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Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid wants to be NBA MVP next season

By Larry Mendte

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 24: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates during the game against the Miami Heat in game five of round one of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matteo Marchi/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 24: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates during the game against the Miami Heat in game five of round one of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matteo Marchi/Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid says he wants to be MVP next season. Statistics show he may just get his wish.

If you want to know just how good the Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is, just ask him. He’ll tell you.

The Sixers spent months trying to recruit top free agents like LeBron James and Paul George to Philadelphia, but failed. Then they tried to work out a trade for superstar forward Kawhi Leonard, but the San Antonio Spurs wanted too much in return.

As it turns out, the 76ers star center didn’t really didn’t care if the team got any of those players.

According to Sarah Todd from Philly.com, Embiid was ambivalent. “When my season ended, there was a lot of talk about adding guys. I literally did not really care because I wanted to get better.”

And then the budding superstar made the kind of comment that makes Embiid, Embiid. “I want to be better than those guys that were mentioned, if I’m not already better than them.”

“If I’m not already better than them” is the kind of comment we’ve come to expect from Embiid. It’s the kind of comment that 76ers’ fans love and fans from other teams may hate.

But Embiid wasn’t finished. He wants to prove he is the best player in the league this year.

“I want to win the MVP. I feel like at the end of the day it might be an individual award, but when I play better, the team also does,” Embiid said. “I feel like if I’m an MVP candidate or if I win the MVP, that means we are on another level.”

That is the same thing Embiid told a TMZ Sports camera outside a West Hollywood restaurant a few days earlier.  

So is Joel Embiid an MVP candidate this year? That question started a debate on the national sports shows.  

Chris Broussard on ESPN’s First Take put Embiid third on his list of the top five MVP candidates.  “I got LeBron [James], Anthony Davis, Embiid, Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.” That is rarified air for a 24-year-old who spent his first season on the disabled list.

On First Things First on FOX Sports, Nick Wright said, “He’s a MVP candidate right now.  You come off a second in the Defensive Player of the Year, 24 years old, he averaged 23 [points], 11 [rebounds] in only 30 minutes a game.” 

Wright went on to say that Embiid’s minutes restriction will be gone in the 2018-19 season.  “Now we’re talking about a 26/14 guy.”

The conversation about MVP should begin and end with the impact a player has on a team. With the notable exception of LeBron James, no player had a bigger impact on his team last season than Joel Embiid.  

In an article entitled, Joel Embiid is even better than you thought, Micah Adams from ESPN drives home Embiid’s MVP status. “Embiid’s impact can’t be overstated. With Embiid on the court, the Sixers had the scoring margin of a 68-win team this season — which would have given them the best record in the NBA. When he was on the bench, though, the Sixers played like a 34-win team, and that includes their 16-game winning streak to end the regular season.”

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Embiid finished fourth in the MVP voting last season, garnering only four votes. He finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting to center Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz — even though when Embiid is on the floor, the 76ers are statistically the best defensive team in the league.

Or as Jaylen Young of Sixers Sense succinctly put it, “When Embiid is on the court, the team plays like the best defensive team in the NBA by a good margin. When he’s off the court, the team’s defense plummets to bottom five. The team has a 99.3 defensive rating with him on the court, and a 108.3 defensive rating with him off the court which would rank 25th in the league.”

Is it possible that a player who gets as much media attention as Embiid does is actually underrated? Possibly, as he should have been a more serious MVP candidate last season.

Injury, minute restrictions and not being allowed to play back-to-back nights are the only things that have held Embiid back from the league accolades he deserves. With the restrictions and back-to-back ban lifted, if Embiid can escape major injury, he will be one of the MVP favorites this year.

No one knows that better than Embiid himself. He makes statements like, “I want to win MVP,” not only for the attention, but to put pressure on himself. He thrives under pressure, and in the limelight. 

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It would not be at all surprising if Embiid takes his game to yet another level in 2018-19 — an MVP level.