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Slam Dunk Case: Thomas Should Be Sixth Man of Year

addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico"); addPhoto("https://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.element/media/2.0/teamsites/celtics/media/it6th.jpg", "Isaiah Thomas' stats speak for themselves.", "", "it-6th");

BOSTON – “The Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas is the winner of the 2014-15 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award as the league’s best player in a reserve role, the NBA announced today.”

We should all be reading that sentence in an official press release from the league in about three weeks.

In all honesty, this shouldn’t even be a debate. Thomas is the clear-cut Sixth Man of the Year.

The league’s reigning Sixth Man Award winner, Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers, is having a fine season. So, too, is Lou Williams of the Toronto Raptors. But neither of those players, nor any other reserve in the NBA, has made the type of impact that Isaiah Thomas has off the bench.

Brad Stevens, a reserved head coach who rarely deviates from the task at hand, recently chose to go public in backing that statement up.

“I can’t imagine somebody impacting their team, whether he’s in Phoenix or here, more,” Stevens said of his ultra-quick point guard. The coach also stated matter-of-factly that Thomas should be this season’s recipient of the award.

Stevens’ beliefs are defended up by an overwhelming collection of evidence. The numbers speak for themselves.

Thomas leads all qualifying reserves in scoring with an average of 16.3 points per game this season. He also leads all such players in player efficiency rating (20.63), fourth-quarter scoring (6.2 PPG), offensive rating during clutch minutes (120.9) and free throw attempts per 48 minutes (9.6).

That’s a long list. And remember, that’s only the list of categories that have Thomas’ name at the top.

Thomas can also make claim that he is second among qualifying reserves in offensive win shares (5.0) and third in assists per game (4.2), all while ranking sixth in the entire league in fourth-quarter scoring and 14th in the NBA in points per 48 minutes (30.6).

Heaps of evidence continue to pile up when you shrink the sample size down to Thomas’ 21 games in a Celtics uniform. His playing time with Boston is nearly identical that of his time in a Phoenix uniform, yet his impact has become even more pronounced.

The Celtics have gone 14-7 with Thomas in the lineup and he has been by far the team’s top player during those contests. The point guard has averaged 19.0 PPG, and 35.2 points per 48 minutes, since being acquired by Boston on Feb. 19. The first number blows away the averages of all other reserves, and the second number ranks fifth in the entire NBA, trailing only three MVP candidates and DeMarcus Cousins.

Since Feb. 19, the closest reserve to Thomas on the scoring list is Williams, who has averaged just 16.3 PPG. It should be noted that Williams trails Thomas by a wide margin of 2.7 points per game despite averaging more playing time, and that his Raptors have tumbled their way to the finish line this season, going just 12-16 - including two losses to Boston - since the trade deadline while Thomas and the Celtics have ascended.

Williams is Thomas’ stiffest competition for the Sixth Man Award, but really, Toronto’s guard shouldn’t be considered as much competition at all.

Thomas was very good with the Suns, and he has been nothing short of spectacular with the Celtics. Boston became a much better team when it acquired Thomas, and Phoenix became much worse when it traded him away.

The writing is on the wall, and it should also be on every voter’s ballot.

Within a few weeks, the NBA should announce that Isaiah Thomas is the 2014-15 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award winner.