Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is one of the top players in the league regardless of position. The numbers he put up in the 2021-22 season were absolutely phenomenal as he averaged 30.6 points and 11.7 rebounds as well as 4.2 assists while shooting 49.9% from the floor.
Embiid became the first big man to lead the league in scoring since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 and he also became the first big man to average 30 points since Moses Malone in 1982. However, he still finished second in the MVP race to Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
Embiid is also placed behind Jokic in the tier rankings by The Athletic as Seth Partnow has placed the big fella in the 1B tier and Jokic in the 1A tier.
Partnow on Embiid:
I think the easiest way I can justify the distinction is to look at team success in the playoffs. Over the last three postseasons, the Nuggets have won two, maybe three series they weren’t “supposed to” (reaching the conference finals in the 2020 Bubble and making the second round last year despite essentially their entire projected guard rotation being unavailable). Philly has lost a few they shouldn’t have (Atlanta two playoffs ago, arguably Miami this year). This isn’t all Embiid’s fault, of course. Players in 1A have also had setbacks along these lines in recent years, most notably Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks losing in five games to the Heat in the 2020 bubble. But Embiid and the Sixers don’t have any recent unexpected or overwhelming success to counteract those disappointments.
Partnow makes a very good point about the lack of playoff success Embiid has had compared to Jokic, but at the same time, it isn’t his fault they weren’t able to make it work in the postseason. A lot of other factors were involved when it comes to Philadelphia’s lack of a deep postseason run, but the big fella will continue to be one of the top performers in the league.
With that being said, Embiid will have to be able to overcome his past playoff failures in order to overcome Jokic in any kind of rankings.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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