So you classify a defensive-minded big as a player with a "limited skillset"? MCW won ROY in an extremely weak rookie class who's best players didn't come onto the scene until a couple years later (Giannis, CJ) MCW also shot under 40% from the field and 30% from 3pt. It was obvious that it was empty stats due to the team being insanely awful and him always having the ball. You can't apply the same logic to Noel. He gets a high rate of both blocks and steals. How is that due to playing on the 76ers? Defensive stats translate no matter how good or bad the team is, offensive stats dont. It's also not that he's not good enough. He's their 3rd best player right now (arguably 2nd, I'm not that high on Okafor), but the top 2 guys are at the same position. He didn't have special demands. He isn't surprised he's being shopped as he wants to be traded. Best case scenario is he gives you over 15ppg per 36 minutes (he was getting 13 in his 2nd year in Philadelphia playing with shitty teammates). Lillard and McCollum would do wonders for his offensive game and he's a good pick and roll big. Defensively he could be a top 5 rim protector. He averaged a DBPM of +4 in his first two years in Philadelphia as a 20 and 21-year old. That's crazy. 15/10 per 36 with elite level rim protection and a high rate of steals isn't a "role player".
Put Vucevic next to Ed Davis or Noah Plumlee or Aminu....then put Plumlee next to Ed Davis or Aminu........that's the simple way to look at it
If the 76ers are offering Ross and the 76ers would much rather have Ross then why hasn't the 76ers accepted the offer yet, when they've benched Noel for the foreseeable future and likely won't get better offers? Makes no sense. I think that the Raptors have taken Ross off of the trade market. He's putting up 19 points per 36 minutes off the bench on 48/42/90 shooting splits. That's insanely good. Noel's value is dropping and they could likely find better win-now options that would come cheaper. Sullinger+Poeltl+Filler player for Bogut makes a lot more sense for them. Hell, they could do that and add a 1st round pick or two and land Vucevic.
We'd have to give up at least Harkless if we kept CJ, so you can't include both in that equation. Even so, if we got Cousins for FREE their big 4 would still be a lot better than our big 4.
Please post a link of him demanding a trade. He called the situation silly, that he thought the front office would have resolved it over the summer, and that pissed off Bryan Colangelo, but he never demanded a trade. He said something needed to be done, but he didn't say he wanted to be the one traded, nor did he have anything but nice things to say about his teammates Emiid or Okafor. He hasn't even feuded with his coach and acknowledged the roster redundancy has put his coach in a tough position. I think he fired his agent for encouraging him to go long with PHI's plan and have the elective surgery to postpone the inevitable logjam. He did that and when he came back and was ready to play, they jerked him around by making him alternate days rehabbing with the main team and their D league affiliate. He was literally commuting back and forth between the main team and the D league team on a daily basis, but not being allowed to play for either team. Why???? If all he was doing was some PT and riding a bike or working out in the pool, why shuttle him back and forth on a daily basis? All that time wasted on traveling back and forth, could have been spent doing more PT, rehab and rest. If all he's doing is rehab and not playing, why even bother sending him down to the D league at all No way in hell does the D league team have better trainers and facilities than the main club. BNM
I had forgotten who wrote this while reading this and was expecting to see BNM at the end. Great post Bones.
From his DraftExress profile: "Noel shows great potential as a pick and roll defender, hedging screens on the perimeter and recovering in impressive fashion with his extremely quick feet. He shows the ability to stay in front of smaller players on the perimeter when his team decides to play a switching defense, denying penetration effectively. " That, plus this: "Noel possesses an exceptional combination of size, length, mobility, explosiveness and timing, which allows him to completely shut down the paint as a weak-side shot-blocker. He's extremely patient and under control with his rotations, as he can cover a tremendous amount of ground thanks to his sheer quickness, both laterally and vertically, once he commits to making himself part of the play. Noel blocks shots from well above the rim with either hand, often in demoralizing fashion..." So, elite rim protection and good pick and roll defense. How does that not sound like something this team NEEDS? BNM
Exactly, in fact, it makes it even more impressive. He had the 4th highest DBPM in the entire league as a 20-year old rookie playing on an 18-win team. It's hard to imagine how anyone could have a positive +/- anything playing on an 18 win team, but to have the 4th best DBPM in the entire league playing with such crappy teammates is a fucking miracle. Usually a player's individual DRtg is largely influenced by his teammates. It's rare for a player to have a great DRtg while surrounded by poor defenders. Noel's DRtg of 99 was a full five points better than any of his teammates that played over 500 minutes. That's how advanced he was defensively compared to his other young teammates. And then last year being forced to play out of position, next to a defensive sieve like Jahlil Okafor, he still managed to post the 8th highest DBPM in the league. They have really misused this guys talent. Sure, now that Embiid is beasting, he's redundant and expendable, but they never should have drafted Oakafor and forced Noel to play out of position last year. They started him slowly his rookie year, and that makes sense, but after they started playing him big minutes after the all star break he averaged 13.1 pts, 10.0 reb, 2.3 blk and 2.1 stl per game in 32 minutes of playing time. Again, that was as a 20-year old rookie. BNM
GSW are also in the conversation for Noel and Embiid wants him to stay so maybe the Sixers need time to decide?
We are not givig McCollum for Vucevic, that's just plain nonsense. They won't want Crabbe either. Some of Plumlee, Aminu, Leonard and Davis might work.
Ian Clark + pick / Livingston. And then there's this massive 3 teams trade which i find unlikely to happen: http://www.inquisitr.com/3758153/nb...s-okafor-mcgee-celtics-thompson-zeller-76ers/
http://www.csnphilly.com/the700level/dont-trade-nerlens-noel-please It's probably safe to say at this point that Nerlens Noel would rather not continue to play basketball on the Philadelphia 76ers. He groused in the offseason about the glut of centers on the roster, he received elective knee surgery that forced him to miss the first month and a half of the season (and rehabbed away from the team), he complained about only being played eight minutes in Friday night's loss to the Lakers and consequently played no minutes in Sunday night's win against the Nets — something he should apparently get used to for the foreseeable future. He doesn't want to be here, and his coach, general manager and teammates might not be terribly inclined to argue for him to stay at this point, either. The knee surgery isn't a red flag of any sort, is it?
If Portland is in the discussion with Crabbe, you don't need much to get Noel. If Philadelphia really is looking to dump him for essentially nothing, any team can get in on discussions. Ian Clark is a better version of Crabbe--more efficient perimeter shooter, better passer, better defender. And paid like a tenth as much.
