Joel Embiid Wins Player Of The Month Honors

Joel Embiid spoke a lot before the season about how winning will impact the type of individual recognition him and his teammates will receive. A month into the season that insight looks to be spot on.

After Doc Rivers was given coach of the month honors, Embiid has now received player of the month honors for December and January. This is the second time in Embiid's career that he has been given this honor.

This recognition places Embiid in some elite company in Sixers' history. He now joins Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Julius Irving as the only Sixers' players to receive player of the month honors at least twice. Not a bad group of names to be surrounded by.

The All-Star center has been dominant to kick off this season en route to leading the Sixers to the best record in the Eastern Conference. One month into the season he is averaging a monster stat line of 28.3 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.3 BPG. His scoring average currently sits at fourth-best in the entire NBA.

Along with posting those monster numbers, he is also doing it at the best efficiency of his career. If the season were to end today, Embiid would finish just shy of a 50/40/90 year.

Embiid is  currently shooting almost 55% from the floor and knocking down 40% of his threes. He is also shooting 84% from the free-throw line while getting there a league-best 11.3 times per game.

There is no denying that a quarter of the way through the season Embiid has been one of if not the best player in the Eastern Conference. His play so far has landed him at the top of the discussion for the MVP award.

If he can maintain this high level of play, there should be plenty more player of the month honors coming his way.