Simmons and Embiid named DPOY and MVP Award Finalists for Sixers
The end of the year award finalists for the NBA have been announced. As expected, the Sixers have Ben Simmons as a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year Award and Joel Embiid as a finalist for the MVP award. Simmons is joined by Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert as the three remaining players eligible to win defensive player of the year. Joel Embiid is joined by Nikola Jokic and Steph Curry.
For the Defensive Player of the Year, the winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points, second-place votes are worth three points, and a third-place vote is worth one. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
Until the 1979-80 season, the MVP was selected by a vote of NBA players. Since the 1980–81 season, the award is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Each member of the voting panel casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each first-place vote is worth 10 points; each second-place vote is worth seven; each third-place vote is worth five, fourth-place is worth three and fifth-place is worth one. Starting from 2010, one ballot was cast by fans through online voting. The player with the highest point total wins the award.
I do believe that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have both performed well enough to win their respective awards. However, I find it hard to believe that a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters share the same opinion. For decades, we have watched members of the media and other broadcasters heavily criticize Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. I just can’t picture them giving the Sixers’ two young All-Stars the honors.
For the record: Doc Rivers was snubbed for Coach of the Year Honors but I digress.
Regardless of how these awards shake out, the Sixers are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs and Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are award finalists in the two most prestigious categories. That itself, proves enough for me. Let’s go win a championship.
See you on Broad Street.
[…] Simmons and Embiid named DPOY and MVP Award Finalists for Sixers […]
[…] It has been 20 years since the Philadelphia 76ers entered the playoffs as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The road to the NBA Finals begins today at 1:00pm against the eighth seeded Washington Wizards. In what has been years in the making, the Sixers enter today atop of the East with Joel Embiid as an MVP finalist and Ben Simmons as a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year. […]