of positions. For that reason, Harrell is more deserving of the Sixth Man of the Year Award this season.
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