Each month, we’ll anoint a League Pass MVP. This is loosely defined as a dude who has spent the last month showing that when he’s on, he’s must-watch television. For November 2016, we head to Philly, where … I mean, you can probably guess who’s winning it.
It’s been a while since anyone has had a reason to get excited for the Sixers. They have been hilariously bad ever since “The Process” began in earnest in 2013, with the eventual hope that the team would accrue enough talent to skip the “we’re ok, but not great” level of NBA teams and head right to the “hey, we’re really good” level.
There have been a few pretty great moments during that time, but everything since 2014 has really been building towards Oct. 26, 2016. That was the day Joel Embiid made his NBA debut, and my god, has the first month of Embiid in the NBA been outstanding.
His numbers through the first month-ish of the season: 17.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game on 48.5 percent shooting from the field and 46.2 percent shooting from three. With those splits, odds are his field goal shooting will get better as he works off the rust from not playing basketball in more than two years, while the second thing could regress as he gets more time.
That “more time” thing is what makes Embiid’s per game numbers absolutely got dang absurd. The dude is averaging 22.6 minutes per game, which is insane. If he was going for those per game numbers in, like, 32 minutes a night, we’d be praising him. He’s doing it in about 10 minutes fewer than that. When he plays – he’s 163rd in the league in minutes per game, so it doesn’t happen all that often – he makes a huge impact. This makes him the kind of guy you need to watch when he’s on the floor. Here are his per 36 numbers:
28.3 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.8 blocks per game
And here are his numbers per 100 possessions:
38.8 points, 16.6 rebounds, 5.1 blocks per game.
These numbers make zero sense (they don’t even include his absurd fouls and turnover numbers – per 36 minutes, he’s averaging 6.7 turnovers and 5.6 fouls per game). Well, they make some sense – these are going to be inflated a little because he’s on a minutes restriction, and logic would dictate that he’s not able to keep playing at this high of a level if he starts playing 30-plus minutes a game. Then again, logic also dictates that a dude shouldn’t be able to go for damn near 18, eight, and 2.5 in 23 minutes on a nightly basis, but here we are. His impact in those 23 minutes is so impressive. It’s ridiculous.
Also helping Embiid’s case as the League Pass MVP for November is that he’s missed four of the team’s first 15 games. The team has held him out of back-to-backs and given him days off every now and then as he’s getting used to playing competitive basketball again, which adds to his growing legend even more. For basically every other dude in the league, you can turn on one of their team’s games and enjoy their work.
For Embiid, however, his games are events. There’s no guarantee that he’s going to play when the Sixers take the court, and when he does, he’s playing in fewer than half of the minutes in a given basketball game. Despite this, he’s still sixth in the league in scoring among centers.
Oh, and then there’s the fact that he’s so much fun on the court. He’s a seven footer with a gorgeous stroke from behind the arc who protects the rim on defense. His array of offensive moves is so diverse that he’s already getting compared to Hakeem Olajuwon. He’s also a goofball who regularly lets his sense of humor come through, but when he needs to be serious, the dude is competitive as all hell.
Embiid is fun. He’s just fun. As long as he’s super limited by the Sixers and he’s putting up really great numbers, he’s going to be must-watch television.
Honorable Mentions:
- Russell Westbrook – Always.
- James Harden – The dude is averaging 28.7 points per game along with career highs in assists (12.5 per game) and rebounds (7.7 per game). Who would have thought that his numbers in Mike D’Antoni’s system would be insane?
- Jimmy Butler – Butler has established himself as the alpha dog on the Bulls. After LeBron James, he’s in the conversation for the best two-way player in the East.
- Kristaps Porzingis – Please, basketball gods, have the Knicks blow it all up and build around Porzingis. He is capable of so many things that he shouldn’t be capable of doing at 7’3.
- Anthony Davis – Up until Jrue Holiday came back, his best teammates by win shares were Tim Frazier and Terrence Jones. He’s still putting up 31.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 2.1 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. Other than assists, he leads the Pelicans in all of those. He is amazing.
- Basically Everyone on the Clippers and Warriors – Both of these teams have spent first month of the year mauling opponents. You should watch them, like, right now.
