The Philadelphia 76ers should be able to rake in a ton of wins next season, which would normally place them in prime position to get rewarded at the end of the campaign with individual accolades. Well, that is usually what happens, but given how loaded the team is, voters might find it difficult to incentivize them with some hardware. However, one race where they might have a clearer path to winning is the Sixth Man of the Year award, a distinction Anfernee Simons could earn himself.
Simons, who signed with the 76ers on a heavily discounted two-year deal this offseason, is projected to be the main cog on the team's bench in the upcoming campaign. And given his track record of being a solid and consistent contributor, especially on the scoring department, he should have a good shot of winning the 6MOY award.
The 76ers could have a lone awardee next season in Anfernee Simons
If the 76ers end up with a top seed next season, they might have an MVP candidate on the roster. However, with four established All-NBA players, it would be difficult to pinpoint the player with the most contributions to the team, as they would all be spreading the wealth.
That is far from their situation on the second unit. Simons is easily the best player the 76ers will have coming off the bench, and Nick Nurse and the coaching staff are likely to deploy him prominently as their main catalyst outside of the starting five. The veteran coach likes to start his best players at all times, so Simons should also be the first man off the bench to step into a starting role when one of his main guards are unable to suit up.
Simons thrived off the bench for the Celtics last season, averaging 14.2 points on 44 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent from three-point range in less than 25 minutes per outing. He will probably get roughly the same amount of court time on average next season, and that will be plenty enough for him to register those kinds of numbers and catapult himself into the 6MOY leaderboard.
What makes the 76ers different this coming season, aside from their overwhelming star power, is their more proven bench squad. Anfernee Simons is a huge part of that, and as long as Philly wins a lot of games and he stays healthy, he might just end up being the lone awardee on the team at the end of the year given the circumstances.
Add us as a preferred source on Google