Dime’s 2009 Sixth Man of the Year
Jason Terry (photo. Reebok)
With 82 games in the books and the playoffs getting started this weekend, Dime presents our ‘08-09 NBA regular-season awards. These are the consensus picks from our editorial team; not necessarily who we think is going to win, but who we think should win.
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR: JASON TERRY
As recently as Monday morning, the Sixth Man award was up in the air. Some of us in the office liked Travis Outlaw. Some liked Nate Robinson. And a lot of us really liked J.R. Smith — especially when there was a good chance he’d use the last five square inches of open space on his body to get a tattoo of the Sixth Man trophy.
But in the last two games of the Mavericks’ late-season push from a fringe playoff team to surging 6-seed that a few teams would be happy to avoid, Jason Terry wrapped it up.
On Monday night, Terry (19.6 ppg, 167 threes) hit the game-winner against Minnesota, losing Sebastian Telfair on a pump-fake and wetting a baseline J with 0.2 seconds on the clock. Then last night, Terry took over against Houston, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter and carrying the Mavs to their fifth win in the season’s last six games. In a two-game stretch where Dirk Nowitzki averaged 32 points, Terry dropped 22.5 a night on 62 percent shooting from the field and saved the Mavs on both occasions.
Terry seemingly had the Sixth Man trophy locked up months ago, when he slapped up 11 games of 25-plus points before December was out. But a midseason hand injury forced him to miss most of February, right at the time when guys like Robinson, Outlaw and J.R. were shining. By the time Terry returned to Dallas’ lineup, it was an open competition.
In the end, Smith may have had more explosive single-game performances (including his 45-point, 11-three outing on Monday), Outlaw kept up his “Mr. Fourth Quarter” act, and Nate was often his team’s go-to scorer, but Terry remained consistent all the way and finished strong when it mattered most.
* DIME’S “WOULD BE A GOOD SIXTH MAN ON A GOOD TEAM” TEAM *
G - Randy Foye, Minnesota
G - Anthony Parker, Toronto
F - Charlie Villanueva, Milwaukee
F - Jeff Green, Oklahoma City
C - Marc Gasol, Memphis
April 16th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Patrick says:
I am a huge U of A fan and I really like Terry, but how can this count if he is playing 15 minutes more off the bench than the “starter” JJ Barea.
Rather than a 6th man award since coaches are bringing Terry and Manu off the bench instead of the inferior talent that is starting it should be a most valuable 20 minutes or less guy.
All of these guys finish the game and they play a lot more minutes than a lot of starters. The award just doesn’t mean much if your sixth man is really your third or fourth best player.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:42 am
TJ says:
I feel Patrick. I do think it is a little weird when the 6th man plays the whole game.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Diego says:
Yeah, good point by Patrick. It’s basically a gimick that such guys are not actual starters.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
dagwaller says:
JR Smith isn’t even the best sub on his own team. Chris Andersen means more to that team than JR Smith.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
aj says:
@ 1-3
Y’all are messed up if you think coaches play their 3rd best player off the bench as a gimmick to get them votes for some crappy award. Almost every time it’s for the best interest of the team to win ballgames. I’m sure the players appreciate the award but that’s not what their playing for. The only awards that really mean something are MVP, DPOY, and Comeback.
Y’all need to watch basketball for more than just the stats and highlights.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
kevin k says:
BIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDMANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
April 16th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Diego says:
Not a gimmick with the purpose of attaining a player the award–but a gimmick nonetheless. Although of course there is strategy in having a big scorer matching up against other team’s second team.
April 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Diego says:
@5:
And there is no “Comeback” award anymore; there is a Most Improved award (which not every player really appreciates, e.g., Hedo, because it basically signals you were not all that the prior year). Another example, Diaw really didn’t improve that much when he went from Atlanta to Phoenix, he just got out of the coach’s doghouse, a lot more pt, and moved to a style of play and situation really suited to him.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Rico says:
@5……ya dude, you even know a comeback? don’t trip! fool probably can’t even spell comeback!
April 16th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
NYCBalla says:
Speaking of comeback…. whatever happened to Shawn Kemp? Wasn’t he talking comeback this time last year?
April 16th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Austin Burton says:
Kemp always gets real close, then something goes wrong. Last time he was about to play in Italy or Greece, but the team cut him after he flew back to the U.S. during training camp and didn’t come back fast enough. I’m pulling for him to make it, but I think he’s kinda done.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Mark says:
He’s playing mucho minutes, but so have most players that have won the 6th man award. Plus Ginobili started 23 games to win 6th man.
The award is effectively useless because of its subjectivity (along with most other awards, esp. MVP), so don’t take them TOO seriously.
April 17th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
mavsgirl75 says:
We call him the “Jet” around these parts!
April 17th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
doc says:
Thats my pick too.