Sixth Man of the Year – Marco Belinelli
While Rookie of the Year might have been a simple decision, the Hawks Sixth Man of the Year is a little more complex. While Luke Babbitt is shooting the lights out on three pointers (45.6 percent on 90 attempts) and John Collins has done much of his damage off the bench this season, Marco Belinelli has performed the typical role expected of a Sixth Man: Come off the bench, chuck up shots at an impressively high volume and connect on many of those shots in an efficient way.
In an anemic offense that is often wanting for viable scoring options, Belinelli has shown absolutely no problem with taking shot after difficult shot – oftentimes to great success.
Belinelli has played 717 total minutes off the bench (4th on the Hawks) and has come out firing to the tune of 113 of 277 shooting from the field (40.8 percent). The majority of Belinelli’s attempts have come from downtown, where he is hitting 38.1 percent of his attempts (56 of 147).
Those 56 makes and 147 attempts are the most on the Hawks by a sizeable margin, and many of the three-pointers are difficult, off-the-dribble, leaning, off-balance attempts that somehow go in at an impressive clip.
Belinelli’s shooting is also stellar from the free throw line, where he leads the league in free throw percentage with an incredible 95.2 percent – only missing three times out of 63 attempts. Another important aspect of Belinelli’s game is his knack for not turning the ball over as his miniscule 9.5 turnover percentage is top-30 in the league.
Because of this all-around offensive efficiency off the bench and a knack for shooting the Hawks back into games on a regular basis, Marco Belinelli is the Hawks’ current Sixth Man of the Year.