Embiid and the Sixers have a better record than the Celtics this year and Noel has been a crucial part of that. I don't know how you could see that and not think Noel's value has bounced back.
The Sixers are not in any way winning games because of what Noel is doing, they are in fact winning in spite of Noel. He has had a positive +/- twice in 15 games, a +1 and +11. During their current streak of winning 8 out of 10 games he is a staggering -52 (worst on team by far), how they are winning games when they are getting killed with him on the floor is crazy. However with Embiid they are a +90 and have been squeaking out victories, 4 wins by 2 points or less.
Noels ratings during the 10 game streak of which he played in all but the win in Milwaukee.
Off. Rat. Def. Rat. Net Rat.
Noel on floor 94.6 107.5 -12.9
Noel off floor 104.0 95.0 +9.0
How anyone can either watch the games or just look at the stats and think it is in any way because of Noel is beyond me.
oracle, I don't want to ridicule you, because I know that unfortunately some fans just share out of context advanced stats that they simply don't understand. So let me give you some context to help you better understand why this post was complete off base.
Aside from an extremely small sample size of 8 minutes in which Noel and Embiid shared the court together and "outscored opponents by 33.1 points per 100 possessions", those two have exclusively played independently from one another. Embiid is on a 28 minute restriction so Noel is literally serving as his back-up right now.
So what these off court/on court stats are literally showing us that Philly has played worse when Embiid's backup is in the game. And thus, has played better when Embiid has been in the game. Kind of common sense, right? I mean, Embiid is statistically playing at a hall of fame level if he could do it for 36 minutes a night over 82 games. Much has been written about how Philly is like -800 with him off the court and +50 with him playing over the course of the entire season. They have played at a 56 win pace with him on the court and a below 20 win pace with him off. All your stats really do is settle the two year argument fans have had on this forum about whether a superstar is worth tanking for. Embiid is a budding superstar. What he's doing in philly proves the ends justify the means when it comes to tanking.
But I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Go ahead and pull up Noel's on-court advanced stats over the past 10 games and compare it to Embiid's off-court stats over the first 25 games of the season in which Noel wasn't even playing. That should give you a clear idea of whether Philly is playing better in Embiid's off-court time when Noel fills in. I'm honestly too lazy to look it up myself so perhaps this will blow up in my face. But I'll await for your analysis on that and give you props if you prove Philly's bench was playing better without the inclusion of Noel. Good luck.
Embiid's off court stats through Dec. 10th, Noel returned on the 11th.
Embiid off court Off. Rat. 95.7, Def. Rat. 109.4, Net Rat. -13.7
Noel's on court stats for the last 10 games were already posted above but here they are again.
Noel on court Off. Rat. 94.6, Def. Rat. 107.5, Net Rat. -12.9
The Sixers have been just as dreadfully awful with or without Noel anytime Embiid is not on the floor. Noel just doesn't move the needle, Okafor moves the needle in the wrong direction, the C's should have zero interest in either for a multitude of reasons. Embiid always had the obvious talent it was only ever a question of health for him...and still is.
Edit: If you add in last nights game to Noel's numbers they drop even more.
Off. Rat. 93.2, Def. Rat. 107.9, Net Rat. -14.6 during the win streak over the course of the last 11 games.