On Tuesday evening, the NBA released the results of the All-NBA team voting. As expected, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was not named the first-team center winner as league MVP Nikola Jokic took that spot for the second year in a row.
Although Embiid could have earned first-team honors as a forward, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo swept everyone to first place with 100 votes. Meanwhile, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum held an advantage over Embiid and was named to the first team.
Although Embiid was the first center to lead the NBA in points since 2000 and finished second in the race for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, Embiid was named a second All-NBA team.
While Jayson Tatum was happy to finally earn recognition as the league’s top player last regular season, the Celtics forward acknowledged there were flaws in the voting system. And when Tatum proposed some changes in the All-NBA team’s makeup, he defended Joel Embiid, believing the Sixers’ big man’s place didn’t make much sense.
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“There should be some rules,” Tatum said. “I don’t know the number exactly, but maybe you should play a certain number of games. You may or may not be a playoff team. I think it should probably be positionless, you know? Joel Embiid came second in MVP voting and finished second team. That doesn’t really make much sense, does it? I think it should only be the top 15 players.”
As expected, Sixers fans weren’t thrilled with the fact that Embiid was voted the second most valuable player in the NBA but didn’t rank among the top five players a few weeks later. It seems Tatum is raising the same questions as it points to an obvious flaw in the electoral system.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter for live updates: @JGrasso_.
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