It’s a little too early in the season to project 2023/24 award winners, but Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon told reporters after Monday’s win over Dallas that Reggie Jackson deserves serious consideration for Sixth Man of the Year honors (Twitter video link via DNVR Sports).
Jackson, who has technically started 14 of 28 games so far due to Jamal Murray‘s injury, didn’t play regular minutes during Denver’s championship run in the spring, but he has emerged as a key rotation player this season. He has averaged 13.6 points and 4.5 assists per night with shooting percentages (.495 FG%, .407 3PT%) well above his career rates.
The veteran guard has been “huge for us,” according to Gordon, who wanted to make sure to get Jackson’s name into the Sixth Man conversation.
“He has to be in the running,” Gordon said. “I know being in Denver you don’t get a lot of pub, you don’t get a lot of media nods as far as the All-Star team, All-Defensive team, MVPs, and Sixth Man of the Year. But Reggie is arguably the Sixth Man of the Year in the NBA right now.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Sam Presti has referenced the Thunder‘s losing record last season and has tempered expectations for the team in the short term, suggesting that Oklahoma City won’t be in any rush to add win-now reinforcements to its roster. However, appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio (Twitter audio link), Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports says some people around the league are skeptical of that claim and expect Presti’s front office to be active in the coming weeks. The Thunder have an air of unpredictability about them, according to Rylan Stiles of Thunderous Intentions, who says it wouldn’t be surprising to see the club go in any direction at the trade deadline.
- Rookie Jazz guard Keyonte George has missed the past three games due to left foot inflammation, but he’s progressing toward a return. As Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune relays (via Twitter), George is now traveling with the team and participating in on-court activities.
- The bond that Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards are building is one that the Timberwolves previously envisioned Towns having with Jimmy Butler, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. The Butler era in Minnesota crashed and burned in dramatic fashion five years ago, but Towns and Edwards have always respected each other’s skill sets and have had one another’s backs, as Krawczynski details.
Butler has been a cancer to every team… it’s funny he caught fire with the heat because his attitude will burn that team down too. No disrespect to his play because he’s a baller, but also an a- hole I couldn’t imagine anyone enjoying a locker room with.
No, if you do stuff like ask for trades you’re a cancer if your name is Durant, Irving or especially Harden but if you disrupt the locker room, ask for trades and make an ass of yourself and your name is Jimmy Butler then you’re a “fiery competitor”;
I’d take Butler on my team any day, including Right Now on the NYK if MIA tires of him. Of course, since MIA wants to win, they won’t.
Bulter was supposedly a problem in two locker rooms, but, following his departure in each case, it’s become evident that each of those locker rooms had real, for more serious, problems. Some of which Butler was at least trying to address, if awkwardly and with too hard an edge. KAT, Wiggins and Simmons were young soft coddled puesdo stars who were developed within team cultures that said losing was fine and, in PHI’s case, even a good thing. I have little doubt that KAT would like a do over on the Butler situation, at least if he’s a competitor at all, something still in doubt. His feelings cost him a good chunk of his prime to get back to where the team was when they had Butler.
He wasn’t exactly a saint in Chicago in the end either, he and Wade calling out the entire locker room for not playing hard and coach for being too laid back. He wanted the same thing as all the so called “team cancers” do. He wanted to be an appreciated focal point on a competitive team.
No saint for sure. But he’s the opposite of a team cancer. More like a cure for many cancers that run rampant in some NBA locker rooms. It’s a positive to have a veteran All Star that’s willing to call out teammates for not meeting the team’s stated standard of intensity; so long as he is meeting or exceeding that standard. IDK much about the CHI locker room under Donovan, but Butler had no locker room issues under Thibs, or in college.
In MIN and PHI, Butler’s actions seemed all about winning, and were all undertaken for the benefit of teams where other players (some of whom he was hard on) were always going to be the main focal points. Just because some crybabies (who, btw, have never done anything but lose) don’t like something, doesn’t make it a cancer. A view that the other players should continue to placate these crybabies is the cancer.
Knick fans, real ones that pay attention, know what a locker room cancer is. Carmelo Anthony. Everything was about him. He criticized teammates for not defending – his man – and making him look bad. Or for not passing him the ball soon enough or not clearing out once they did. He not only wouldn’t run an offense he didn’t like himself, he yelled at young players he could intimidate for doing it. Those weren’t even the worst of it. Butler would have been a blessing.
I agree with Gordon about Reggie, he’s really played well for the Nuggets
Butler needs to be on the right team. Just like a bad relationship, people tend to argue when they’re not happy in it. Jimmy would’ve loved a Jerry Sloan run team. He would’ve respected Sloan.
It’s hard not to see Butler’s value as a winner, either. I’ve wanted Butler’s honesty on the Jazz for years! We all saw what happens when you let bad habits and unspoken bad feelings fester. Best to get it out in the open at all times. People do get used to the bold honesty. They also get better at delivering it.