Congrats to @JoelEmbiid on another Rookie of the Month award! pic.twitter.com/s33VkEtY66
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) February 2, 2017
Joel Embiid missed six games during the month of January, but that didn't keep him from earning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for the third straight month. The NBA announced its award winners for January on Thursday and Embiid was also nominated for Player of the Month. Sixers head coach Brett Brown was nominated for Coach of the Month as well.
Drafted third overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Embiid led all first-year players in scoring (23.4 ppg), rebounding (9.1 rpg) and blocks (2.56 bpg) in January. The Sixers went 7-2 with Embiid in the lineup and went 10-5 overall, their first winning month in quite some time. Rolling over from December, Embiid scored 20+ in 10 straight games, becoming the only other Sixers rookie besides Allen Iverson to score 20 or more points in 10 straght games.
Marqueese Chriss took home the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award, averaging 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor.
