Stephen A. & Rajon Rondo DISAGREE with JJ Redick on the NBA MVP 😬 | First Take

I will never try to create a narrative about the work I put in and maybe that might hurt me because I believe the last five years I've been the MVP. Do I want a third MVP? Hell yeah, I want a third one. I'm extremely competitive. All right, JJ, you're up first. Who's your MVP? Why are you putting me up first? Okay, you don't want to go first. No, I voted for Giannis. I voted for Giannis and I said this multiple times yesterday but all three of these guys are deserving MVPs. They all had MVP seasons and I think some of the narrative stuff around Joel that it's his turn. Look, I don't vote that way. I'm not going to make a decision that way. Some of the narrative stuff about he was the most dominant player this season, I guess that's an aesthetics call because I think Jokic dominated in his own way. I think Giannis dominated in his own way. Joel Embiid had a historical season. You know, most points by a center since Bob McAdoo in 1974. Well, Giannis had a historical season. 30, 10, and 5 shooting over 50 percent. Only one other guy has done that. It's Will. And Giannis shot 55 percent. First guy to ever do that. Jokic had a historical season. 25, 12, 9, 63 percent. They all had historical seasons. This is my first year voting. I will never vote on MVP based on best player on the best team. But when you look at all of that and it comes down to on the margins, right? Joel was a better free throw shooter than Giannis. That's what you're going to go with? I can't vote that way. Joel won 43 games when he played. Giannis 147. Jokic 148. Giannis had the best win percentage when he played. Joel had the third best win percentage of those three. So it came down to that. That was sort of the tipping point, the deciding factor for me. They're all great and they're all MVPs. But for me, it was Giannis. And look, I think Joel's going to win, but I had to vote for Giannis. It's interesting to hear your thought process. Rondo, where are you? I mean, I completely agree with you, only to the fact that Jokic, Giannis, the team around him is better. Embiid, Harden was out for a long period of time. He held it down, scoring out the butt. He's a great player. All three have had hell of a season. But again, I would have to go with Embiid. Here's the deal for me. I'm going with Embiid. Your numbers cannot be disputed. I get where you're coming from. Unfortunately for you, you don't get to vote for three people because obviously you would love to vote for three, but you only get to pick one, so you pick Giannis. Good for you. Here's my thing. I watched Milwaukee. I think they're a damn good team. I watched them without Giannis. I think they were like 10 and 6, 11 and 6, something along those lines without Giannis. I'm looking at Brooke Lopez, Portis, and Drew Holiday having, especially Drew Holiday, having career years. Brooke Lopez definitely having a career year. I'm looking at them. I'm looking at the coaching as well. And I just say to myself, Milwaukee has it all. Philadelphia starts and stops with Joel Embiid. Without him, they're just not those dudes. Not even close. I'm not saying that Milwaukee would win without Giannis, but I think they're a better team without Giannis than Philly is without Embiid. And to know that Embiid has been knocking on their door, and for him to answer the call by leading the league in scoring, by playing ball on the defensive side of the floor the way that he has, by having the impact that he has had, and especially when he dropped 52 on Boston the other day. I mean, to me, it's just one game, and I understand that. But the race was so tight. The rate was so tight. I remember when he dropped 47 and 18 against Jokic earlier this season. I remember the 52 against Boston at the end of the season. I'm looking at the stuff in between. Yeah, you got the Anthony Meltzer, Sheik Milton, Tobias Harris, Maxie and these brothers that make their contributions, James Harden leading the league in assists, balling the way that he has. But in the end, it comes down to everything evolving around Joel Embiid, because Doc Rivers puts the ball in his hands. From the perimeter, from the paint, back to the basket, facing the basket. It don't matter what you've asked this brother to do. He has delivered. And when I look at it from that perspective, and I say to myself, what would Philly be without him? To him, for him to be a runner-up the last two years, and to have answered the call again. I just say to myself, yeah, he deserves it this year. And that's why he got my vote. Do you think the Sixers could take down the Bucs or the Celtics? That's tough. All-State will have to be clicking. Guys will have to buy in on every aspect. They'll have to value the ball. They'll have to make shots. And then obviously, I think Joel has to be a little bit more unselfish in letting James get back to the player he kind of was in Houston as far as dominating the ball a little bit more. I know he led the league in assists, but to me, you know, I kind of more throw the ball to Joel Embiid and the guys stand around and let him make the play. I can't tell whether you sound more like Doc Rivers or Larry Brown. I mean, damn. I mean, but I can't disagree with your analysis, but what I will say to you, Rondo, is this. You know, when I look at the Sixers, I think Boston has their number. I just don't believe the Sixers would beat Boston. They'd have a chance against Milwaukee. They just, it just, I just watch their styles, and I'm just saying, of course, you'd have to have Maxey and Harden step up, but I remember when the Sixers were down, and they came back, and they beat Milwaukee on the road a few weeks ago. I'm just looking at them, and I'm like, with Embiid against Giannis and what that would peel from Embiid to know that he's got that encounter that he has to deal with, and he'll rise to that occasion. I don't, I'm not saying they would beat Milwaukee. I would give them a better chance against Milwaukee than Boston. For some reason, it don't matter what, they, Boston always seems to have their number. It took the 52 from Embiid for them to squeeze by Boston in the last game, and Jalen Brown didn't play that game. I just look at it from that perspective, and I just say Boston has their number. I don't, I give them a much, much, much smaller chance against Boston than against Milwaukee. Yeah, look, I think the 76ers can win a championship. I think they can get by Boston. I think they can get by Milwaukee. Joel Embiid has got to be at his best. He's got to be at his best, and look, I play with Joe. We all share, like Rondo knows this, you all share blame when you don't win the championship, when you're on a good team and you come up a little, like we all, I share blame in that, right? I think, look, the reality is he wasn't great in last year's playoff. You know, having an MVP season, he averaged 23 a game in 10 postseason games. Like, he wasn't great. For them to win, he has to be great. He has to be as dominant as he was in the I don't think it's on Harden. I'll say this, to me, what Harden did this year is the perfect compliment to Joel. Like, Harden helped to elevate Joel in that pick and roll. It was the first time in Joel Embiid's career, the last two seasons, that he's gotten the chance to play in pick and roll with a player of James Harden's caliber, and James Harden has elevated that. I'll give Rondo the last word. I was getting ready to jump on you and say that is an utterly ridiculous statement, but you corrected, you clarified yourself, because you're saying James Harden just has to be what he's been this season. Fair. My retort to that would be with Willie, because the playoff James Harden, at times, has been different than regular season James Harden. So you are right. He doesn't have to be what he was in Houston. He doesn't have to be averaging over 30 a game or anything like that, but what he has been this year, he has to be at least that for Philly to have a chance. I say even more. Okay. I say even more. I think he has to be a little more aggressive scoring the ball. You don't want to be a one-man show. You do have Embiid. They can go get you 50 any night, but in order to win as a team collectively in the playoffs, they're going to be able to stop that. You're going to have a team that's going to sit in the paint that's going to make them shoot the shots, keep them off the free throw line. James has to be himself. Then, obviously, the young player, my favorite guard, one of my favorite guards in the league, Tyrese Maxey. I'm looking for him to have a big playoff push this year as well. It's funny because I think James has to oscillate between facilitator and scorer. For you, I never had to oscillate as a facilitator. You never had to oscillate as a primary scorer. James has a tough task. I go back to the Saturday Night Milwaukee game about six weeks ago when he just absolutely took over that game in the second half and Philly ended up winning. He doesn't have to be that every night, but there are going to be nights. Potentially in this first round series, because of the way the Brooklyn Nets switch and because of Nick Claxton in particular, his effectiveness at switching onto guards, there's going to be times where he's going to have to iso Nick Claxton and get a bucket. I think they're going to win that series. I don't think it's going to be a seven-game series. No, I think they're winning the series, but he's going to have to do that against Boston. Boston switches a lot. They're going to muck it up. They're going to front Joel. They're going to bring the second, the low man help, right? On the green, right? They're going to do all that stuff. And at times, James Harden is going to have to pick and choose like, all right, right now it's score time. I got to be that guy. By oscillating back and forth, to use your word, I mean, that's something that he has shown the capability of doing. And the reason why we can't just summarily dismiss the importance of it is because if it's worked for you to this point, what we've lamented about James Harden is that the stuff that worked for you, you didn't necessarily do when it counts most. And so for me, it's like caught in the middle. Like I get what you're saying about you need more from him, but what you need is for him to do what JJ says, but more of it, more consistently, like answer the call. We understand. We don't care that much about Brooklyn. Brooklyn's entirely small. They don't have any answer for Joel and B. Good luck with winning more than one game in that series. And by the way, congratulations, 13 and 15 without Kyrie and KD, you made the postseason. Then the playoffs, congrats. It's over. All right. But in the case of Philly, if they go up against Boston, which we anticipate, you got to answer that call. They got Derek White. They got Brogdon. They got Jalen Brown. I mean, you've got to answer that call. If you're James Harden, who, by the way, is looking for a new country.