Los Angeles Lakers' Lamar Odom tops Jason Terry and three others to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award 2010-11
Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers became Kia NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year on Tuesday. The NBA made the announcement in an award news conference that took place in a hotel
ballroom on Tuesday. Odom is league’s top reserve of the year and the first ever from the Lakers squad to achieve the award.
The award started back in 1983 and since then every year it goes to the league’s best or most valuable player who came off the bench or played as a substitute. Odom played
in all 82 contests of the regular season 2010-11 and came off the bench in 47 games.
The 31-year-old was bestowed 513 of 585 points from the votes. That also included 96 of 117 votes at the first place that came from the voting panel. The panel included
117 sportswriters and broadcasters from all over USA and Canada.
The criteria of the award is that the players have to come off the bench and the number of times they do that should exceed the number of games they appeared in first. Every
first place vote counts for five points, second place vote counts for three points whereas third place vote counts for one point.
Odom made an average of 13.0 points and 7.5 rebounds while playing for 28.4 minutes. As a reserve and solid scorer, the player also added 12 double-doubles. While playing
32.2 minutes, the player averaged 14.4 points per game on a 0.530 shooting from the field and also had 8.7 rebounds along with 3.0 assists. This makes him the first ever Sixth Man of the Year who has averaged eight rebounds per game. The player had 28 double-doubles
this season, tallied a double figure score in 63 games and also posted 20 or more points in 14 games.
It was a big recognition for the player as well as the team and the team rejoiced after receiving the big news. Lakers coach Phil Jackson appreciated Odom’s abilities and
stated, "It's good recognition of a player that has really filled a role for us the last couple of years," He then added, "To be named to the USA team was really big for him, and to start on that team was important."
Shooting guard of Lakers, Kobe Bryant also expressed his views and said, “I am very happy for him. It’s extremely well-deserved.”
While the award was given to Odom, there were other players who were in the run to get the award. Here are the other top candidates of the award:
Jason Terry
Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Terry had 244 points for the second successive season and finished as runner up. While the competition was very tough between Odom and Terry, Odom
had an edge over Terry because Terry had already received the award in 2008-09 season. Terry also had a commendable season off the bench and started 10 games this season. The player who finished as a runner up, the year before as well was full of acceptance
for the current winner. He stated, “I tip my hat to him. He had a heck of a year.”
Thaddeus Young
Thaddeus Young of Philadelphia 76ers acquired 76 points and stood third.
Glen Davis
Glen Davis of the Boston Celtics was just one point shy of Young and had 75 points, leaving him at fourth place on the list.
Last Year
Last year the award went to Jamal Crawford of the Atlanta Hawks who received 580 of the total 610 voting points.
The first ever player to receive the Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year award was Bobby Jones of the Philadelphia 76ers who was honoured with the inaugural title back in 1982-83
season.
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