Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Joel Embiid Wins NBA MVP: Should His Kansas Jayhawks Jersey Hang in the Allen Fieldhouse Rafters?

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid just won the 2022-23 NBA MVP. Thinking back to Embiid's time at the University of Kansas. Is he the second greatest basketball player of all-time to have played in Lawrence? And should Embiid's Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball #21 jersey be hanging in the rafters at Allen Fieldhouse?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Joel Embiid has won NBA MVP, the former Kansas Jayhawk. We're going to go through some fun hypotheticals, some different questions about his time at KU, the cool moment for him, and should his jersey, will his jersey be retired or hanging in the rafters at Allen Fieldhouse? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Derek Johnson, you can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making locked on jayhawks your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get any of your

podcasts and on today's edition of the show uh well we some of us might have been duped by hunter dickinson right might have been expecting a decision on Tuesday. Seemed like that was what was going to be the case. He ended up having a podcast. Turns out it was just a ploy. Maybe get some more listeners and subscribers to his show. So if you're unhappy about that, subscribe to this show. How about that?

But he said that he's not sure yet where he's going to go. So who knows? Maybe it's another week on Hunter Dickinson. Maybe it's another couple weeks. Maybe it's going to be a long period of time, and he's just trying to ramp up NIL biddings and seeing how much he can possibly get. So since the Hunter Dickinson thing is not happening yet,

we'll have some other player deep dives coming throughout the week here. But right now, let's talk about Joel Embiid, Joel Embiid winning MVP amid some non decisions yet from some of these other players. I think first of all, this is just really cool for him. He had an unbelievable season, put up over 33 points per game,

over 10 rebounds per game, over four assists per game on 55% shooting 33% from three and mid 80% on free throw shooting at the line, almost two blocks per game, a steal per game. It is funny looking back, like at his ability to shoot the three ball nowadays in the NBA, would that have ever been something that he would have eventually gotten to do at Kansas or no,

like, you know, we saw the Morris twins, like Marcus Morris and Marquis for shooting mid-30s, low 40%. And they got one and a half, two-pointers, three-pointers a game. Same for, like, Perry Ellis. But those guys were more forward types. With Embiid being a center, would he have ever, let's say hypothetically,

did stay Kansas for two more seasons? Who knows? And he was just an absolute beast and a wrecker and everything. Would he have been able to actually, you know shoot threes would bill self have let him i don't know that's a funny hypothetical but he is one of the most impactful defenders in the nba and the offense runs through him on a really good team this was deserving for him to eventually get this at some point he was close last year he ends up winning it this year which is is really cool to have a former ku guy win this award um and

i think it's just wild watching his ascent from what he was at kansas to what he has now become in the nba and you saw it at kansas in terms of the ability to just improve on a day-in day-out basis i think by the time he he arrived in lawrence he had only been playing basketball for a couple of years and you saw the pure athleticism and some of the movements he could do the the keem elijah moves at such a young age both in terms of just literally in terms of of his age you know and also being somebody who had not played basketball very long and you were like wow this guy's already doing that and just as the season went on he became such an unbelievable force i think by the end of the

season he was ku's best player he was ku's most impactful player and to see the ascent from the beginning of his time to the end i mean he's that story's been mentioned many many times about how one of the first practices like he got like dunked on by like i think it was tarik black and he went into the office of bills up and said like i want a red shirt i don't think i'm ready yet and to go from that to all of a sudden becoming this guy that you know if not for the injury stuff would have been the first pick over on the draft instead still goes top three has had this career and now wins MVP is a pretty cool like kind of full circle moment for the type of talent that he is and and was at Kansas all the way to now I hope he gets good I

hope he gets healthy for the playoff run that would would be a lot of fun. But I mean, it sucks because that's the same type of hypotheticals that right now 76ers fans might have to be going through at the end of the year to what happened at Kansas. Imagine if he's healthy for that tournament. This is something a lot of KU fans have tortured themselves with. I'll do it again here. You know, if you get by Stanford, which I think you would have, you just couldn't score inside and you were missing that physicality

and big man down low, probably win that game. That was already a three-point game without him. Then you're playing an 11-seed Dayton in the Sweet 16. And then if you win that, you're playing Florida in the Elite Eight. Florida's a team that beat you earlier in the season, but if you remember, KU looked horrible in the first half. Then they started to figure things out in the second half. Who knows? Maybe they beat Florida.

And if they beat Florida, then you're playing a 7-seed UConn and an eight-seed Kentucky to win the title. I think that Kansas team was still too inconsistent as is and everything, but I mean, would it have been crazy? He probably would have been the best player in that tournament at that point in time. I don't think that's crazy to say looking back what he has become. At the very least, they do make a deeper run. That's for sure. They probably do at least least make the elite eight i do have questions about them going further than that i think the florida team was really good maybe a little underrated but yeah i mean it's completely different imagine though too because for a bit like he thought he was going to be a multi-year player at kansas he thought he might have been here for three four years imagine if he would

have came back that next year now i do think he was injured i don't think he played his first year in the nba but i'm at the and came back and was able to play as a sophomore the types of things he would have done in year two in a bill self system with that type of talent would have been illegal in pretty much every state um but by him winning this award by him winning nba mvp i do have one question which i i mean we'll get into the jersey retirement the that jersey hanging in the rafters now in fieldhouse question uh here in our next segment but here's another fun question by joel and beat winning the mvp here does he become the second greatest basketball player ever to have played at ku now notice how i worded that i did not put that as is joel andiid the second best KU player ever?

No, of course not. If we're going KU players, you have to account for what they did at KU. If you're going for KU players, you're top two in any order, no matter what, every single person should have this order, whichever one they want to argue. You as two best players in KU basketball history. If you want to argue the talent of Wilt and the point per game and rebound per game numbers and that he didn't have freshman season to add extra stuff to it and he left early,

and you want to say, well, that's cool. If you want to talk about career accomplishments and the four-year career and the numbers he put up that are pretty untouchable at this point, and you want to go Danny and he has the national title, that's cool too. But those guys are one and two in any order joel ambide is probably not even cracking the top 50 in terms of greatest ku basketball players of all time in terms of what they accomplished at ku but if you're talking about basketball career what they accomplished

over the course of their entire basketball career at the peak of their pinnacle um in the nba whatever you want to say, basketball career. Joel Embiid, you can make the argument, is number two just behind Wilt. So in terms of just that peak of basketball careers, it's Wilt at number one. That's very clear. Who would be in the conversation for number two?

JoJo White would probably be in the conversation there. Made seven All-Stars, two-time All-NBA pick, won a Finals MVP. Clyde Lavellette would be in that conversation, four-time All-Star, one-time all-NBA pick one of finals MVP Clyde Lavellett would be in that conversation four-time all-star one-time all-NBA Paul Pierce would certainly be in that conversation and I think Paul Pierce would probably be number two on that list before Joel Embiid maybe he still is number two Paul Pierce made 10 all-stars in his NBA career he He was four-time All-NBA. He also was a Finals MVP. But Pierce, JoJo White, Clyde Lavellette, any of your other great KU past players, the only other one I believe who's won an MVP,

Wilt Chamberlain, and now Joel Embiid. That is a very short list to be on. So that's what Embiid has above these other guys, that if you're just saying your peak season, were you ever the MVP? Well, then Joel Embiid would be number two with Will Chamberlain Embiid's already been a six time all-star so I guess that's not quite as much as Paul Pierce but he's also already been four time all NBA that's the same amount of times as Paul Pierce it's been three times all defense more than Paul Pierce and that MVP which Pierce does not. So same amount of certain things better in other

ways. Now with Pierce, you do have the championship that Embiid's chasing. You do have the finals MVP, maybe on longevity, you would still give it to Pierce at this point in time, but in terms of peak Embiid is number two, just behind Wilt Chamberlain, by the way, for what it's worth. If you are trying to figure out, well, what does he need to do to chase will chamberlain well good luck with that will was a 13-time all-star a 10-time all-nba pick a four-time mvp a two-time nba champion so a lot of work to do for mb to ever catch that i don't know if that's ever possible but it does seem like he's at least in the conversation if not already there in terms of being able to be the guy who is number two on that list okay we're going to get into uh some conversation about should joel amid now because of this award have his jersey hanging

in the rafters at allen field house i can already tell there's some of you uh whether come on this is so stupid he didn't do it at kansas i can tell you there's other people who are probably already fighting for this being like of course he should. Let's just get into the argument. I'll give you both sides of the coin, and then I'll give you a final verdict here. So this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Bilt Bar. Are you looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugar and calories? Then you need to try the best ever tasting protein bar with Bilt Bar. You might want to eat healthier during the day.

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should mb now that he has won mvp get his jerseys in the rafters at allen field house immediate response that i know a lot of you are probably having is it's what's what's the nba mvp this was not a college basketball award last i checked kansas is a college and the basketball team is a college team you get up in the rafters for what you did at Kansas. You did not win MVP at Kansas, right? And I know it almost does sound silly to even have this conversation because of that. And I do wonder, like, to this notion, it would be similar to if you were having the argument about, well, NBA MVP is good enough to put him up there.

That would be similar to like, what if a player transferred out of KU and then was a national player of the year at a different school? They wouldn't have their jersey retired. It's the same kind of idea of like, well, somewhere else you accomplish something crazy. And then on top of that, it is in a completely different league, again, in the NBA. But at the same point, the other end of this argument, if you are named MVP of the NBA, the NBA is where the best collection of talent in the world plays basketball. Theoretically, if you are the best player in the NBA, you are the best player in the world. And so if you were the greatest player in the world, and you said at one point in time, a guy who played at Kansas was the greatest basketball player in the entire world. It's hard not to be like, yeah, we shouldn't really retire his jersey. We had the guy who at one point was the best player in the world.

And, you know, we don't think he's deserving. That's hard. It's essentially touched by greatness, that type of moment. For instance, like Michael Jordan, he doesn't have his number retired with the Wizards. He is in the Washington Wizards Hall of Fame. On its own, he plays there for a short period of time. It's not like they won a finals or he won mvp with them

that would be kind of the equivalent i guess here to be completely honest kind of just touched by greatness right there's two big issues though or arguments that i think go against him getting his jersey retired number one is the jersey retirement about basketball career like when you get your ku jersey hanging in the rafters i shouldn't say i keep saying jersey retirement they don't actually retire the number um but it's just you know whatever you want to call it hanging in the rafters um when you that happens at ku is it about basketball career or or is it about your specific school or place where you're retiring it. And if that's the case, as impactful as Embiid was at Kansas, like I said, by the end of the year, he was the best player.

He was a really good player for KU. But at the end of the day, you're talking about 28 games played at KU, averaging 11 points on 62%, 8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks per game. Those are good numbers, but for a one year of 28 games it's not enough and sure you could play those hypotheticals of if he wasn't hurt maybe they make a run at a final four maybe they make a run at winning a national title maybe he gets some sort of region mop or final four mop if they win the title and then this isn't even a conversation but unfortunately we don't do jersey retirements on hypotheticals.

The second argument against it is this big argument, the slippery slope argument. If you let Joel Embiid in, does that mean that any really good one and dones get to go in who average similar or better stats? Does it mean that any KU player who has played short term at KU but was solid, not an All-American, but became like an NBA All-Star like an Andrew Wiggins. Does he get in? Second team All-American, I believe Wiggins was. He's been, I think, a two time All-Star now. Right. Does that start crossing over? Does it mean we start comparing other players to Embiid's 11.8 rebounds, two and a half blocks and say, well, Jeff Withey averaged better than those numbers in his final season and did it for a couple years at KU.

I guess if Embiid's in, so should Withey. The slippery slope question. And those are all fair questions. But I guess I would bet he shouldn't be his jersey. But I think it's okay to be like, this isn't going to open a can of worms this isn't a slippery slope thing if you win nba mvp that is a little different than some of these other questions i have because again there's only one guy that wins nba mvp every year it literally means you're the best player in the best in the world so andrew wiggins doesn't make

the cut but basically any argument you've had you'd have of like well this guy averaged 12 and 9 so he should be in ahead of mb would just get stopped by that player well was he ever named nba mvp and the best player in the world was he ever thought of as the best player in the world at some point in time? And you quickly would say, well, no. So maybe Embiid is the kind of exception to the rule here. And maybe that's what you get. Is it fair? I don't know.

You want NBA MVP. That should mean something, I guess. Let's get to our final verdict. Should he have his jersey retired? Should he not? Coming up here with Locked on Jayhawks. All right, finishing things up. Final verdict.

Should Joel Embiid have his jersey hanging in the Raptors in Allen Fieldhouse? And by the way, we're going to get to a McKenzie Mbako deep dive coming up on our next show. Then we will also maybe later in the week have a KU football. I've been wanting to have a KU football episode kind of going over some of their transfer portal options and guys that they've maybe reached out to. I want to get to that at some point here. Might have some deep dives for some other players that have entered the portal or maybe KU shown interest like a Ron Holland, maybe some of these other centers. Any point if we hear from Hunter Dickinson, we'll have an episode on that instead or and or right. But anyway, verdict on Joel Embiid here based on all that stuff kind of talking through the arguments

and stuff i think at the end of the day i'm cool with whatever they decide i know that's not a sexy um i don't pound it on the table and having a first take debate and being like oh it has to be this it has to be whatever i am completely comfortable either way whichever they way to do it i i fully understand the argument of it should be based on what you did at ku they say ku jersey retirement it's It's not your basketball career. That's why you're in the Naismith Hall of Fame or make the Basketball Hall of Fame or win the NBA MVP or why you'll be in the 76ers Hall of Fame. And at KU, there are other ways to remember you, right? And whenever we think of Joel Embiid, we'll think of him playing at KU.

For instance, it doesn't work the other way. Frank Mason doesn't get to be in the NBA Hall of Fame because of what he did at KU. But also when Frank Mason won National Player of the Year, it didn't signify him being the best player in the sport in the entire world. and for a guy who even wanted to come back multiple years and you know may have had that opportunity to get up there organically if he would have stayed around and maybe the coaches would have let him stay longer and for the purpose of just recruiting i think too when you can have recruits come in and show them that jersey up there i and again there's the slippery slope thing where it's like well then are you just going to let everyone in who'd be a good recruiting tool no but again this guy won mvp show me the list of other guys who won mvp who played for ko so it certainly would make some sense to see his name go up there just maybe with a longer wait than some other guys currently in line like he

played before he finished his career before frank mason but frank mason probably should and will go up there before joel mb so i think my final verdict i honestly am cool either way i'm not going to get up in arms either way if i was leaning and i had to make a decision though i'm putting him up there and i'm comfortable with it and then you may ask well are you putting andrew wiggins then up there too because he actually accomplished more as a freshman at ku nope i'm not because the nba mvp that means something to me. It just does. You had a guy who is now the best player in the world at your university,

and that is pretty darn cool. But again, whatever they decide to do, I'm actually very okay with it. But for some people, this is a very divisive, debatable, conflicting type of argument type of thing. So I guess you can read the comment section, and maybe that'll show up there. All right. That'll do it for this episode of locked on Jayhawks.

Like we said, planning on doing a McKenzie and Baco deep dive on tomorrow's show. Cause his visit should have wrapped up by then we'll get to a football episode at some point, some other deep dives coming up throughout the week. I mean, shows on locked up Jayhawks, whenever the Hunter Dickinson news comes out, that could bump everything,

or we could have a bonus content. We get a bunch of episodes based on that, so lots to come and look out for. You're not going to want to miss anything. Check us out wherever you get any of your podcasts. Find us, like, subscribe to us on YouTube as well, and we'll be back on tomorrow's episode of Locked on Jayhawks. I'm Derek

John. Later.