New Boston Celtics player a top-3 candidate to win Sixth Man of the Year

Over the last several years, the Boston Celtics have found themselves rolling out one of the worst second units in the entire association, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.

Since the 2019-20 campaign, the C’s have ranked in the bottom five when it comes to bench points per game and, over the last two years, have ranked in the bottom eight in bench offensive rating.

Heading into 2022-23, however, it seems as though the team’s misfortunes in this area of the rotation are on the verge of coming to an end thanks to the several key moves made by Brad Stevens and co.

This summer, the front office pushed the pedal to the metal with their post-Finals loss endeavors, as they went on to address this particular part of their rotation by acquiring the likes of Danilo Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon.

Both are veteran talents who boast career averages north of 15 points per game and, throughout their careers, have even posted 18+ points throughout a full year’s worth of games.

With this duo now in the mix, the Boston Celtics already seem to have one of the strongest second-unit talent pools heading into the upcoming campaign, but, when it comes to an individual standpoint, some could argue that the team may also wind up having the best bench player in the league.

At least, that’s what the folks at Sports Illustrated seem to think, as they recently ranked Brogdon as having the third-best odds of coming away with the 2023 Sixth Man of the Year award, behind only Jordan Poole (+450) and the most recent recipient, Tyler Herro (+500).

Since becoming a full-time point guard, the former second-round pick turned 2017 Rookie of the Year has proven himself to be a borderline All-Star, posting sensational averages of 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.1 boards per game on 35 percent shooting from deep over the last three years.

Now having such a talent serve as the presumed lead backup to Marcus Smart within the backcourt and as the first man off the pine, not only does he give the Boston Celtics a high-potential security blanket at the one, but he also adds a dimension to this championship-aspiring unit that, frankly, could be argued as a major reason for their ultimate demise last year.