Obviously we are going to need bigs with the loss of Baynes, Horford, most likely Theis, and Morris. It appears as of now we might only have the room exception of about 5 mil and minimum contracts unless we do a S&T for Walker to preserve the mid level exception about 10 mil and bi annual exception around 3.
I decided to look into further what these 2 local kids Noel and Vonleh both free agents have done this past year.
First with Noel he was once thought of a future player of the year candidate. I don’t know if Philly just screwed it up and didn’t develop him properly, but after a promising first couple years he kind of went backwards. I know he had some off court issues too. Things didn’t work out in Dallas as well, but he was also injured a lot and only played 30 games his last year there. Last year at OKC he only played 14 MPG per game behind Adams, but if you dig deeper his per 36 stats were 12.9 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, and 2.3 steals while shooting 58.7 from the field. What really stands out with those per 36 stats is Noel is 3rd in the league in blocks, and number 1
in steals! That really jumped out to me. I read he said in his exit interview he vowed to come back a monster next year. Maybe at just turning 25 he is maturing and ready to break out?
Noah Vonleh is a former lottery pick turning 24 later this summer. Whenever I saw him play he seemed pretty solid to me. Someone who plays the 4, but also the 5 in certain lineups. Last season was probably his best year. Through December he was shooting over 40% from 3 before coming back down to earth. What really stands out though he was top 30 in the league in defensive rebound rate, and we could use all the rebounding help we can get. Maybe he will start coming into his own as a stretch 4/5 who is a really good rebounder.
2 local kids that Danny could possibly take a chance on that could come cheap? Even if we went this route I’d still like to have at least 1 more reliable big like a Robin Lopez type.
Thoughts?
