New York Knicks shooting guard J.R. Smith officially won the 2013 Sixth Man Award from the league Monday, capping an impressive season for the talented scorer.
Sixth Man Award voting totals: J.R. Smith beats out Jamal Crawford
J.R. Smith edged Jamal Crawford and a host of other players who received votes for this year’s Sixth Man Award. Including Portland’s Luke Babbitt, for some reason.
Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
He did so in fairly overwhelming fashion, too, taking the majority of the first-place votes from sportswriters throughout Canada and the United States.
With 72 first-place votes and 484 total points, Smith easily outpaced second-place finisher Los Angeles Clippers guard Jamal Crawford, who finished with 31 first-place nods and 352 total points. Golden State's Jarrett Jack, Oklahoma City's Kevin Martin and New Orleans' Ryan Anderson round out the top five.
In order to be eligible to receive votes, a player needed to be a reserve in at least half of his appearances this season. Smith came off the bench in all 80 of his appearances with the Knicks this season, averaging 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game.
Here are the full voting results:
1. J.R. Smith, Knicks: 72 first-place votes, 484 points
2. Jamal Crawford, Clippers: 31 first-place votes, 352 points
3. Jarrett Jack, Warriors: 14 first-place votes, 170 points
4. Kevin Martin, Thunder: Two first-place votes, 31 points
5. Ryan Anderson, Hornets: One first-place vote, 11 points
6. Andre Miller, Nuggets: Seven points
7. Jordan Crawford, Celtics/Wizards: One first-place vote, five points
8. Manu Ginobili, Spurs; Carl Landry, Warriors; Nate Robinson, Bulls; Corey Brewer, Nuggets: Four points
Also receiving votes were Charlotte's Ramon Sessions, Miami's Shane Battier, Portland's Luke Babbitt, Utah's Gordon Hayward, Dallas' Vince Carter and Milwaukee's J.J. Redick.
Overall, it’s a pretty solid group of reserves. It’s mostly shoot-first guards like Smith, Crawford and Jack that can handle the ball with the second unit, but there are also some good shooters that can play defe- WAIT SOMEONE VOTED FOR LUKE BABBITT.
That’s odd. Nobody ever talked about Luke Babbitt as some great off-the-bench contributor. Maybe he was having a sneaky-productive season off the bench for Portland that went unnoticed as the Blazers’ season went downhill?
For those tearing down Luke Babbitt's 6th man credentials he scored in double figures SEVEN times this season and had 2 assists FIVE times
— Ben Golliver (@blazersedge) April 22, 2013
Yeah, but he missed 20 games due to being injured all the time, right?
Blazers need a Luke Babbitt for Sixth Man infographic: TWENTY DNP-CDs. FOURTH most minutes (among Blazers reserves)
— Ben Golliver (@blazersedge) April 22, 2013
Oh.
Well, congratulations J.R. Smith. And everyone else who received votes, including Luke Babbitt.
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