The debate on who the best center in the NBA is always boils down to two names: Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Both of the big-men have been top tier MVP candidates over the past few years, with Jokic winning the past 2 in a row and Embiid finishing in 2nd place both times.
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Both the Sixers and the Nuggets superstars, while they dominate as big-men, do so in very different ways from one another. ‘Joker’ is one of the greatest passers in the history of the game and has the most incredible touch around the rim, leading to him throwing up shots from within the paint and them going in.
Embiid’s game is a bit more technical when it comes to him generating his own offense. He likes to break his opponent down in the post through head fakes, jab steps, spin moves, and any other savvy tricks he might have up his sleeve.
Drew Hanlan on Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic
Both Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic bring different things to an offense but what they bring can be leveled against one another fairly well. The distinction between them is the defensive end of the floor. Joel is the far superior defender and while Jokic has had peaks and valleys on defense, he isn’t as consistent as the Under Armor athlete.
Embiid’s trainer, Drew Hanlan, took to Twitter recently to add to an argument that stated Joel’s 6 blocks performance against the Grizzlies puts him over the edge in the MVP conversation. Hanlan would go on to very clearly throw shade at Nikola Jokic, saying his client was never subbed out of games towards the end for defensive possessions.
While this has happened a couple times over the past few years, where Jokic was taken out for a single defensive possession to close out a game, it hasn’t happened nearly as many times as people would think it did.
Jokic’s skillset on defense isn’t what Embiid’s is when it comes to emphatic blocks and verticality. Nikola has decent positioning in the paint and can wall off defenders from attacking it but yes, Joel’s defensive prowess should be considered when talking about the MVP for this season, or any season for that matter.
Drew Hanlan on Joel Embiid wanting the MVP
Nikola Jokic has never been all too excited about winning MVP as his main goal is to win a championship. The same seems to go for Joel Embiid as Hanlan said last offseason that his client isn’t all too enthused about competing for it yet again.
“Now I think he’s just completely turned his focus off of MVP and said ‘you know, at some point in my career, if I continue to improve my game and keep playing dominant basketball, it’ll happen. But you know, all of the energy and focus is on winning a championship’,” said Hanlan of Embiid’s mentality going forward.
