Former UCLA Bruin Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a case to be bringing home the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award earlier this week but it was not meant to be. Jaquez had to settle for second place, finishing behind forward Keldon Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs.
Jaquez had a strong season with the Miami Heat, posting a career-best 15.4 points per game. It wasn’t just in scoring that Jaquez had a career-best year, with career-highs in 5.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Even the efficiency was improved for the third year pro, shooting 50.7% from the field.
The Spurs had Johnson come off the bench in all 82 games, as he put up 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The 6’5” forward shot 51.9% from the field and 36.3% from beyond the arc.
Johnson grabbed 63 of the 100 first place votes, with Jaquez being the only other player to receive first place votes, grabbing 34 first place votes. Jaquez got 51 second place votes and eight more third place votes.
Jaquez appeared on 93 ballots in total, meaning that seven voters deemed him unworthy of their ballot. Jaquez wasn’t the only one to get left off by voters, Johnson was left off of four ballots.
Team success played a factor in this year’s vote. The Heat were bounced in the Play-In after sneaking in as the No. 10 seed while Johnson helped the Spurs win 62 games and earn the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Perhaps if Miami four more games (the difference between the five and 10 seeds in the Eastern Conference) Jaquez would have won the award.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Former Bruin Jaime Jaquez Jr. falls just short of NBA Sixth Man award
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
