Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has started campaigning for one of his players to win an award, and it has nothing to do with MVP.
Kerr said Friday that in his mind, Andre Iguodala is clearly deserving of the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever really pushed any of our players for awards — Steph (Curry) for MVP, Draymond (Green) for Defensive Player of the Year,” Kerr said, via Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area. “Maybe I have. It’s not something I normally do. But I am sort of intrigued by the Sixth Man of the Year award. It seems like it should just say ‘highest scoring player off the bench’ award. Depends on how people look at it.
“But if you want to look at the best Sixth Man in the game, in terms of winning, there’s no way anyone is better than Andre.”
Kerr admitted that Iguodala’s stats — 7.3 points and 4 assists per game — don’t jump off the page, but he reminded any writers listening that “this game is about more than just scoring.”
“He’s like a starter for us,” Kerr said. “He’s played backup point guard. He’s currently our backup power forward. He guards the best player every single night — Kawhi Leonard, James Harden. He comes in and automatically guards the best guy. I think he leads the league in assist to turnover ratio. This guy, he’s phenomenal.”
It’s probably no coincidence that Kerr made this argument before a game against the Houston Rockets, who boast two potential leading candidates for the award in Lou Williams and Eric Gordon. Maybe Kerr’s campaigning will pay off, with the Rockets preoccupied with pushing the candidacy of another one of their players for a different award.
