Earlier today, it was announced that Nikola Jokic won the 2021-2022 NBA Most Valuable Player award, beating out Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo to secure his second straight MVP honors.
Jokic takes home the hardware after averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game, becoming the 13th player in NBA history to secure back-to-back MVP awards.
Joel Embiid, who many considered the favorite for the majority of the season, came in second for the award after averaging 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game.
With the announcement, Embiid now suffers his second straight runner-up finish to Jokic which begs the question, what more does Joel Embiid have to do?
He single-handily carried his team all season, keeping everyone’s head on straight throughout the entire Ben Simmons saga. Once James Harden joined the picture, I think media members began to be swayed by the surrounding players Embiid now had when compared to his counterpart. With Tyrese Maxey taking the next step to stardom and Tobias Harris playing excellent ball this year as well, Embiid’s supporting cast looked a lot more appealing to the eye when compared to Jokic and his cast of Will Barton, Aaron Gordon, and Bones Hyland.
When taking that into account, I get how that can be misconstrued, yet at the same time, that really shouldn’t matter. The Sixers on-going drama with Simmons not playing could have derailed this team’s chemistry and is just as similar with Jokic playing without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr..
Also, I’ve seen instances where media members really put a lot of weight on several games throughout the season that ultimately “determined” the vote.
Like when the Sixers lost to the Nuggets at home against Jokic back on March 14. Or when they got blown out by the Nets with KD and Kyrie at home as well. Or even when they lost to the Bucks again at home against Giannis late in the season.
Supposedly these three games were staples in the voting for after each lost, Embiid’s odds of winning the award dropped down which really doesn’t make sense. Are we really supposed to judge someone’s MVP caliber of an entire season based on certain games? This award is to be given to the player who had the most valuable impact on his team and the league throughout the season, not whether they won or lost a random game in the middle of March.
And I’m not going to take anything away from Nikola Jokic as the man had an incredible year. When you’re putting up the stats he did and becoming the first player in NBA history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 assists in a season, your value should not go understated.
But media members who voted for him got too wrapped up in the advanced analytics and his RAPTOR and VORP scores than sticking to the excellence we’ve seen from Embiid all season.
This man for one lead the league in scoring, becoming the first center to win the scoring title since Shaq in 1999-2000. Embiid led the NBA with 13 games of at least 40 points and 10 rebounds with the next closest being Giannis with nine. Jokic only had three such games this season.
The Sixers were also 6-8 without their big man this year, further cementing just how valuable he was to his team’s success.
Embiid was also screwed out of the MVP last year after not playing enough games to the media’s standards in order to win the award.
So, what did he do this year?
He didn’t get hurt, played the most games in a season for his entire career, and only sat out a handful of contests at the beginning of the year due to a Covid outbreak on the team.
And if that isn’t enough, you have ex and current players throughout the entire league that have voiced their own opinion on who they should think should win the MVP. Players and media members like Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, Isaiah Thomas, Kendrick Perkins, and J.J. Redick have all gave the nod to Joel over Jokic which should mean something because they actually played the game.
Stephen Jackson even had Embiid’s side after the announcement today, proposing the idea of letting the top 75 players of all-time vote for the award instead of letting these media members “who live their dreams through their keyboard” vote. This is something I can get behind since the NBA has put so much emphasis on that list this year. Maybe they should have that list hold even more weight considering they’re the top players to ever play the game and they won’t get caught up in the analytics trap.
Stephen Jackson says Joel Embiid was robbed of the NBA MVP award pic.twitter.com/uWFXGM0WfV
— Piñata Farms 🪅 (@pinatafarms) May 9, 2022
Team success should also play a factor in this voting. The Nuggets were a sixth seed and 16 games back of 1st place in a weaker conference compared to the Sixers who were a fourth seed and only 2 games back of 1st place.
I don’t know what more Joel Embiid must do to get the recognition he deserves. I guess he’s just going to have to average 40 ppg and 15 rpg next year, play all 82 games, and be the 1 seed to have a shot because that’s what the criteria seems like now.
Nevertheless, Embiid is now a man on a mission. Having come back from an orbital bone fracture and a concussion, to playing with a torn ligament in his thumb, Embiid’s value has been on full display throughout the playoffs and particularly in this series as the Sixers have tied it up against the Miami Heat 2-2 now that Embiid’s back.
So let Jokic have his award while he sits back on his couch after getting bounced in the first round, while Embiid wills himself and puts the city of Philadelphia on his back in hopes for a title.
Whether it’s the bias for advanced analytics or not wanting to validate the process, there’s just no other way to put it: Embiid was robbed of the MVP this year.
Jokic looks TIRED 😫pic.twitter.com/urrEimO8T7
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) April 17, 2022
