Noel to the Celtics Proposal

[Moranis]

I'm a known fan of Noel.  He's a tremendous prospect.   He clearly is held back by playing next to Okafor.  At this point, it seems more likely we'll see Okafor traded.   Noel's stats starting at PF vs starting at C are night and day.  In the 11 games he's been allowed to start at Center this season, he's averaged 14.2 points, 8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.7 blocks and 2.0 steals in just 28.3mpg.  He's doing that with 64% shooting while at PF he's shot 46%. 

Project that out to 36 minutes and you have 18 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.2 blocks, 2.5 steals.

Sure it's only 11 games, but he showed this kind of progress last year... after the all-star break he averaged 13.1 points, 10 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.3 blocks and 2.1 steals with 49% shooting in 32mpg.

I think any trade for him starts with Marcus Smart.  I think Philly would have better options, though and they might just decide to trade Okafor instead.   Seems a lot of philly fans think Noel will fit better next to Embiid (who I think is most likely going to play next season), but if Embiid actually comes back healthy and plays as well as they expect, you might end up seeing both Okafor and Noel eventually traded.

TP. Honestly, I think Philly would be fools to trade him.

Okafor for D'Angelo Russell still seems like a trade that would make sense.   I still kind of believe the theory that the Lakers took Russell to force Philly into giving up extra assets.

except Okafor for all his flaws has significantly outperformed Russell this year.  Philly might actually want more than Russell for Okafor right now, which is just crazy to think about.

[Al91]

I wouldn't assume that trading Bradley, or any of our  guards, would make minutes available for a guard from this year's draft class. Said guard would still have to contend with IT, Smart, Hunter, and Young...potentially even ET. If ET is still on the team next year he'll surely be sharing the ball for minutes with IT and Smart, moving one of them off ball depending on the on-court combination. Meanwhile, we should be hoping that Young is finally competent enough to play consistent minutes next year.