By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For the third straight year, Joel Embiid has been heavily involved in the MVP discussion following an NBA season that saw him averaging 33.1 points (leader of the league), 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to the 3rd position in the East with a 54-28 record.
Being interviewed on this topic by Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, the 29-year-old dominating center spoke about it. “I keep saying I don’t care. If I win, great. If I don’t, it’s whatever. Being in the running for the last three years has been cool. I’ve seen it all. It is funny. A lot has been said, and a lot of people haven’t been happy about how the whole thing has been going on, about how people keep bashing each other and all that stuff. Where was all that sympathy for me? People kept bashing me the last two seasons, putting me down. But now other guys are being put down, now it’s an issue”, he underlined.
He went on to say that he tried to stay out of the conversation, but he also stressed the fact that even though everybody has minimized the trophy, he would be proud. “So that’s why I stay out of it. This year I’ve made a commitment to not put myself out there, talking about I’m the MVP, or saying I want to win. For the guys that keep saying, “It’s whatever, I don’t care about winning it, doesn’t matter”. But it’s all bullshit. You want to be the MVP. That means a lot being the MVP of the league. There are only certain guys that get the opportunity to have their name on it. It would be a great honor. But I’m at the point now where I’m used to the MVP talk. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, great”, he added.
Joel Embiid also praised his teammates and discussed how difficult the postseason will be. “I always say that obviously, I can’t win alone. And there’s only one team that gets to be happy at the end with a championship, so it’s hard. It’s funny, I was listening to what Dame Lillard was talking about, how people just think it’s like, “Either you win, or you suck”. That’s not the right way to think about it, because it’s hard to win. You got a lot of great teams in this league; just in the East alone, probably the two best teams in the league, Boston, and Milwaukee. And then the West is crazy, too”, he said.
Finally, he talked about the possibility of lifting the NBA trophy at the end of the season. “It would mean everything. I’ve always said that it would be nice to play for one team for your whole career. It would be fun, but sometimes you also want new challenges and all that stuff. But it would mean a lot. I’ve been here for such a long time, but it would just validate all the suffering and all the hard work that we put in”, the Philadelphia 76ers leader stated.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images