Getty Philadelphia 76ers legend 'Dr. J' Julius Erving attends the 2017 Erving Youth Basketball Clinic.
Julius “Dr. J” Erving stood on the court and received a standing ovation as he rang the ceremonial Liberty Bell before the Sixers-Nets game. The Philadelphia 76ers’ living legend nearly brought the house down.
That was less than a month ago, on March 10. Now Erving is catching heat for his recent comments regarding the tight battle for NBA MVP. Joel Embiid has been leading the race for the better half of three months, but recent surges from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic have shifted the balance of power.
Jokic is now the betting favorite to win the award, an unfavorable opinion in Philly yet one Erving said he agreed with during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
“I’m hopeful that Embiid wins it because he does talk about it and it’s something that, you know it’s one of those carrots out there that he’s reaching for, but I think the most deserving guy is Jokic,” Erving told Eisen. “He hasn’t missed any games and night in and night out, he’s done better than he did last year. He was MVP last year and when you get better, I don’t think you lose status, not if it’s a fair fight. I’m going to pull for Embiid because he’s my guy, and Antetokounmpo — who knows how he’s going to finish up — but both he and Embiid, Antetokounmpo, have missed several weeks of play. Jokic has been out there every night.”
I have not heard any 76ers fans comment on the fact that the arguably greatest Philadelphia 76ers player of all-time, Julius Erving, says that Nikola Jokic deserves to win the NBA MVP despite Joel Embiid being in the race.
To be clear: Embiid has played in a career-high 66 games this season. Jokic has seen action in only seven more contests (73), with Antetokounmpo suiting up in 65 games. No one is putting up the kind of numbers Embiid has, though. He has etched his name next to Wilt Chamberlain, arguably the greatest center to ever do it.
This is a list of centers averaging 30 PPG in a season.
Look at the minutes per game.
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Dr. J Thinks Sixers Can Win Championship This Year
Let’s cut Dr. J some slack. He did say he was pulling for Embiid to win MVP. Another thing the Sixers’ legend went into great detail about was how and why he thought his former team could win the championship this year. If so, it would mark Philadelphia’s first professional hoops title since 1983. Embiid and company are going “surprise everybody,” per Erving.
“I think they are going to surprise everybody,” Erving said. “You know, right now they’ve been playing with some inconsistency, in terms of finishing games against teams that they’re supposed to beat but I think they’re going to surprise everybody. Because somehow the bench needs to get a wake-up call. You can’t play guys coming off the bench who play for two quarters and don’t score.”
Nuggets bench scoring:
36.6 PPG (12th in NBA)
Sixers bench scoring:
26.8 PPG (28th in NBA)
Nuggets bench scoring post All-Star:
40.0 PPG (8th in NBA)
Sixers bench scoring post All-Star:
24.4 PPG (30th in NBA)
Who has more help?
Erving went on to make a few jokes about Philly’s horrendous bench play, saying they were on a “protest.” The Sixers rank third-worst in the league (28 out of 30 teams) in bench scoring at 26.8 points per game. They have combined for just 49 bench points in their last two contests.
“When I heard that I’m like well something’s wrong, I got to get up there and get in that locker room,” Erving said. “Because these guys, you know, they’re getting paid and they need to be productive for the team to be successful. You can’t just have a great starting five with no bench. So right now they got to fix that and they got about a week to do it.”
Dr J ringing that bell
ESPN Reporter Picking Embiid for MVP
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has revealed his pick for MVP. He has Embiid written on his “top line” because the Sixers’ big man has done nothing to weaken his case despite surges from Jokic and Antetokounmpo.
If Embiid is not your MVP I’m openly questioning your basketball knowledge.
Windhorst explained his logic during a recent appearance on SportsCenter where he referenced an ESPN straw poll that named Jokic the favorite to win the award.
“I understand Joel’s frustration,” Windhorst said. “Because as I was looking at it and making up my mind, and as I’m looking at it now, my ballot is due this weekend, I just got a reminder from the NBA today, they said send us your ballots. I can’t find a reason to take Joel down and so I got Joel on my top line.”
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Sixers Legend Reveals Surprising Pick for MVP: ‘Most Deserving Guy’