Enes Kanter Just Lost The 6th Man Of The Year Award
Enes Kanter’s stupidity costs him a chance at 6th Man of the Year, and the Oklahoma City Thunder a chance at avoiding the Spurs or Warriors in the first round of the playoffs
Full disclosure: I had been planning to write an article naming Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter 6th Man of the Year, over three-point machine Eric Gordon. After all, Kanter’s 24.62 Player Efficiency Rating (PER) far outpaces Gordon’s 14.97….But then Kanter broke him arm punching a chair against in the 2nd quarter of Thursday’s Mavericks game, embarrassing himself and requiring surgery that should keep him out of action for 6-8 weeks.
Gordon was already considered a frontrunner for good reason. Like Kanter did for Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, Gordon provides instant offense for the Houston Rockets when their best scorer and facilitator sits on the bench. His 17.4 points per game is second among bench players, behind only 2015 6th Man of the Year Louis Williams’ 18.2 points per game.
Gordon also converts three-pointers at a rate and frequency near Steph Curry levels, on a team that leads the league in both three point makes and attempts.
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But context matters in handing out awards. The injury-riddled Thunder needed Kanter’s 14.6 points per game even more than the Rockets needed Gordon’s 17.4 points per game.
In December, when Victor Oladipo’s nine-game absence necessitated more scorers, Kanter provided 15.1 points per game on 55.4 percent shooting, to go along with 1.3 assists per game, many coming while Westbrook sat.
Kanter’s stats in January were beginning to look even more impressive. Excluding his nine minutes of play against the Mavericks, his January stats are award-worthy: 17.3 points per game on 56.8 percent shooting, 8.8 rebounds per game, and 1.5 assists per game.
His defense has remained horrible as usual, but 6th Man of the Year Award typically doesn’t value defense (see three-time winner Jamal Crawford).
If the 6-8 week timetable holds, Kanter should miss between 16 games – before poetically returning against the Mavericks on March 5 – and 22 games, before returning against the Kings on March 18.
That time on the disabled list should be all Eric Gordon needs to run away with the 6th Man of the Year Award. But that doesn’t mean fans will or should overlook Kanter’s impact. The Oklahoma City Thunder currents hold the 6th seed in the West, separated by 1.5 games from the 5th and 7th seeds. While Russell Westbrook’s brilliance should keep them well ahead of the 8th seeded Nuggets, look for the Thunder to fall to the 7th seed as Kanter recovers, and their offensive options dwindle.
Oladipo still has not fully recovered from his bad wrist sprain, and recently needed to get his tongue stitched up, rendering him temporarily mute.
Given Oladipo’s unfortunate freak accidents, it is unfair to expect him to do much more than he is already doing. Meaning someone else will have to pick up the slack, likely Steven Adams, the Thunder’s lone remaining good player taller than 6-foot-4.
The West’s 3rd and 4th seeds (whether they become the Rockets, Jazz, Grizzlies or Clippers) should be very susceptible to upsets in the first round of the playoffs, meaning if Oklahoma City drops to 7th place and has to face 2nd seed San Antonio, Kanter’s self-inflicted injury will ne responsible for their likely first round exit.