When Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in just three weeks ago, the chiefs of the security and defense forces bluntly boycotted the ceremony. No wonder many people immediately feared that this car accident was not an accident at all but a political assassination plot by the Mugabe security services against the new Prime Minister. In Zimbabwean political history, car accidents have been used regularly to get rid of political opponents. Morgan Tsvangirai and his wife were on their way to a meeting in the birthplace of Morgan in Buhera, a district in Manicaland province south-east of Harare. ![]() Ironically, it was an USAID hired truck with humanitarian assistance for the sufferingZimbabwean population. The accident happened 88 km south of Harare and was caused by a collision with a truck. I'm not a two-time MVP, I've never made first team All-NBA, I've never won anything.On my way back to The Netherlands from visits to Zimbabwe and Zambia, I learned about the tragic car accident of the new Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which killed his wife and injured him. "People have been talking about who has the most pressure to win. ![]() When Charania asked if he viewed this season as title-or-bust, Embiid responded by deflecting pressure onto other, unnamed players. The truth, as in most things, lies somewhere in between.īut this wasn't the only shot Embiid took at Jokic. There are a number of possible explanations for this ranging from his rebounding (you have to actually get the ball for an opponent's possession to end) to the turnovers he generates (Jokic averages 1.2 steals per game for his career and ranks sixth in the NBA in total deflections) to the enormous difference between how well Denver performs with him on the court and off of it, but it's almost undeniable to suggest that Jokic looks like a better defender on paper than he does on tape. FiveThirtyEight's RAPTOR ranks Jokic as the NBA's fourth-best defender this season, for example, and while other metrics aren't quite as emphatic, almost all of them consider Jokic a positive defender. The metrics, however, have long considered Jokic an underrated defender. The eye-test suggests that he is a poor defender due to his limited foot speed, which has been exploited in several playoff matchups against high-level ball-handlers. I don't make the rules, I don't choose whatever criteria that they use, so it's really about whatever people's preferences are."Įmbiid is, almost undoubtedly, talking about Jokic here. That's when analytics don't make sense at all. When you got some guys in the league, the eye test tells you that they're not good defensively, but analytics tell you they're the best defenders. You can talk about analytics all you want. ![]() And when you add analytics into it, which don't make sense. I don't care, but every year it's something. And then this year, I'm leading the league in scoring, I'm doing all of these things defensively … I should be making an All-Defensive team too. ![]() "But then again, he won as a sixth seed in the West. Last year, I came back, I played enough games, I led the league in scoring, and obviously, Nikola deserved it and he won it. "If we want to talk about the last three years since I've been in the running for it, the first year it was that I didn't play enough games. In a Q&A with The Athletic's Shams Charania, Embiid grumbled about the ways in which he believes the award's criteria changes annually while appearing to take a shot at Jokic. The Philadelphia 76ers still have games remaining against Jokic's Denver Nuggets and Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks, but Embiid is undeniably in pole position as the race nears its conclusion.īut that doesn't mean Embiid has gotten over the disappointment of the past few seasons. As of Monday morning, he is a minus-225 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook while Jokic (plus-175) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (plus-325) lag behind. Joel Embiid has lost the NBA MVP award to Nikola Jokic two years in a row, but with two weeks remaining in the 2022-23 regular season, his chances at finally winning the coveted award have never been higher.
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