2013-2014 NBA Regular Season Awards
By Jason Gold
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
6th Man – Taj Gibson
Before the season I had both Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford in my top three choices for this award, along with David Lee of the Golden State Warriors. I totally forgot that Lee doesn’t play defense and starts half of the time. My bad.
The reason I am choosing Gibson, who has had a career year for the Bulls this season, over Crawford is because he has missed a significant portion of the season and the Clippers have played well without Crawford in the lineup. Gibson has been an indespensible part of the Chicago roster all season and is clearly the second most valuable player on that team behind Noah.
Gibson is averaging 13.2 ppg and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 48% from the field, blocking 1.4 shots per game in 28 minutes per contest. His per 36 minute averages would be 16/9 with 1.7 blocks, which are essentially Paul Millsap numbers. Let’s not forget that Millsap was an All-Star this season.
Vote: 1. Gibson 2. Jamal Crawford 3. Nick Young