March 1, 2022

Why we need to appreciate every second of Joel Embiid's incredible season

Let us get it out of the way—the Baylor loss was annoying. We stopped hitting shots. The Remy flop was … wow, I hope he wins us a game in the near future so that image isn’t what KU fans remember about the Remy experience. I do love that it was called a charge on the floor though. Everything about it screams college basketball, where everything runs a little worse than it has any right to.

Moving on to today’s much more important business!

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Joel Embiid’s career at Kansas was short. While Jayhawk fans fondly remember Joel’s breakout game against Iowa State (it’s one of the signature player moments of the past ten years of Hawks ball) he’s also associated with a painful memory—Self’s decision to sit a hobbled Embiid the first weekend of the 2014 tournament, which featured an embarrassing second-round loss to Stanford. Embiid and 2013-14 teammate Andrew Wiggins just started the All-Star Game1, giving the Jayhawks two of the ten starters for the first time in… history? 2The sting of having two players of this caliber on the same team, and doing nothing with it, hits sharper than ever.

Pivoting to abject positivity, Joel Embiid will likely win the NBA MVP this year. While Embiid’s power and size has no viable matchup in the NBA, that statement is only scratching the surface of Embiid’s in-season accomplishment in 2021-22. Whether you just want to hoover his game logs—I mean seriously, look at these things—or watch the highlights, either approach will leave you astonished, maybe even fearful of the magnitude of Embiid’s dominance.

Even in an NBA that’s increasingly long, athletic and switch-y, Embiid’s movement and timing looks superior, borderline deep-faked. He’s dancing on dudes on the baseline. His footwork has never been better, and it was already the best in the NBA. Whether it’s jabbing on the wings, or maneuvering the block with counter after counter, Embiid’s best games—where he full snaps into the groove of the game—are 38-minute treatises on how a traditional center can still break the game. Even when he isn’t feeling the flow, no one can stop fouling him. He usually cans that straight-on, top-of-the-key three. It’s. absolute madness.

For all of his social media savvy and goofy demeanor, Embiid is a tireless worker and the result has been his best campaign ever. In 2020-21, Embiid’s PER fell just a hair behind the eventual MVP’s. The weight of “the narrative” has unfortunate gravity on the MVP vote, and therefore is somewhat corruptible3. But barring some kind of late charge from the Nuggets (Jokic) or the Bucks (Giannis), the award is Embiid’s to lose as long as the Sixers remain near the top of the East standings. It’s been decades since the league’s best player has been a Jayhawk—Paul Pierce is a legend, but he never started an All-Star Game in six selections. Embiid has already made five ASGs in six seasons, and has been voted the starter in each of them. We’re in rare air here.

I’ve made it this far without mentioning James Harden. If Embiid is Matthias Jebladoo, Harden is his SHarold Harold Kernst, a willing wingman who may be the perfect complement. The early returns of their partnership have been fantastic. Harden can pull defenders far beyond the three point line, opening that much more space for Embiid to rampage through. Harden has, um, focus issues, and has never made things easier when the going gets tough. But he sees the floor more clearly than any active player; in Brooklyn and Philly, we’ve seen Harden hover near his ceiling as a playmaker, to devastating effect. Also he was hitting shots, something he wasn’t doing much of in Brooklyn.

The Sixers sapped their depth to acquire Harden, and lost some shooting in the deal. But they’re probably working with the best starting five in the NBA, between Embiid, Harden, Maxey, Harris and the rapidly improving defensive specialist Matisse Thybulle. Harden is a special player, but he’s also a huge gamble. But if you’re looking at this situation in terms of maximizing the success of Joel Embiid—this is my connection, emotionally and financially at this point—Harden’s buy-in could heighten Joel’s prowess to an extent we haven’t yet seen before.

We could go through Joel’s numbers all day. The important thing here is that Embiid is the most prominent Jayhawk in a generation, and his current season is basically a work of modern art. There’s always some conjecture about Embiid’s health going forward, and given the foot problems of the past, I understand that concern. Since 2017, Embiid has appeared in at least 50 games, and this year he’s on track to do the same. In the age of load management, I’d say that’s pretty good.

Regardless, we have to enjoy every drip of Joel’s run for MVP. He is in peak form. It’s mind-blowing basketball, and all coming from a proud Jayhawk. We need to build the Embiid statue moments after we hang the 2020 National Title banner. That’s how good he’s been. More Sixers games will be on national TV in the immediate future. Make it appointment television.