Last Friday, Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Jason was awarded with the KIA Sixth Man trophy for his outstanding efforts coming off the bench this season. He played a total of 74 games in the regular season starting only 11 of them, thus being eligible for the sixth man award. Averaging 19.6 points and 3.4 assists in 33.7 minutes per game he managed to become the second best scorer on the team after Dirk Nowitzki. Playing in his 10^th year after being drafted out of Arizon, he had far his best year as a Maverick so far.

The main competitors for the sixth man award were San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili and New York Knicks point guard Nate Robinson. However, Manu Ginobili who won the sixth man award in the past was out of the competition due to multiple injuries ending his year already halfway through the season. Nate Robinson on the other hand had an excellent year averaging 17.2 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 29.9 minutes per game. In fact, his stats sheet may be even better than Terry’s numbers however the questionable performance of his team prevented him from winning the award. Finishing fourteenth out of fifteen in the Eastern Conference the New York Knicks once again missed the playoffs.

Along with the sixth man ceremonies critical voices around the league were heard questioning the role of the KIA Sixth Man award. The main point of criticism is the fact that sixth man of the year winners are basically playing starters’ minutes and are coming of the bench solely for game plan reasons. However, one should also account for the ability to come off the bench cold and knock down shots straight away. As we have seen this year, many star players such as Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury have failed to fulfill this role.