I know that Corey Brewer and Josh Smith are new to the team, and its still a little early to say what their impact is going to look like from now till the end of the season but few teams have a player like Smith that have the talent to pretty much win games for you by himself on certain nights. Then you have the consistency of Brewer's open court attack when he comes in. The consistency you get from him has to be noted. Look at the landscape around the NBA, and tell me if there are players on the bench for other teams that can swing games like Brewer and Smith have the potential to do. Other candidates- -Manu Ginobili- Having a solid year. Not scoring at his highest level, but he's been healthy, and is doing Manu things once again. -Taj Gibson- Has kind of struggled over the past few weeks. He's just been ok, but I just don't see him as the type of player that can swing games like a typical 6th man does. Solid player though that should be starting on most teams. -Isiah Thomas- The guy can score. There is no doubt about it. However is Phoenix a serious enough contender to warrant the nod? I dunno. -Ryan Anderson - Similar to Thomas. Do we give more credit to guys who are on better teams? He's been solid for the Pelles this year after a injury plagued year last year. What do you guys think? Should we start having a conversation about whether either of these guys can eventually be in that group of 6th man of the year candidates???
Technically Josh Smith can count if he doesn't go back into the starting lineup for 9 games. You look at the players in the conversation, and the talent level. Its not that hard for me to fathom a stretch of the season coming up where he wins games for you in his role coming off the bench (also not hard to fathom him having a stretch where he does the opposite, but he's starting to trend upwards it looks like). As effective as someone like Thomas is, he's not a player that can really dominate a basketball game like that. Josh is really the only player coming off the bench that really has the potential to qualify as a super sub type of player at that talent level.
Beno Udrih Jamal Crawford Also I think Brewer is definitely a candidate. His impact on the game passes the eye test and analytics
To me Lou Williams is the 6th man of the year, and it's not close. I've seen a few Raptors games this year where he was their best player.
Ryan Anderson has not been solid at all this year. He's been terrible on many nights. Pelicans fans are starting to get fed up with him and want to trade him. He's been very streaky and has had many nights where he cannot hit any shots. Plus he doesn't play any defense, so he's been next to useless out there.
