This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Goooood morning, folks! Happy Wednesday! Welcome back to the Morning Win. You’re already halfway through the week. Thank you so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you taking the time.
Did you get a chance to watch the matchup between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic? It’s always an absolute treat anytime these two get to play one another.
Tuesday’s matchup didn’t disappoint. The 76ers got the better of the Nuggets this time around in a 126-121 win. Embiid poured in 41 points, 10 assists (!!!!!) and seven rebounds. Jokic wasn’t a slouch either with 25 points and 20 rebounds himself, but Denver just didn’t have an answer for Embiid.
To be fair to the Nuggets, no one does these days.
Embiid leading the league in scoring at 35.5 points per game. He’s also dishing out a career-high 6.1 assists every night to go along with 11.6 rebounds per game. His player efficiency rating is currently the highest ever in a single season at 34.4.
To put it, folks, Embiid is having one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen. His efficiency is unreal. He’s the clear frontrunner for his second MVP award this season. It feels like the only thing that could stop him from getting it at this point is himself.
I don’t mean that in a tongue-in-cheek way. This isn’t one of those “if he puts his mind to it” scenarios where I’m saying Embiid has to basically will himself to another award.
What I mean by that is that he has to remain healthy. If he doesn’t, he actually can’t get the award.
Remember, the NBA instituted a 65-game threshold this season for every player to qualify for postseason awards. To be named an MVP or get a Defensive Player of the Year award or even qualify for an All-NBA team, players can only miss 17 games in a season.
Embiid has already missed 10 games while battling different knee, ankle and hip injuries. Those are the type of injuries that don’t just up and vanish. They take time. But that’s a luxury Embiid might not have to give considering the league’s new threshold.
To be clear, Embiid says he doesn’t care, Gabriela Carroll of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. He says he won’t chase another MVP this season because he already has one.
“If there’s something going on and I can’t make the requirement for the amount of games played to qualify for that, then so be it. One thing we’re not going to do is push for it to try to make that requirement.”
But still, how wild would it look if Embiid had one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen, plays, say, 60 games and doesn’t come away with an MVP? Not only would he be left off MVP ballots, but he’d also miss out on an All-NBA team despite being arguably the best player in the league. That exact scenario seems to potentially be in play here.
The new awards thresholds have always seemed pretty silly to me. But this would be the nail in the coffin.
Let’s hope the NBA doesn’t get in its own way here. It’d be such a shame to see a season of this magnitude not properly celebrated.
The Eagles failed because Nick Sirianni lost control
Speaking of Philadelphia, man. The Eagles, folks. It’s hard to believe that their 10-1 start turned into a one-and-done exit in the playoffs.
It happened, though, because the team had no coherent strategy on either side of the ball. The defense was already in shambles and then Nick Sirianni made it worse by switching coordinators midseason. The offense was so predictable even Christian McCaffrey knew what was coming.
Instead of combatting the team’s weaknesses and predictability with actual strategy, Nick Sirianni opted to take the “go team, go!” approach. It didn’t work out. He lost the locker room because of it.
Robert Zeglinski has more here on that:
“It’s OK to be the rah-rah football coach. It’s OK to show passion and energy. But there’s a statute of limitations on this having a positive impact. If professional athletes are experiencing a collective slide together, they’ll expect more from their coach than diatribes about punching the other team in the mouth and how no one [expletive] respects us. They’ll turn a cold shoulder to the hackneyed cliches without hesitation. They know better.
Everything about the Eagles’ fall from grace this year showed that Sirianni might be too much of a one-trick pony. Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon — two popular punching bags for the organization after falling short in Super Bowl 57 — were missed. Dearly. Steichen took a backup quarterback to the doorstep of the playoffs in his first season as a head coach. Gannon, meanwhile, has the Arizona Cardinals sitting pretty in a promising rebuild around Kyler Murray.
And while his two former top assistants coached their tails off, all Sirianni could offer was rote platitudes about playing with a fire in your belly. Gee, I wonder why the Eagles looked so lost so often.”
I said on Tuesday that I think the Eagles should give Sirianni another shot at this while making sweeping changes to his staff. I still believe that.
But Robert is right. Sirianni lost control of his ship so badly without his coordinators, it makes you wonder whether he was actually in control of it at all.
If the Eagles fire him, that’s why.
My my, how the tables have turned
Every day it feels like a new coach has a new complaint about the NIL era in college sports. Today’s coach is UConn’s Geno Auriemma — one of the greatest college hoops coaches we’ve ever seen.
Meghan Hall has his complaints covered here.
“For many years, there has been much chatter about whether college athletes should be compensated for using their name, image and likeness (NIL). Universities nationwide have profited from stellar athletes (like Caitlin Clark) who draw attention and dollars to sports programs. That has prompted those same athletes to argue that they should see part of the money, spurring a massive culture-shifting movement for the foreseeable future.
However, some coaches don’t see it that way and are struggling to adjust to the impact NIL deals have made on their jobs, especially when it comes to recruiting and maintaining talent. Uconn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma recently shared what he feels are challenges in this new era.”
What he feels is that players believe they’re owed something from their coaches now.
"How do you coach in an environment where the players feel like they owe you nothing and you owe them everything?"
Geno Auriemma talks about the challenges of coaching with NIL and the transfer portal: pic.twitter.com/yzBvAmHyrF
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) January 13, 2024
What Geno is complaining about is athletes being able to jump in the transfer portal whenever there’s an opportunity out there that might help them in the long run or pull them out of a bad situation.
As far as I know, coaches at every level in every sport have had that sort of agency forever. Auriemma could leave UConn whenever he wants. He won’t ever do that. But he could!
Why shouldn’t his players be able to? That’s not unfair. And, furthermore, it’s the lay of the land right now. Geno and his colleagues need to get used to it.
Cut these toothless complaints out. Please. We’re begging.
Quick hits: Never change, Jason Kelce … Joel Embiid 🤝 Nikola Jokic … and more
— Jason Kelce’s NSFW tush push catchphrase is just the best. Never change, my guy. Please. Here’s Robert with more.
— Joel Embiid has so much respect for Nikola Jokic. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.
— The double-birds to the officials is a huge gamble. I guess it paid off for DJ Horne. Here’s Meghan Hall with more.
— Speaking of Jason Kelce, he hasn’t made an official announcement about retirement yet. But it sure seems like one is coming. Charles Curtis has more.
— Christian D’Andrea has the NFL playoff power rankings ready to go.
— Cory Woodruff gives us a really compelling reason why Bill Belichick to the Falcons would be such a huge gamble.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate you. Let’s do it again tomorrow. Peace!
-Sykes ✌️