Montrezl Harrell should win the Sixth Man of the Year Award

The Sixth Man of the Year Award should be returning back to LA this year, just not to Lou Williams. Montrezl Harrell is one of the favorites to win the honor, and should be the favorite to win it.

The top three candidates to win the award are:

Montrezl Harrell (18.6 PPG / 7.1 RPG / 1.7 APG / 27.8 MPG)
Dennis Schroder (19.0 PPG / 3.7 RPG / 4.1 APG / 31.0 MPG)
Lou Williams ( 18.7 PPG / 3.1 RPG / 5.7 APG / 29.3 MPG)

On the surface level, all three of these players have a legitimate claim to the throne. You really couldn't go wrong with any of the choices. With that being said, Trez has a little bit more of a claim than anyone else.

Beyond the stat sheet, Montrezl Harrell is impacting victories in a way that no other bench player is. He's leading all bench players in the NBA at total win shares. Not just that, but Trez is top 10 box plus-minus reserve player in the NBA, neither Schroder nor Williams are in that category.

Montrezl Harrell: 7.0 WS, 2.9 BPM
Dennis Schroder: 3.5 WS, -0.1 BPM
Lou Williams: 3.9 WS, 0.8 BPM

Simply put, Montrezl Harrell helps his team win better than any other player does. His contributions may not seem as fancy with game-winners or dramatic shots, but don't let that fool you. Trez's game is largely based on chipping away, and doing the dirty work - it accumulates enough to make a massive difference.

Trez might not be the greatest defender, but he certainly contributes on both ends of the floor. He's tied with Kyle Lowry for drawing the most charges (30) in the NBA, and is a top 5 player at scoring through contested shots (776). Harrell's hustle is something that's premier quality, not just on the bench, but throughout the entire NBA.

It would be easy to say that Lou Williams or Dennis Schroder deserve the Sixth Man of the Year this year. They've hit game-winners, score a ton of points, and are terrific in the clutch. Despite that, neither of them truly contributes to winning in a way that Harrell does.

Lou Williams once said that if anyone besides him were to win the Sixth Man of the Year award, he wants it to be Montrezl Harrell. It looks like his wish will come true this season.