The 2020-21 NBA ‘Season Just Started’ Awards

TNSJS NBA Most Valuable Player: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

Also receiving votes: Nikola Jokic, James Harden, LeBron James

No clear cut frontrunner has emerged for the sport’s most important accolade, but given the Sixers‘ 7-1 record in games where The Process has played and his dominance on both ends of the court, Embiid’s designation as our winner makes a lot of sense. Only five players in NBA history have ever gone a full season scoring over 35 points per 100 possessions on greater than 65 percent true shooting according to Stathead, and at 64.9 Embiid is just barely off that mark in the 2020-21 season thus far. He combines volume and efficiency inside, leading the league in post-ups per game at 7.6 while still converting to the tune of 1.06 points per post-up shot, ranking in the 66th percentile according to NBA.com.

His assists per game may be down from last year, but don’t let that fool you — Embiid is passing and creating shots for teammates better than he ever has so far this season. The Sixers’ improved spacing with Danny Green, Seth Curry and a no longer hesitant Tobias Harris has done wonders for Embiid, as opponents’ doubles now lead to a sequence of quick passes around the perimeter that eventually results in an open catch-and-shoot 3.

The Joker certainly has a case as well, averaging an absurd stat line of 24.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 11.0 assists per game all while sustaining his hot 3-point shooting that manifested in the bubble, canning 44.4 percent of his triples through the first nine games. Denver’s 4-5 record is disappointing, but the horse-loving big man is not the one to blame. The Nuggets’ starting unit of Murray-Harris-Barton-Millsap-Jokic is clobbering fools to the tune of 137.9 points scored per 100 possessions and a +24.9 net rating, only to see many of their advantages evaporate in non-Jokic lineups, as Denver is -17.3 per 100 in said units and scoring an abhorrent 98.5 per 100 (all stats via Cleaning the Glass). Chucking actual rims might be a similarly effective non-Jokic offense for the Nuggets right now.

James Harden continues to do Harden things, dragging Houston to a top 10 offensive rating albeit on slightly less voluminous numbers for him, and opting in favor of LeBron is always a viable option. But two and a half weeks in, Embiid is the guy. The Process is the TNSJS MVP.

Previous years TNSJS winners (2016-2019) (2020 not listed bc of this season starting much later than usual and thus TNSJS debuting in the new year for this season): Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard