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Sunday 16 December 2018 06:14, UK
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid’s dominant start to the season has made him a leading contender in the regular season MVP race.
The charismatic Cameroonian center has spent the Sixers' first 29 games posting huge numbers that compare to some of the greatest big men ever to grace the NBA.
Embiid missed out on the Eastern Conference player of the month award in October and November (he was pipped by Milwaukee Bucks' star Giannis Antetokounmpo both times) but his consistently high-level stat-stuffing performances leave him at the forefront of the MVP conversation as teams approach the 30-game mark of the season.
For a player so troubled by injury early in his career (he missed two years with foot injuries after being selected third in the 2014 Draft), Embiid has been remarkably durable this campaign. He played in each of the Sixers' first 26 games, usually logging big minutes, before missing a win at Detroit with the team citing a need to give him some rest.
Embiid's break lasted a single game. He was back to lead the Sixers to a home win over the Pistons and a loss to the Nets, posting a monstrous 33-point, 17-rebound performance in the latter. A 40-point, 21-rebound outing followed in the Sixers 113-101 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Those numbers are not an anomaly, Embiid has asserted his dominance over NBA defences regularly and his per-game averages reflect that.
Embiid averages 27.0 points (fifth-best in the NBA), 13.6 rebounds (third) and 1.9 blocks (seventh) per game. He leads the league in free throws attempted (10.4 per game) and is also first in makes from the charity stripe (8.2 per game, equal with James Harden).
He has posted 26 double-doubles and one triple-double in 29 games and boasts 15 games in which he has scored 30+ points and hauled in 10+ rebounds - no player in the league has more than eight such games.
Embiid's stats this season (his third) compare closely to single-season averages for some of the game's greatest big men at the same stage in their careers, as per Basketball Reference's Player Comparison tool.
Embiid and Kareem Abdul Jabbar's third-year points and rebounds per 36 minutes are almost identical. Another close statistical comparison (again using per-36-minute averages) is with Shaquille O'Neal.
Aged 24, Sixers and Lakers legend Wilt Chamberlain averaged 28.9 points per 36 minutes. At the same age, Embiid is averaging 28.2.
The Sixers center is truly occupying rarified statistical air.
But Embiid's MVP candidacy will ultimately hinge on how his enormous production ultimately helps his team.
Basketball-reference.com states Embiid's Win Share (a measure of the number of wins a player has contributed) as 4.0, the eighth best figure in the league. New Orleans Pelicans' center Anthony Davis is the league leader with a figure of 5.0.
Embiid, speaking on November 21 after the Sixers' 121-120 win over the Pelicans, knows team success will be key to his MVP hopes.
"My focus is on helping the team," he said after supplying 31 points and 19 rebounds to outduel Davis, one of his primary MVP rivals.
"If we end up winning 50 to 55 games and my numbers are where they're at, right now, there's a pretty good chance [of winning MVP], but right now, it's all about making the playoffs, and winning some games."
Spoken like a real MVP.
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