Noel with 12 points, 12 rebs, 1 blk, and 1 stl in 24 minutes tonight.
This is what he'd give to the C's EVERY NIGHT, or at least close. I bet he would give us around 12 and 10 each night with around 2 blocks and over a steal each game.
We saw tonight how good Horford is when he has a mobile big next to him. Our defense and rebounding would be much, much better with someone like Noel. The only thing you'd be giving up is spacing that someone like JJ can provide that Noel can't.
His price will be higher though as a result.
Unless you expect to sign him this summer, in which you just have to hope Philly aren't willing to keep him (who knows, they might, they got cap space too).
What would you trade to acquire him at the deadline?
As much as I'd hate it personally, I'd probably be willing to give up Smart to get him, which should be more than enough since I can't imagine any other team beating that offer with the context he's in.
I just think with us getting a point guard in the draft, we'll have to move on from him or AB eventually. Might as well get Noel in the process if we can.
Philly probably has to go for it, too, because they're playing their way out of the better point guards in the draft, especially with LA looking like they'll keep their pick this year now. They could get someone like Monk in the mid-lottery, who would seemingly be a good fit with Smart in the backcourt. They'd have the making of a seriously elite defensive team between Embiid and Smart, too.
theres not much point in Philly trading Noel for smart. They are better off keeping Noel. They have been better than the Celtics this year and Noel is a key part of that.
Seems like you should check the standings
I have.
this year implies this season. Unless you wish to continue to feed your rep as a troll just say calendar year next time.
If I meant this season, I would have said this season.
This year, Boston is 7-4 including losses to Toronto, New York and Portland. Philly is 9-3 including wins over Toronto, New York and Portland. Philly's actually won 10 of their last 13 and have only lost one game with Embiid on the court during that stretch. To be fair to us, it was a game against Boston in which a peak-health Celtic team that played all their top 5 guys 30+ minutes narrowly knocked off Philly by 4 points after Embiid fouled out in 26 minutes. Philly is now a Top 10 defensive team for the season and has had the best defense in the league with Embiid on the court. It is what it is.
They have basically been even with us since December 8th. They started surging when Noel returned to play consistent minutes on December 30th. They won their last two games (Clippers and Bucks) without Embiid playing. In those past two games Noel had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals with 8-10 shooting in 29 minutes against the Clippers... followed by 16 points, 13 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal with 5-9 shooting in 28 minutes - including the game winning mid-range jumper against the Bucks.
When you're talking about a team that is building it's identity around elite-level defense, Noel is a great fit behind the transcendent Embiid. Long-term, he'd make sense there playing 20-25 minutes a night as a back up Center. Elite team defense comes from the inside out. Guard defense is a luxury that doesn't make nearly the same type of impact as having a goalie in the middle changing the game from inside. Marcus Smart doesn't really make any sense on that team. They don't need guard defense off the bench. They need guys who can hit shots. It makes more sense to keep Noel and play him 20-25 minutes than to have Smart take away minutes from their shooters for 15-20 minutes per night off the bench. I really don't see it at all from Philly's perspective.
Honestly, I imagine Boston has tried shipping out Smart for Noel for the past two years and Philly has turned them down. Then this Summer, I think it probably flipped where Philly reluctantly called up and said, "hey, we changed our mind... we'll take Smart for Noel" to which Boston replied, "Yeah, about that... We're no longer interested"... And as we head into the trade deadline I imagine Boston calling up to say, "Hey uh... actually on second thought, we'll do Smart for Noel" to which Philly will be like, "Nah... We good."
It's just a bad fit. It's magnified by the fact it might be difficult for Boston to keep Noel and still have max cap room to add a significant free agent. It's less of a problem for Philly who has tons of cap space. They can keep Noel and still have plenty of room to add a major player.
My guess Philly has shifted it's stance and Okafor is the one most readily available. I still think Okafor is an intriguing prospect who is clearly much better offensively than defensively at this point. It's tough to really guess what he's worth. He's got flaws, but it's fair to note that even this year he's statistically outperforming every single 2016 draftee. You can't really write him off yet considering his natural talent and age. Clearly his lack of elite defense and rebounding makes him less desirable to fans. Ainge has clearly had interest over the past year, but who knows what he's offering at this point. Even if Boston were willing to trade Marcus for Okafor, I still don't see how Marcus would fit with the construction of Philly's roster now and heading forward.
LOL. You never were good with context, were ya?
Not sure what you mean. The entire premise of Philly trading away Noel is based around the idea that they can't keep him and Embiid. That's doesn't seem to be true. If you're looking for a back-up to Joel Embiid, you can't do much better than Nerlens Noel. Embiid has been the best defender in the league in minutes he's played so it's hard to find anyone on that level. Noel isn't quite on that level. But Noel is an exceptional defender in his own right and makes a lot of sense long-term there. Trading him for a back-up guard who's greatest weakness is the main thing the team is trying to improve on - while sacrificing your elite back-up center defense... just seems like a really bad idea both in the short term as they make a wild push for the playoffs... and in the long-term as they likely will have better options to add guard talent in the near future.
I'm not disagreeing with you that from Boston's perspective trading Smart for Noel would make some sense (but only if they could retain max cap space this Summer). I'm just not seeing it for Philly. It's a bad fit.
I've laid out why it IS a good trade for Philly elsewhere, i.e. since it looks like they won't get higher than a 7th pick this year in the draft and won't have any real good opportunity to improve their guard position otherwise. But that's another argument.
The context disproving your thesis with Noel is this:
1) Noel is NOT a backup in this league;
2) Noel does NOT want to be a backup in this league;
3) The Sixers are NOT going to pay the money needed to keep him, especially as a backup;
4) The Sixers are NOT going to force an unhappy player to be a backup at a majorly expensive price.
That's just not how it works in reality, Lar. You can sit here and say they can keep him all you want, but every single thing coming out of that place suggests that he's still getting traded.
