Nerlens Noel: Time to come home

[Fafnir]

I don't think Brad pushed the offense to Theis/Kanter, 76ers defense did.

Brad had Kemba/Gordon driving and trying to create, the 76ers defense did the smart thing and snuffed that out by helping off Thies/Kanter.

[gpap]

RW is 22 years old and getting the first real nba action of his life. Noel has been around for several years and hasn't improved much as a player.

Hard pass.

FYI, our big men made Embiid work last night. We didn't lose that game because of either of them. Embiid is top 2 or 3 interior offensive players in the league, he's going to get his points if they get him the ball.

We lost last night because Tatum was putrid and Brown decided he'd rather watch the game on-court than actually play in it.

Hmmm...I don't think so.

Brown was very much involved in every facet of the game.

[Sophomore]

Is he any different than Robert Williams? Good counting stats per minute, awful defense and decision making.

I'd be open to it if Williams hip turns out to be a long term issue.

From the little I've seen he seems to be a more mature Robert Williams, his defensive IQ seems fine to me. The offence isn't pretty, but he's fine in a rim runner role.

I watch a lot of OKC games and his defense is bad in the same way its bad for Timelord. Jumps himself out of position to get blocks and makes silly decisions outside of the scheme. So the team's defense is bad when he's out there.

Similarly he's a productive rebounder yet when he's on the court his team rebounds poorly far worse than when he's off the court. The opposing team gets a ton of offensive rebounds because he chases blocks or otherwise doesn't take care of his rebounding responsibility.

Dude is basically Timelord, except he probably still thinks he should be a max contract player.

The difference being that Nerlens is in his sixth NBA season while Timelord is entering his second. And, RWIII has shown some real growth over the past year. I think his ceiling is clearly higher.

[Smartacus]

Is he any different than Robert Williams? Good counting stats per minute, awful defense and decision making.

I'd be open to it if Williams hip turns out to be a long term issue.

From the little I've seen he seems to be a more mature Robert Williams, his defensive IQ seems fine to me. The offence isn't pretty, but he's fine in a rim runner role.

I watch a lot of OKC games and his defense is bad in the same way its bad for Timelord. Jumps himself out of position to get blocks and makes silly decisions outside of the scheme. So the team's defense is bad when he's out there.

Similarly he's a productive rebounder yet when he's on the court his team rebounds poorly far worse than when he's off the court. The opposing team gets a ton of offensive rebounds because he chases blocks or otherwise doesn't take care of his rebounding responsibility.

Dude is basically Timelord, except he probably still thinks he should be a max contract player.

The difference being that Nerlens is in his sixth NBA season while Timelord is entering his second. And, RWIII has shown some real growth over the past year. I think his ceiling is clearly higher.

Not sure that I agree that Williams has shown much growth. I think what he's shown is that he can flatten teams that don't have a matchup to put against him but he cant be on the floor against the elite teams in the league.

Whether that changes is on Timelord but I do not think that he possesses the defensive instincts that Noel does. Noel has more intensity and gives me more of a KG vibe than Timelord who is way more laid back. I want my defender anchor at the 4/5 to be mean, the majority of the offense is already covered from the perimeter any ways.

[Sophomore]

Is he any different than Robert Williams? Good counting stats per minute, awful defense and decision making.

I'd be open to it if Williams hip turns out to be a long term issue.

From the little I've seen he seems to be a more mature Robert Williams, his defensive IQ seems fine to me. The offence isn't pretty, but he's fine in a rim runner role.

I watch a lot of OKC games and his defense is bad in the same way its bad for Timelord. Jumps himself out of position to get blocks and makes silly decisions outside of the scheme. So the team's defense is bad when he's out there.

Similarly he's a productive rebounder yet when he's on the court his team rebounds poorly far worse than when he's off the court. The opposing team gets a ton of offensive rebounds because he chases blocks or otherwise doesn't take care of his rebounding responsibility.

Dude is basically Timelord, except he probably still thinks he should be a max contract player.

The difference being that Nerlens is in his sixth NBA season while Timelord is entering his second. And, RWIII has shown some real growth over the past year. I think his ceiling is clearly higher.

Not sure that I agree that Williams has shown much growth. I think what he's shown is that he can flatten teams that don't have a matchup to put against him but he cant be on the floor against the elite teams in the league.

Whether that changes is on Timelord but I do not think that he possesses the defensive instincts that Noel does. Noel has more intensity and gives me more of a KG vibe than Timelord who is way more laid back. I want my defender anchor at the 4/5 to be mean, the majority of the offense is already covered from the perimeter any ways.

RWIII is not ready for prime time, I agree with that. But last year he was borderline unplayable. This year he isn't. To me he is clearly much better. Still chases too many blocks and isn't always in position. But he's had a few fairly long stretches where he stays down, sits in his stance with hands up, gets into the right position. I think it's grounds for optimism - he just needs to be more consistent. His passing and rolling is already pretty good.

[Celtics4ever]

RWIII is not ready for prime time, I agree with that

And Noel is ?   I don't think so.  I will take Timelord any day of the week.

[Sophomore]

RWIII is not ready for prime time, I agree with that

And Noel is ?   I don't think so.  I will take Timelord any day of the week.

We’re on the same page. I meant he’s still got things to work on - but as the rest of the post says he’s making strides and if he can stay healthy I’m optimistic about his continuing growth.

Noel I know very little about.

[Fierce1]

RWIII is not ready for prime time, I agree with that

And Noel is ?   I don't think so.  I will take Timelord any day of the week.

Agree.

Noel is not an upgrade over RWill.

Both of them are still prone to mistakes.

[Kuberski33]

I kinda started to like Kanter. Last night he was in the right position and was given enough time by the flow of the game to make the right switches. Him shooting 10/13 you can argue he torched Embiid. Kanter is a keeper this season. Also like Theis. ...

now the rest of the bench and rookies not so much ... lets do one of those 6 for 1 trades proposed lol 

Yes.
Some here get enamored with guys who are young, athletic and can either dunk hard or swat the occasional shot into the 3rd row and think that automatically translates into being an all star center.  Most teams have at least one guy like that - and they're all hoping for the same thing - that they eventually pull all that potential together and become a stud.  Most never do.

[Smartacus]

I kinda started to like Kanter. Last night he was in the right position and was given enough time by the flow of the game to make the right switches. Him shooting 10/13 you can argue he torched Embiid. Kanter is a keeper this season. Also like Theis. ...

now the rest of the bench and rookies not so much ... lets do one of those 6 for 1 trades proposed lol 

Yes.
Some here get enamored with guys who are young, athletic and can either dunk hard or swat the occasional shot into the 3rd row and think that automatically translates into being an all star center.  Most teams have at least one guy like that - and they're all hoping for the same thing - that they eventually pull all that potential together and become a stud.  Most never do.

I get that not everyone would be on board with Noel but that is a lazy misrepresentation of my take.

A. Timelord is far more likely to swat a shot into the front row than Noel. I've been watching Nerlens since pre-draft and he keeps the ball in bounds the majority of the time.

If he 'occasionally' swats it into the 3rd row it is after he disrupted several other shots in bounds and those are the plays that I'm more 'enamored' with.
https://youtu.be/nwRtoW97uRg (A game where he had 6 blocks and kept all of them in bounds)

B. When did I say anything about him turning into an All Star or even a stud?

My take was that Noel would slot in well between Kanter and Theis. Yes I think that at age 25 he is capable of more than he's shown but my expectations of him are fairly grounded. I just think that he's better than Robert Williams.