The Detroit Pistons may not be the most talented team in the NBA, but they may have one of the best chances to produce the sixth man of the year in 2015-2016 with three legitimate candidates.
Perhaps the biggest criteria for winning the sixth man of the year award is scoring. Only three times has a player won the award without scoring double digits (Anthony Mason 1994-1995, Bill Walton 1984-1986, Bobby Jones 1982-1983).
From what we’ve seen in the preseason so far, the Pistons will likely be bringing either rookie Stanley Johnson or veteran Marcus Morris off the bench–both have shown a propensity to score with Johnson averaging 15.2 points per game in 30 minutes per game and Morris averaging 12 points (53 percent from the field) in 21.8 minutes per game.
I don’t anticipate either player averaging less than 10 points per game, especially Morris, who’s minutes should see an increase in the regular season.
Then there’s the wildcard for the Pistons, Brandon Jennnings who is coming off of a major injury, but is still one of the better sleepers out there to win the award should he come back fully healthy.
"I found a list that includes the previous winners of the sixth man of the year award. On it I found that 10 of the previous 11 winners were guards. Included in that list were guys like Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford (Twice) and the 2015 recipient Lou Williams–all of which are high volume scorers, very similar games to Brandon Jennings.MPGPPGAPGFG%3P%2014-15Brandon Jennings28.615.46.60.4010.362014-15Lou Williams25.215.52.10.4040.342013-14Jamal Crawford30.318.63.20.4160.3612008-09Jason Terry33.719.63.40.4630.366 That’s the type of player I can see Jennings becoming if he does indeed accept a role behind Jackson. Before his injury he only averaged 28 minutes a game. He can easily get the same amount of minutes coming off the bench."
Jennings will have an uphill battle to claim the award if it takes him longer than expected to return to action.
As of right now, December looks like a safe bet for return, but it could go in either direction based on his rehab. We also don’t know how much athleticism Jennings lost due to the injury, and history shows that it could really go either way for players who tore their Achilles.
Obviously one of Marcus Morris or Stanley Johnson will end up being the starter at small forward which automatically eliminates one of them for the sixth man of the year award.
Then there’s the chance–albeit slim–that both end up starting for Van Gundy.
If Johnson ends up coming off of the bench this season he may have the best chance of the three aforementioned players to win the award. He’s been a better rebounder and defender than Morris, and he’s healthier than Jennings.
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