Imagine our Nets pick lands in top 5, would you trade it for Nerlens Noel?

[chambers]

So let's say that the Brooklyn Nets pick we have this year lands in top 5 on draft night. Don't ask how just imagine it.

eg: we end up with pick #5.
Simmons is gone to Philly
Labbisiere is gone to the Nuggets.

But Jaylen Brown, Brandon Ingram, Dragan Bender, Malik Newman are still on the board.

Philly calls and says they'll give you Nerlens Noel for the #5 pick.

What do you do?
A)Take Noel
B)draft a prospect

If your answer is B, please say who you'd take and why etc..

Obviously to answer this question you should probably have some idea about the draft class coming up, rather than just saying 'Noel is proven, some rookie is not' etc...
If you want a rough idea of who's up for draft this year watch this.
Yes it's a highlights video- we know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdP_N85Fq9M

So, imagine the Nets pick lands in top 5, would you trade it for Nerlens Noel?

[chambers]

Now I'll answer my own question...

Hmm, tough call.
If Jaylen Brown or Ingram were still on the board at #5 I'd have to seriously consider taking one of them. I'd hope to take Jaylen Brown but I'd think long and hard about Noel.

Longer term, I also think that Noel will seriously consider Boston as a free agency destination because the Celtics are his favorite team and he's from Boston.

 Obviously that will be 4-5 years from now, but if we drafted one of these small forwards now with the Nets pick, we'd potentially have Smart, Hunter, Rozier all hitting their 3rd and 4th year in the league and much closer to being legitimate NBA players ready to make a run like the early OKC days, and Noel can slide right in.

I'm still not sure what I'd do.
It's a hard question to answer because it's early, but it's food for thought considering Philly might want to move one of their big men and they love lottery picks.

[max215]

I'll take Jaylen Brown.

[Csfan1984]

If Philly was moving on then he probably isn't worth the pick.

[krumeto]

At that point of time Noel will have only 1 year on his rookie deal. Unless he has somehow developed an offensive game, I am not doing the trade. Top 5 pick on the rookie scale with these cap numbers is worth more IMO.

As you pointed out Noel hinted on several occasions how much he loves Boston. I hope the losing catches on with him by next summer, he plays "the Greg Monroe" and gets out of there for free agency.

[Mass_1081]

  I don't understand all the Noel threads, there have been no rumors Philly wants to move him, especially now with Embiids injury. We also have no clue how the draft will look like this year, the top ten will mostly be all incoming freshman and international players. Ask Cliff Alexander about judging players just out of highschool. That being said, I would have traded the fifth pick last year or this year for him, he's going to be a much better pro than WCS.

[SHAQATTACK]

Not if Thon Maker is available at any price.

[moiso]

  I don't understand all the Noel threads, there have been no rumors Philly wants to move him, especially now with Embiids injury. We also have no clue how the draft will look like this year, the top ten will mostly be all incoming freshman and international players. Ask Cliff Alexander about judging players just out of highschool. That being said, I would have traded the fifth pick last year or this year for him, he's going to be a much better pro than WCS.

I'm with you on your opening sentence.  It's weird how people zero in on the same few players for months at a time when they aren't even available.

[chambers]

  I don't understand all the Noel threads, there have been no rumors Philly wants to move him, especially now with Embiids injury. We also have no clue how the draft will look like this year, the top ten will mostly be all incoming freshman and international players. Ask Cliff Alexander about judging players just out of highschool. That being said, I would have traded the fifth pick last year or this year for him, he's going to be a much better pro than WCS.

I'm with you on your opening sentence.  It's weird how people zero in on the same few players for months at a time when they aren't even available.

Well the question was brought up in another thread, and I thought it was worthy of its own thread because...
*Noel is popular with Boston fans for obvious reasons
*Philly may be overloaded at the PF/C spot if Embid recovers properly
*Philly also appears to be the most willing to move 'talent' for lottery picks

The whole point of 'imagining' these scenarios is because they are exactly that. Just hoping to get some reasonable discussion going regarding a draft that both we and Philly will have a decent part of.
In theory, Philly and Boston could have a combined total of 6 of the 14 lottery picks so we're going to be hearing a lot more about this draft.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

[slamtheking]

well, since you said it was a 'top 5' pick and not #5, I'd lean against making the deal but would have to see how the college season plays out AND see who does what at the combines AND see exactly where we pick in the top 5 AND see how much Noel develops this upcoming season (does he develop any offensive game) AND keep my ear to the ground to see if he's becoming disgruntled with the tankathon in Philly to consider playing out his contract and a qualifying offer to hit free agency sooner.

What also comes into play are:
- did we get the Dallas pick and if so,  where did it end up?  (I really think it'll be 8-10 this year)
- where did the C's own pick end up? (I think they miss the playoffs and will either be 11-12 or they'll finally get lucky in the drawing and jump to top 3 and that would just make me feel warm all over seeing Philly get shafted in the drawing again)
- did we get the Minny 1st too? (I think it's not as out of the question as others believe)

Personally, I'm dead certain that's exactly where the Nets pick will end up after the next lottery drawing so the only hypothetical here is if Noel is available for that pick.  I see Noel as a good, defensive center that would certainly help this team but if we have a pick that high, I'm looking to grab a transcendent talent that can impact both ends of the floor.  a top 5 pick this coming draft may have that ability but we'll have to see how this year plays out in both the pros and college.

[PhoSita]

Dunno enough about this current class of players yet.

[number_n9ne]

No, I like Ingram and Brown a lot, I also like (but would want around 8-10) Henry Ellenson. I'm kinda hoping we end up with two lottery picks this year and can lock up a SF and a PF/C. If we walked away with Ingram and Ellenson, and then somehow signed Noel in a few years if he pulled a Greg Monroe, that would be a hell of a young team.

So many if's though. All of this is hard to judge just because we haven't even seen these kids play in college yet.

[manl_lui]

i don't know much of the 2016 draft class, but I would rather see how good they are first. I would hold on to that pick (if we do get 5), to the point where we pick if I have to...

[bdm860]

A big part of this comes down to Noel and his contract expectations.  While I think he can be an All-Star or All-Defensive player, I don't like him as a max contract guy.  Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Marc Gasol, Andrew Bogut, Serge Ibaka, Tyson Chandler: these are guys who never signed max contracts (well Gasol finally did this summer, but not after his rookie deal), I don't see Noel with a higher ceiling than these guys.  Roy Hibbert on the other hand got a max contract, and the Pacers could barely give him away this year.

So if the C's did acquire Noel next summer, he'd be ready for an extension right away, as he'd be entering the last year of his rookie deal.  Without knowing the actual pick # or anything about the draft class, if the C's traded for Noel and were able to sign him to an extension right away for <=20% of the cap, I like it.  If the C's have to give him 25%-30% of the cap, I don't like it.

Will Noel agree to sign an extension right away for less than the max?  That's a key factor here, as I wouldn't want to trade a great asset only to get into a Cavs/Tristan Thompson situation.

[chilidawg]

I voted yes, but a lot depends on what our current crop of players are looking like at the end of the year.  If you pick a 19 year old, you may not see dividends for two or three years, and many of our current players (sully, ko, smart, young, zeller, pjiii) will be getting to the ends of their rookie deals.  Noel could slide right in and contribute, potentially getting us to contender status.

In reality, it's so speculative it's impossible to answer.