3. Joel Embiid – Philadelphia 76ers
Last season, we saw a great battle for the MVP between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we had a clash of the Centers for the award. It was like the good old days, when Wilt and Bill Russell used to fight it out, or when Hakeem Olajuwon went up against David Robinson.
There’s something about two 7-footers going at it, a war of the real giants, and Embiid vs Jokic was fantastic to watch. Although Jokic won the award, Embiid was right there in my opinion.
Sadly we aren’t being treated to the same contest. Jokic is living up to his end of the bargain, but Embiid has taken a step back from the standard we saw last year.
On the season he’s averaging 22.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG, decent numbers but significantly worse than what he was producing last year (28.5 PPG and 10.6 RPG). His efficiency has also dropped, from 51.3% last season to 42.9% so far this year. For your Center, this is not good at all. Embiid should at least be hitting 53% of his shots, he’s one of the most physically dominant players in the entire league.
Yes, he did enter health and safety protocol, so he gets a pass for his recent performances, but in the games he played before that he was still only shooting 43.5% from the field.