The Philadelphia 76ers took a tremendous step forward this past season by capturing their first playoff appearance in six years, which has put a bright future ahead of the franchise. Sixers big man Joel Embiid was a large reason for that.
One of the leading forces for that has been rising star center Joel Embiid putting together a breakout campaign that earned him his first All-Star selection. During a recent interview, Embiid voiced that he believes he can put together an MVP-caliber 2018-19 campaign.
“I feel like this summer is this my first healthiest summer ever so I have been putting the work in and working out every day and I have already gotten so much better. I am starting to see it and I am excited. I feel like we could be seeing an MVP season.”
Throughout his first couple of seasons in the league, Embiid has been dealt with numerous injuries along the way that also became some of what an issue this past campaign. Although he was was healthy for much of the year, he did suffer an orbital fracture late in the year that forced him to miss some time and impacted his ability during the playoffs.
However, he is now completely past these injuries and has been able to focus on his craft to a much greater degree over the last few months of the offseason.
Embiid clearly has the talent to put himself in the conversation, as he put that on display last year averaging 22.9 points on 48.3 percent shooting from the floor along with 11.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 63 games played. This will likely come down to him being able to show some better durability that he can take the court for the entire season without dealing with nagging injuries.
If Embiid can do that along with helping lead the Sixers to one of the top records in the Eastern Conference, he should firmly be in the MVP conversation next season.
