Philadelphia 76ers: Most Valuable Sixer of the Year

With the Philadelphia 76ers deep in the 2017-2018 NBA season, let’s look back at the first half of the season and name the Most Valuable Sixer of 2017.

Of all the players who have donned the red white and blue in 2017, no one has been more instrumental in the Philadelphia 76ers‘ success than the Process himself, Joel Embiid.

We all know Embiid’s backstory, a consensus five-star recruit who played an abbreviated, yet immaculate season at Kansas, before being selected third overall in the 2014 NBA draft despite suffering a pair of brutal injuries that ultimately cost him the first two seasons of his NBA career.

Many fans started to wondered if the young Cameroonian was even worth being selected fourth overall if he wasn’t going to play, bringing back nightmarish visions of Andrew Bynum, but all of those questions were laid to rest when Emmbiid finally took the court in the first game of the 2016 season.

Simply put, Embiid was an amazing sight to see.

His transcendent style of play had the Sixers burning like a supernova, and even with a heavy minutes restriction in another abbreviated season, Embiid helped to triple the team’s win total and bring a sense of excitement to the organization that hasn’t been felt since the Allen Iverson era.

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While Embiid and his rookie frontcourt mate Dario Saric were ultimately robbed of a Rookie of the Year award thanks to obvious Sixers bias, this didn’t slow down the Process, who’s actually played better this season than last while still not back to 100-percent health.

With Embiid on the court, Brett Brown‘s squad has won 14 of a possible 26 games and have remained competitive in the vast majority of their outing. This, when compared to the team’s 2-7 record without Embiid shows just how essential the former Jayhawk has been to the 76ers success both on and off the court.

Even with the emergence of Ben Simmons as the odds on Rookie of the Year favorite, and a potential superstar in the making, this is Embiid’s team, and the team has looked lost when playing without their emotional center.

When the eventual Trust the Process 30 for 30 is made, the story’s ending will be directly linked to Embiid healthy: will he remain healthy and finally bringing back the big man to the NBA with a plethora of awards, championships, and accolades to his name, or will he simply miss too many games, bounce around the league and became one of the NBA’s biggest what-if stories?

Next: What’s T.J. McConnell’s role with the Sixers when Markelle Fultz returns?

Regardless of how the future unfolds, there’s no doubt that Joel Embiid has been the Most Valuable Sixer of the Year, and will be essential to the team’s success in the second half of the season. Let’s all hope he can remain healthy, and finally take the 76ers back to the playoffs.