And he was forced to play out of position at PF next to the weak defending Okafor at center. His rookie year (at the age of 20) defensive stats were even more impressive (1.9 blk/g and 1.8 stl/g, 9.9 pts/g and 8.1 reb/g). I've mentioned this several times, that Nerlens Noel in his first two seasons in the NBA, at the ages of 20 and 21, was the ONLY player in the entire NBA to record at least 100 BLKs and at least 100 STL in both of those seasons. The ONLY player to do it in both years and he was a 20-year old rookie the first season and did it in the second season, at 21, playing in only 67 games and being forced to play out of position at PF. The guy was an elite NBA defender at the age of 20 (4th in the entire league in Defensive Box +/- in spite of playing on a shitty team that only won 18 games). In terms of comparison, Marcus Camby is the obvious one. Most folks here remember late career 36 - 37 year old Marcus Camby, but in his prime Camby was DPOY. He led the league in blocked shots three years in a row, at 3.3, 3.3 and 3.6 blk/g and also averaged 11.9. 11.7 and 13.1 reb/g in those three seasons. Noel was a better defender and a better rebounder as a 20-year old rookie than Camby was at 22. In fact, Nerlens Noel is younger now (by about a month) than Camby was as a rookie. Camby never averaged more than 7.8 reb/g until his 5th season in the league at age 26, but eventually became one of the top rebounders in the game. Noel averaged 8.1 rpg in each of his first two years. He was a better rebounder at 20 than Camby was at 25. The guy is only 22, is already a proven, elite level defender and he's available and it shouldn't take much to get him. Yes, it would be a great fit. He's a great rim protector and also great in defending the pick and roll and covering the passing lanes. His offense is raw, but already more advanced than Plumlee's and will only get better. BNM
If Olshey isn't able to trade for Noel I'm ready to see him gone. We're starving for defense, and there's a lavish dinner of defense being served on a silver platter with the name "Noel" on it for anyone willing to pay a few pennies. It's a perfect and almost too good to be true solution that would be Olshey's saving grace. Olshey is lucky to have such an easy solution available, and if Olshey is smart than there is no way Noel isn't wearing a Blazers uniform at the end of the year.
We don't have the assets to trade for Noel, I'm afraid. Giving CJ for him seems over the top unless we also get a pick in return, and Crabbe is not good enough now.
After an admittedly rough first month, Crabbe has been quite good in December. 11.5 ppg and 4 rpg on 47.8 FG% and 52.5% from 3 in 28.5 mpg. Equates to 14.5/5 per 36. Crabbe is raising his stock.
Yeah he is not terrible but he is not a $20M a year player either. Question is, when do 76ers think they will be able to win games. If they want to do it in the next two years, they should try to do better than Crabbe. If he is just going to be a filler for 2 miserable years, and they don't want to keep Noel at all, Crabbe will be fine.
I asked Steve Patterson about that deal at a Blazer Advisory Board meeting. He tore in to me right in front of everyone telling me how I didn't know anything. D69 was there as well.....you should have seen the look on his face.
Noel would be an upgrade, but not the panacea you're implying here. Other things are going to have to change or he's gonna get hung out to dry a lot -- this is a systemic problem nearly team wide. Dame and CJ probably will have to broken up as our starting backcourt at some point.
I agree for the most part. He has to end up with Noel or Nurkic unless those two go for more than he was capable of offering, or if he just has bigger plans (the only two bigger possibilities I can see are cousins and Whiteside)
It didn't feel like 'kudos'. He roasted me pretty good and it didn't help when I followed up with, "who else offered Darius Miles so much money that we had to pay that much for him?" The rest of the room was dead silent....lol.
Though I am a huge fan of both and it is painful to say... I agree. One of them needs to be traded for like value at a position of need. My hopes for defensive improvement for this pair to work effectively has disappeared. They are far too similar for co-existence. One point that I don't feel is brought up enough is both Dame and C.J. have the propensity, when games get tight, to force the issue resulting with an unforced turnover or highly contested shot. This has time and again disrupted the offense Stott's has installed and brings an even larger discord to the entire team flow. That being said, I would cringe at the sight of either one wearing anything but a Blazer jersey.
If we trade Crabbe to Philadelphia for Noel that would leave about $16M in salary we could take back from a 3rd team who wanted to dump a veteran wing for a pick or a couple young pieces. That wing could replace Crabbe while we simply add Noel to the rotation. Example: PHI Gets: Allen Crabbe Shabazz Napier 2018 POR 1st DAL Gets: 2018 CLE 1st Noah Vonleh Meyers Leonard POR Gets: Nerlens Noel Wesley Matthews Incoming: $22M Outgoing: $32M Hell, we could take back Bogut in this deal too, or another piece from Philadelphia Lineup: Lillard (36) / McCollum (12) McCollum (23) / Matthews (25) Harkless (28) / Turner (20) Aminu (28) / Davis (20) Noel (26) / Plumlee (22) Or if Dallas was willing to give up Bogut: Lineup: Lillard (36) / McCollum (12) McCollum (23) / Matthews (25) Harkless (28) / Turner (20) Aminu (23) / Davis (15) / Plumlee (10) Noel (22) / Bogut (18) / Plumlee (8) In this scenario I'd want to trade Plumlee instead of pay him. We could recoup on of the firsts we traded. So we could possibly replace Leonard with Noel, (maybe Plumlee with Bogut), and Crabbe with Matthews, and only lose one or two picks. I'd do it. Matthews and Bogut would give us some attitude and we'd add 3 great defenders. Bogut could replace Plumlees passing in Stotts offense. Matthews would be the shooter next to Turner and would give the team its heart-and-soul type of player. Noel is Noel. So while the trade rumors are simple, such as Crabbe for Noel and that's it, I have a feeling things will be a lot more complex with multiple players going out and coming in from multiple teams.
If we're really trading Crabbe for Noel, then I'm assuming we'll be acquiring another perimeter player either in the same trade or elsewhere. I still like the idea of trading for Ben mclemore. Maybe Sacramento would be interested in Ben for Meyers Leonard LMFAO.
This is a suggestion article and not a rumor but is still interesting to see what some think: http://www.nba.com/article/2016/12/26/morning-tip-what-should-sixers-do-nerlens-noel NERLENS SCENARIO 2 Noel + F Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot for F Ed Davis, G Shabazz Napier The Blazers desperately need interior defense -- as we speak, they are DFL in the league in Defensive Rating, allowing a ghastly 115.8 points per 100 possessions, and are 28th in points allowed per game (112.8). This is no longer the feel-good story of last season; Portland has to fix this, and fast. Napier is getting next to no burn playing behind Damian Lillard; Evan Turner's on the ball, anyway, when he comes in the game. Davis is a rugged guy and works hard, but he's not capable of fixing Portland's awful defense by himself; in Philly, he’d be an upgrade off the bench. So why not see if Noel can come into the Rose City and give them some defensive presence in the paint? Napier would get point guard minutes in Philly behind Rodriguez, and Davis is a first-rate energy provider off the bench. Luwawu-Cabarrot, one of Philly's first-round picks this year, can get with the Blazers' terrific coaching staff and develop slowly, out of sight.
