Brett Brown was asked last night if Joel Embiid was getting his due in the NBA’s Most Valuable Player conversation.

“Nope,” replied the Sixers head coach, before going into a more lengthy response:

“I mean, all you really have to do, in my eyes, is look what happens when we don’t have him. And look at some of the first halves that he has produced that has forced our position, coaches to make incredible adjustments in the second half. And I think that in my eyes it’s not even close he should be in these types of conversations. And I think, more importantly, his leadership and his growth recognizing the responsibility that he has with this city, with this program and professional disposition and professional approach to practice and shooting around in film session has been at the best that he’s ever been at for me and 2019. And he’s—you take all that and then you say and he’s doing this on the court, so that MVP thing expands in my eyes to many different areas that he’s getting better and is as valuable as you’re saying.”

More or less.

This isn’t a “Joel Embiid should be the MVP” column, but more of a brief step back to think about how well he’s playing this year. I think we as media and fans are so used to him going out and dominating every night that it’s almost become a sidebar type of story, i.e. “oh by the way, Embiid went for 27 and 12 again.” It’s like we’re numb to it, and because it’s become such a common occurrence we rarely take time to consider how far he’s come.

First of all, compare Joel to himself, and look at the improvement across the board in his third NBA season. You should be able to click on this image to make it larger:

Almost everything is up from last season, which was an All-Star year. For example:

  • points: +2 per 36 minutes
  • field goal percentage: + 0.8%
  • two point percentage: + 1.5%
  • free throw percentage: + 3.2%
  • free throw attempts: +1.9 per 36
  • total rebounds: +1.2 per 36
  • turnovers: – 0.7 per 36
  • personal fouls: – 0.3 per 36
  • assists: +0.1 per game
  • blocks: no change

Really the only areas where Joel is down this year are in three-point shooting and offensive rebounding, which kind of go hand-in-hand. He’s hitting at a career-low 30.5% from behind the arc on 4.2 attempts per 36 minutes, while his two-point attempts are only slightly down. Obviously when he’s shooting more three-pointers he’s not going to be on the offensive glass, and the unique skill-set of Ben Simmons makes the Sixers’ spacing and deployment different from other teams.

But otherwise it’s just fantastic stuff everywhere you look.

29 points and 14 rebounds on a per-36 basis is elite-level contribution, and he’s spending more time at the foul line while hitting at a higher percentage than he did last year. He’s also doing all of this while playing more 3.1 more minutes per game. Embiid has already reached 1,502 total minutes and needs 18 games and 410 minutes to set career highs in each department. Maybe that’s the biggest takeaway here, considering all of the injury and load management issues he’s had to deal with just to reach this point.

Some advanced stats really jump out as well, and that’s where it makes sense for us to start bringing in the competition.

Joel right now has the league’s second highest usage percentage at 31.7%, behind only James Harden.

29.2 points per game is 3rd in the NBA per 36 minutes, behind only Harden and Steph Curry.

39 double doubles is tied for the league lead with Rudy Gobert.

10.9 defensive rebounds per game is second in the NBA.

Some more stats:

  • Opponents Embiid guards are shooting only 43.2% this season. Consider that he’s mostly matched up against fellow bigs, then go look at the average FG% of a center or power forward.
  • He’s scoring 13 points in the paint per game, which is a top-eight NBA number. If it feels like he’s shooting too many three pointers, it really has not come at the sacrifice of getting enough meaningful paint touches and  post-ups. NBA stats says he’s getting 10.6 post ups per game, which is 3rd in the league. Those 10.6 post ups account for 14% of the opponents fouls every night.
  • Jo gets 4.1 second chance points per game, which is 6th in the NBA.
  • 10 contested two-pointers per game is 10th in the NBA. He’s an elite rim protector, but you already knew this.
  • 385 total box outs is 6th in the NBA (8.6 per game)
  • He’s set 176 screen assists this season, resulting in 410 teammate points.
  • 50 deflections is pretty good, but he’s more of a protector and space eater than a quick hands type of guy. For example, players like Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Vucevic are in the 80s.

Some other things are straightforward and easily understood. The Sixers are a +5.7 when Joel is on the floor and -1.6 when he’s off the court. They go from a 102.3 defensive rating to a 107.3 defensive rating when he takes a breather. That’s a pretty significant gap. The offensive rating drops by an even bigger margin, 110.1 to 104. Not surprisingly, the five best Sixers +/- lineups this season all feature Joel Embiid on the floor. The best non-Embiid lineup in this area is the Simmons, Landry Shamet, Jimmy Butler, Wilson Chandler, and Mike Muscala lineup.

There’s a ton to like about Joel’s game this year. The eye test says it all, and the numbers very easily back up just how effective and dominant he’s been.