The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and the major awards of the regular season are being announced one after another. Prior to this, NB officially took the lead in announcing the Most Improved Player Award in the regular season, and 76ers supernova Maxey was elected ahead of Koby White and Shin Jing, and he also became the second player in the history of the 76ers to win this award. As is customary in the NBA, the second individual award to be revealed is Sixth Man of the Year. According to previous reports, Monk of the Kings, Reed of the Timberwolves and Portis of the Bucks are the three ultimate candidates for the award, who can be the final winner?
According to NBA officials, Reed of the Timberwolves was elected Sixth Man of the Year in the regular season this season! The specific voting results of the three Sixth Man of the Year candidates were: Reed received 45 first votes, 39 second votes and 10 third votes, with a total score of 352 points; Monk received 43 first votes, 39 second votes and 10 third votes, with a total score of 342 points; Portis received 5 first votes, 10 second votes and 26 third votes, with a total score of 81 points. When Monk appeared on the list of the ultimate candidates for the best sixth man, many people thought that this award lost its suspense in advance, in the words of Kings star Xiao Sa, if Monk can't win the award, it must be a dark box operation!
That's right, Monk has really shone off the bench this season, playing the role of the Kings' big three. Monk played in 72 games (0 starts), played an average of 26 minutes per game, and averaged 15.4 points + 2.9 rebounds + 5.1 assists + 2.1 three-pointers per game, shooting 44.3%, 35% and 82.9% from three, and a true shooting percentage of 56.4%. According to the statistics of the NBA's official website, Monk scored at least 20 points + 5 rebounds + 5 assists in a single game on the bench 8 times this season, the most in the league, as a comparison, No. 2 Podemsky and No. 3 Clarkson combined to complete only 6 such achievements! At the same time, Monk is the substitute player with the most total points this season, as high as 1110 points! But what is the result? Monk's "best sixth man" was still robbed and unexpectedly lost.
Reed played in 81 games for the Timberwolves this season (67 off the bench), averaging 24 minutes per game, averaging 13.5 points + 5.2 rebounds + 1.3 assists + 2.1 three-pointers per game, shooting 47.7%, 41.4% and 63.6% respectively from three, and a true shooting rate of 59.5%, scoring rebounds, assists and three-point shooting percentages all hit career highs. Compared with Monk, Reed has three advantages in mentioning the best sixth man: first, Reed is more efficient and more balanced in offense and defense; second, the Timberwolves are the strongest defensive team in the league and an upstart in the West, Reed is a puzzle piece of the jack-of-all-trades, indispensable, and excellent records and rankings are all pluses; third, the Kings themselves are the most unpopular team in the league, rebounding king > double-double king > triple-double Wang Xiaosa and Mr. Key Fox can all fail to be selected as All-Stars, what is Monk's failure to be selected as the best sixth man?
Reed beat Monk to be named Sixth Man of the Year, setting a number of NBA god-level records! First, Reed won by only 10 points, which is the smallest gap in the voting for Sixth Man of the Year since the NBA implemented the voting system; Second, Reed became the first player in the history of the Timberwolves to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year, which is unprecedented; Third, Reed is the third undrafted Sixth Man of the Year in NBA history, the first two being Stark in 1996-97 and Armstrong in 1998-99! From losing the draft to being the best sixth man, Reed has completed a counterattack in his life, and he is also one of the cornerstones of the rise of the Timberwolves.