Sixers center Joel Embiid won’t win the Most Valuable Player award, but he’s got a bigger goal to chase, as he told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
“Winning a championship is the biggest thing,” the Sixers star said. “And I’ll be honest, I never thought I would be at this level. Coming into the league, I was always like, ‘I’ve got to get a Defensive Player of the Year.’ My defense was always my focus. I’m like, ‘Defensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year,’ and then, over the years, I’ve gotten (better) offensively.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jalen Brunson‘s strong postseason is bad news for the Knicks, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Brunson will be headed to unrestricted free agency and it’s unlikely the Knicks can open up cap space to entice Brunson to jump ship. One league source told Berman it would be shocking if Mavericks owner Mark Cuban didn’t re-sign the fourth-year point guard.
- There’s no reason for the Sixers to fire Doc Rivers if they don’t go deeper into the postseason, Joe Vardon of The Athletic argues. Rivers has three years and $24MM left on his contract. Under Rivers’ tutelage, Tyrese Maxey has become a budding star and Embiid has delivered the two best seasons of his career, Vardon notes. The Sixers kept on winning despite the Ben Simmons drama and needed to give up two key role players as well as Simmons in order to bring in James Harden.
- Trading for Rudy Gobert and his hefty contract wouldn’t be worth the risk for the Raptors, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star opines. Gobert doesn’t present enough of an offensive threat, and his ability to switch and guard on the perimeter the way Toronto defends is also a legitimate question. His lack of positional versatility doesn’t fit the Raptors’ roster, Smith adds.
Gobert is just a more overpaid Whiteside. Someone is going to deal for him, and there will be regret. I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Thibs tbh.
Not sure the Jazz would want Randle, but Randle + Reddish + a 1st?
Malcolm Brogdon and Turner?
Olynyk, Grant, Joseph?
Do the deal with someone in the West?
I mean they literally have the original he was cloned for as a cap hold. They can bring back Whiteside and play him 18 minutes and go smaller ball the remaining 30 and put a better perimeter defender in there.
Pffft, just a bunch of BS from the Philly dude. Whiteside played great as backup to Gobert but he’s not on that level
They’re literally the same player, just different stages of their career.
Why would the Knicks give up so much for a defective asset? They would be getting 1sts back before giving them up…
Give up so much? They are looking to dump Randle and Cam is coming off a shoulder injury.
@TJ
Defective? If Shaq were in the league he would have trouble guarding guards on the perimeter too. Gobert is one of the best doing what he’s supposed to do and that’s guard the rim, rebound and clean up the boards. It’s not his fault his team offered him a max contract. But he’s not in the same situation as Westbrook, Wall, e.t.c. He actually does his job at a very highest level but the nba has proven they don’t want to pay max money for his who are more defensive assets vs offensive ones. But I think better coaches and point guards could squeeze another 5 to 7 points out of him if they schemed for him more.
Another story about a player the Knicks won’t sign. Yawn.
Embiid should have won fair & square the DPOY this year!
But, alas the voters got all the awards wrong this year except the MVP, which was the most unanimous one ever in my opinion, so they really couldn’t mess that one up, right?
Wasn’t Steph’s 2015-16 the only unanimous MVP vote in NBA history?
Not a knock on Jokic, by the way.
The Jazz will trade Donovan Mitchell not Rudy Gobert. As everyone talks about here it’s too tough to get value for Gobert. Mitchell has one foot out the door anyway so you can’t build around him by trading away Rudy. If you do, you’ll be without both of them in 2 years and be starting from scratch again.
Rather have Schroeder than Brunson. Brunson is overrated. Stay in Texas please. The real way to go. Is get help for Luka. Randle & Kemba for >>>> Dinwiddie and Bertans. We’ll even throw in a 2nd rd pick.