6th Man of the Year - Is Danny Granger a Lock?

Last year's 6th man of the year, Eric Gordon, ran away with the award in a way that only 2011 James Harden could match. But with Gordon moving into the starting lineup after being shipped off to Cleveland, he'll be ineligible for the award this year, leaving a select few players fighting for the award this year. So far this season, Danny Granger is likely the favorite to win the award, but with players like Terrence Ross, Amir Johnson, and Iman Shumpert not far behind.

After being pried away from the Indiana Pacers last offseason with a large contract to play with the Wolves, and Danny has shown why this season. He has the highest scoring average of any of the other 6th men, not to mention his ridiculous 3-point percentage of 44%. He's carried this Wolves team in multiple games when Love and Lin had been shut down, and he's clearly the best offensive player of the group. His stop percentage of 50% may not be as elite as Terrence Ross, but it still puts him ahead of Iman.

Ross' case at the 6th man of the year award is his shut down defensive ability. He doesn't score nearly as much as Danny, but with a stop percentage of 84%, nearly 25% higher than Danny Granger's, is by far the best defensive candidate. Even at age 22, he's learned well from his teammate Andre Iguodala to become one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. That said, the Rockets GM has said that Ross may enter the starting lineup "sooner rather than later" which could disqualify him from the award if he does indeed end up becoming a starter sometime soon.

With the departure of 2 time champion OrangeParka from Miami, Iman Shumpert was relegated to the bench in favor of newly acquired Monta Ellis, Iman's production has taken a notable hit, though his steal numbers are off the chart so far this season. With 2.1 steals per game, it puts him firmly at #10 in the league which makes him one of the most feared ball thiefs in the league, yet still, at 37% stop percentage is the lowest of any of the candidates. He faces 13.5 drives per game, yet only stops 5 of them. In the end, he doesn't play as well offensively as Danny Granger nor is he as good defensively as Terrence Ross, placing him firmly at third in the race.

The fourth and final candidate is a little bit of an oddball pick as most of the 6th man of the year awards goes to wings, but Amir Johnson has played just as well as the rest of these guys. He shoots a stupidly good 62% from the field, good for 4th in the entire league, only behind Dwight Howard, James Harden, and Andrew Bynum. He has clearly outperformed the aging Tim Duncan so far this season, so it's unclear how long GM Myles plans to keep Timmy D in the starting lineup, which means Amir Johnson would be the new starter. In all likelihood, you'll see Amir Johnson become the new starter before the season ends, and rightfully so; as much as Myles would like to believe Tim Duncan can still play like Finals MVP Duncan, it's just not true.

This year's race looks to be far closer than Eric Gordon's runaway campaign last year, so we'll see who can continue this production off the bench and who's just a fluke.

Kosta Koufos also wants something to say here.
So far this season he's averaging 13.7ppg on a great 58.3%, and grabing 6.2 rebounds a night. And he's doing it in just 23.9 minutes of play.

But he even has increased his production a lot in the last 5 games, going for 18.2 ppg and 8.6 rebounds on 64.1% shooting.

So if he keeps like that he might get included in the talk soon
But it will be a tough battle, with some great players out there on this 6th man role.

Nice read Jake!

Great read!
For me its shumpert, really great statline off the bench.
I believe Koufos is actually #2. His numbers are damn good and his FG% is ridiculous.. Behind him follows Granger. It will be a close race.

I need to promote John Henson more - 9.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.1 bpg, 52% fg in 25 mins and he rules in the advanced stats...

andrei (POR) wrote:I need to promote John Henson more - 9.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.1 bpg, 52% fg in 25 mins and he rules in the advanced stats...

Oh.. yeah thats close to what Granger does, maybe even better..
Close close race so far

andrei (POR) wrote:I need to promote John Henson more - 9.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.1 bpg, 52% fg in 25 mins and he rules in the advanced stats...

I looked at Henson when doing this, but I don't think he's in the running for 6th man. In big men alone, Koufos and Johnson would be picked over him, not to mention Granger, Shump, and Ross who are all ahead of him imo.

Maybe David West will try to put up some better numbers to get into this race.

The Rockets organization appreciates Terrence Ross being thought of as a 6th Man of the Year candidate, we feel Danilo Gallinari may be more suited for the nomination though Ross is a favorite. /GM talk

Ok, great article Jake don't agree at all with Amir Johnson being on this list until the Spurs get it together, can't have a 6th Man nominee on a team with a 5-11 record.

Shaquille O'"Koufos" is a great choice as is Henson whose arguably making a bigger impact than Amir Johnson (who is playing well) due to the Blazers having their heads slightly above .500.

I also think Henson deserves the mention over Johnson but at this point Granger and Shumpert look to be the top-2 for me. Lots of good candidates so far this season, though none of them will come close to Gordon's numbers last year.

I agree with the candidates for the most part but I'm surprised Kemba Walker isn't on there. 20/4/3 w/ 1 stl on 48 FG% in 27 mpg compare favourably to anyone on that list but I guess the assumption is that he'll start in OKC and lose eligibility for the award.

Anyway, I actually think Trey Burke is a dark-horse here. He's putting up 11/2/3 on 51/46/81 splits in under 20 mpg and GSW has the best record in the league. Granger and Ross have been awesome too, and I'd put Henson over Amir for sure. Shumpert won't win it if Miami doesn't start winning.

blackice (ATL) wrote:I agree with the candidates for the most part but I'm surprised Kemba Walker isn't on there. 20/4/3 w/ 1 stl on 48 FG% in 27 mpg compare favourably to anyone on that list but I guess the assumption is that he'll start in OKC and lose eligibility for the award.

Anyway, I actually think Trey Burke is a dark-horse here. He's putting up 11/2/3 on 51/46/81 splits in under 20 mpg and GSW has the best record in the league. Granger and Ross have been awesome too, and I'd put Henson over Amir for sure. Shumpert won't win it if Miami doesn't start winning.

I believe Kemba wasnt mentioned because he will get the starting job in OKC.
Forgot Burke, he's really doing serious damage in the few minutes on the court.

blackice (ATL) wrote:I agree with the candidates for the most part but I'm surprised Kemba Walker isn't on there. 20/4/3 w/ 1 stl on 48 FG% in 27 mpg compare favourably to anyone on that list but I guess the assumption is that he'll start in OKC and lose eligibility for the award.

Anyway, I actually think Trey Burke is a dark-horse here. He's putting up 11/2/3 on 51/46/81 splits in under 20 mpg and GSW has the best record in the league. Granger and Ross have been awesome too, and I'd put Henson over Amir for sure. Shumpert won't win it if Miami doesn't start winning.

Yeah, didn't include Kemba at all just assuming he'll end up as a starter, no idea why OKC would bring him off the bench.

As far as Burke, I just couldn't include EVERYONE with decent stats on this list. There are multiple guys putting up decent numbers like him, but I really don't think he compares to the other guards and wings on this list. He's just kinda been average so far, at least not good enough to contend with these guys. If I wanted to put 20 guys on this list, sure, but for the purposes of a top 4, nah.

Jake0890 (MIN) wrote:

blackice (ATL) wrote:I agree with the candidates for the most part but I'm surprised Kemba Walker isn't on there. 20/4/3 w/ 1 stl on 48 FG% in 27 mpg compare favourably to anyone on that list but I guess the assumption is that he'll start in OKC and lose eligibility for the award.

Anyway, I actually think Trey Burke is a dark-horse here. He's putting up 11/2/3 on 51/46/81 splits in under 20 mpg and GSW has the best record in the league. Granger and Ross have been awesome too, and I'd put Henson over Amir for sure. Shumpert won't win it if Miami doesn't start winning.

Yeah, didn't include Kemba at all just assuming he'll end up as a starter, no idea why OKC would bring him off the bench.

As far as Burke, I just couldn't include EVERYONE with decent stats on this list. There are multiple guys putting up decent numbers like him, but I really don't think he compares to the other guards and wings on this list. He's just kinda been average so far, at least not good enough to contend with these guys. If I wanted to put 20 guys on this list, sure, but for the purposes of a top 4, nah.

Yeah, I mentioned the assumption he'll start in OKC was probably the reason so I understand. As for Burke his raw stats are decent it's more his unbelievable efficiency and per36 production along with GSW's record, but it's true that you can only include so many guys for sure.

I can hand Burke some more minutes...was planning on doing it anyway