Are Gibson and Brooks Sixth Man of the Year candidates?

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Jan 17, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Aaron Brooks (0) is fouled by Atlanta Hawks guard Kent Bazemore (24) during the second half at the United Center. Atlanta won 107-99. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

5. Aaron Brooks

Notable Stats: 10.9 ppg, 44.3 percent 3-point shooting, 18 “The Bulls would not be in this game without him” moments this season.

Random Fun Stat: One of two players (J.J. Barea) in the league 6-foot or under averaging 8.0 points per 48 minutes on drives.

Did anyone think that the Bulls signing Brooks to the league minimum contract wouldn’t work out? The Tom Thibideou Bulls love signing backup guards to short, cheap contracts to create offense in pick and rolls while the starters are resting. Since the player usually has defense-first teammates around him, not only does his lousy defense get overlooked, but also he has free reign to start launching shots on offense. He is usually only on a one or two-year league minimum contract, and once it is up, some other team overpays him before eventually regretting it. There is a reason Nate Robinson isn’t on a team right now.

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Brooks is probably the best CABBOG (Cheap Aging Bulls Backup Offensive Guard) since Robinson on the 2012-13 team. Other notable CABBOGs (I hope someone can come up with a better name than that) were C.J. Watson, John Lucas III and D.J. Augustin. I can’t wait for some incompetent GM to sign Brooks this summer for $5 million a year, then get confused as to why Brooks doesn’t play as well when he isn’t surrounded by great defenders and allowed to have complete freedom on offense. Billy King?

Potential free agents this summer that could be replacements for Brooks as next year’s CABBOG are Marcus Thornton, Barea (might be too expensive), C.J. Watson (reunion!), Norris Cole, Ish Smith (my odds on favorite), or Lou Williams (probably too expensive).

As for Brooks’ Sixth Man of the Year chances, he has a couple of things going against him. The first is Chicago has too many other good players. Brooks is averaging the least amount of mpg (20.0) and ppg (10.9) of any of the top five candidates, and it is still yet to be known if he will get playing time late in close games. He also doesn’t get a lot of media attention because the Bulls have so many other good reserve players people like to talk about. The voters will also probably use the CABBOG (starting to sound natural) factor against him.

Next: Manu Ginobili

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