I've noticed that a lot of people are upset about Jokic winning the MVP. People being upset about who won the MVP isn't a new phenomenon, especially with fans of specific players. However, I find it interesting that people are confused about how Jokic could have beaten out Embiid for MVP. MVP means Most Valuable Player, which is the most valuable player to the success of the franchise that the player represents. So, was Jokic more valuable to his team's success than Embiid? Let's look at the numbers...
PPG REB AST STL REB
Jokic 26.4 10.8 8.3 1.7 0.7
Embiid 28.5 10.6 2.8 1.0 1.4
These stats are from the '20-'21 season. Arguably, there is not much difference outside of Jokic averaging significantly more assists and Embiid averaging a few more points. Let's take the assist and translate them into points. We can use a minimum of two points just for reference and apply it equally to see the impact. With Jokic, 8.3x2=16.6. Then we add the 16.6 to his 26.4 to get 43 ppg responsible for, at minimum. Now, Embiid's assists were 2.8 which multiplied by 2 equals 5.6. Adding that result to his point average gives 34.1 ppg responsible for, at minimum. Granted, this is not generally how you'd measure the effectiveness of a player. We could look at their PER and Win Share (WS) rates. Jokic scored at 15.6 WS and 31.3 PER while Embiid scored at 8.8 WS and 30.3 PER. So, outside of PPG average, blocks, and two team wins more, it seems Jokic has the edge in most other categories.
That being said, I am not necessarily arguing that I think Jokic should have been the MVP. Moreso that I understand why other people voted for him. While I think Jokic is a valuable player, I don't think he is as valuable to the Nuggets as Giannis is to the Bucks. Without Giannis, the Bucks aren't making the playoffs in my opinion. I think the Nuggets would still be a top 8 team in the West without Jokic. The same goes for the 76ers. I think they'd still be top 8 in the East without Embiid. Obviously, this is just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. They are all phenomenal players that I love to watch.
Closing on a different note, who do you all have as favorites for the Conference Finals, the Finals, and winning it all? Here's mine: West Conf. Finals - Utah (though Conley being out might negatively impact them) vs. Suns; East Conf. Finals - Sixers vs. Nets; Finals - Suns vs. Sixers; Winner - Suns. Let me know yours!
