Give and Go: Who Has Been Sixers' MVP, LVP So Far This Season?

With the team at the All-Star break, our resident basketball analysts will discuss some of the hottest topics involving the Sixers.

Running the Give and Go are CSNPhilly.com producer/reporter Matt Haughton, and CSNPhilly.com producer/reporter Paul Hudrick.

In this edition, we pick the Sixers' MVP and LVP at the break.

Haughton
I'm not going to try and get cute by pretending there is another player who could possibly be the Sixers' MVP. It's Joel Embiid. Period.

First, there are the numbers. Embiid leads the team in points (20.2), rebounds (7.8), blocks (2.5) and free throw attempts (7.9) per game. He's accomplished all of that while being limited to 25.4 minutes a night.

The production from the Rookie of the Year frontrunner has also translated to the win column. The Sixers are 13-18 in the 31 games Embiid has started this season. They are 8-17 when he doesn't play.

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Perhaps almost equally important is the energy Embiid has brought back to the franchise. It's been a rough few years for the Sixers to say the least, but Embiid's play, personality and social media antics have a buzz around the team again.

As for the Sixers' Least Valuable Player, I have to go with Richaun Holmes through no fault of his own.

Holmes has proven he can flat out play ... just not much for this team. He's been trapped at the bottom of the Sixers' big-man totem pole.

Holmes has appeared in 31 games this season (roughly 55 percent of the Sixers' games). His minutes have actually increased from 13.8 to 15.9 a night.

However, that's still not nearly enough playing time for a guy whose per-36-minute averages equal out to 14.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.2 steals.

Hudrick
It's funny, before the season I picked Dario Saric as my MVP, avoiding the obvious pick of Joel Embiid. The Croatian rookie is making me look really smart (a difficult feat). His recent run is putting him in the conversation for Rookie of the Year with Embiid sidelined.

For the season, the 22-year-old forward is averaging 10.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 24.4 minutes a game. Recently, all of those numbers have seen an uptick. In his last six games, Saric has averaged 19.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 27.8 minutes per contest. The Embiid-less Sixers are 3-3 in that span.

But Saric brings so much more than that. This Sixers team has taken on a gritty and unselfish personality. Those traits epitomize Saric, who began the season as a starter but has flourished in his role off the bench. He's also been yo-yoed between the three and four spots, defending post and wing players.

As for LVP, I don't have the heart to give it to anyone. Sure, the easy answer here is Jahlil Okafor. His defensive and rebounding deficiencies have been evident, as they were last season. But with the way he's handled the logjam at center and the trade rumor/holdout mess, I can't help but praise the guy.

"I'm just going to control what I can control, and as far as I know I'm still a Sixer, and I'm happy to be a Sixer," Okafor said at the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night. "I'll keep working every day. My teammates are there for me. The outside noise doesn't bother me. I don't worry about it."

Every player on the roster has made a positive impact at one point or another. Brett Brown has gotten the most out of every player on his roster.

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