I don't want to get rid of Smart and Noel makes so much sense here I honstly wasn't even considering the potential that he'd be a rental. FWIW I don't think they want Smart either, too much of a potental leadership turnover. We're in a position for Smart to rise as one of the leaders in this team. Doubt Philly would want to mess with Ben Simmons... Which is why I could see them being interested in Jaylen Brown.
I love the kid and, if it's what the FO wants, I hope he retires a Celtic. But if I'm the 6'ers, Brown's my real target. That team is about too infuse an unprecedented amount of talent onto the floor. Egos will be tested and it will take dynamic personalities to rise up. Could imagine Smart ruffling feathers but Brown potentially fitting in just right. They have a need at Jaylen's position and his open court athleticism would be exactly what Simmons would need as a fast break running mate. Add on to that his dynamic personality and he could become a Philly legend.
If you think Brown has the ability to become a legend for the team he plays for, why in the world would Boston move him for a defensive roleplayer who can be signed as a free agent? Given what we know about how hard Ainge pursued Justise Winslow, and with Brown being pretty close physically to a Winslow clone, I just don't see Ainge moving him for a guy who doesn't have a ton of trade value and gets real expensive real quick. There's just no need to give up that much, because one of their centers is going to force his way out sooner rather than later.
As for the Noel rental, ignoring the home town connection factor, the obvious fit, and the fact that we'd be able to offer him a 5th year, I'd also imagine that his market might be dryer than you'd think from a former top prospect. During the draft process he fell as much for his strange prickly nature as he did for his uncertain health. There were rumblings around pre draft times that teams were unable to contact him, they'd be told to call a number and no one would ever answer. Kind of seems like a bit of a difficult guy to have in your locker room, especially if it's not strong.
There's just too much money floating around. Mozgov got $60-odd million, Noel's absolutely getting at least that, and likely much more, especially if he spends the whole season as a starting big on a playoff team. The rental thing is mostly about the fact that, currently, plan A for Boston is to either sign/trade for Blake Griffin or Demarcus Cousins and then (if OKC strikes out in free agency next summer) making an all-in offer for Westbrook next summer with a ton of picks and prospects. Noel doesn't help with that at all, and you probably can't keep him while pulling off both those moves.
Failing that, off the top of my head, Millsap/Gallinari/Ibaka are all out there on the free agent market next summer and likely gettable (as well as Noel himself, if he stays in Philly). Trading for Noel and signing him long-term means you're not going after any of them. Passing on them is potentially fine, but there's no reason to give up prime assets for the right to pass on them. Put another way, if you're trading Brown for Noel it also means you aren't getting, say, Ibaka, and I just can't justify functionally choosing Noel over Brown
and Ibaka, especially when Nerlens is out there as a free agent and could potentially be had for cap space as a fallback option. I'll give up Rozier and non-Nets picks for the certainty of Noel over the possibility of a signing, but not Brown or Smart and pick(s)
We don't lack for leadership here and we can just tell Noel to play his game. You say Noel and Horford overlap in their skill set but then Stevens has also said many times that 4s and 5s have largely interchangible responsibilities in his system. Noel has made strides toward shooting the mid range J and IMO would coexesit with Horford. Don't twist my words when I said Noel had issues playing with a Center like Okafor was not saying that He can't play with Centers. In our aystem, playing off Horford, Noel could be a defensive big man, not just a defensive 4 or 5.
The fit
isn't that neat. Nerlens shot less than 29% from the field on all shot attempts beyond 3 feet last season. He can't shoot, full stop. He's only useful as the roll man in the pick-and-roll (in which role Horford is much more versatile and valuable, if less springy) or as a weak-side garbage man (in which case he's clogging up the lane) on offense. That's a problem because Horford's best role on offense is as the primary screener, not as a Jonas Jerebko imitator in the corner. On defense, Horford (especially now that he's in his thirties) and Noel are both natural centers, which means one of them is going to be chasing smaller guys on the perimeter, which Noel was uncomfortable with in Philly and which Horford will be less and less suited to as he ages. Noel's a good enough defender that he's still and overall upgrade on that end on whoever else might be played with Horford, but it's not seamless and you're giving stuff back on the offensive end of the court.
Again, at the right price that's fine, because in a vacuum it's a step up overall, but only if you aren't giving up key pieces. Noel's worth spare parts, and Boston can beat anyone on volume there. If New Orleans wants to give up Buddy Hield for him and that's the baseline you have to beat, then they're welcome to Nerlens.
EDIT:
Thesixersense.com has an article today saying the team needs to trade Noel.
http://thesixersense.com/2016/08/15/the-philadelphia-76ers-need-to-get-rid-of-nerlens-noel/
The two trade options they offer:
#1 - Noel for Marcus Smart and Boston's 2017 1st (which Boston can't actually do since they can't trade their own 2017 1st)
#2 - Noel for Avery Bradley
Hard to take an article seriously when the first trade isn't possible eh?
I pointed it out and the author said he should have just put "Marcus Smart + a future 1st rounder".
He compares Smart to Shumpert in the article, which is actually pretty accurate thus far. Here's his full text on Smart. Interesting to see fans from other teams size up our assets:
This is the type of scenario that has Boston fans all riled up. For some reason, they believe that Marcus Smart is going to be a franchise star. Many of the Celtics faithful are appalled at this trade scenario saying that it is not giving Smart enough trade value. I have seen multiple people through forums and articles quote the CARMELO formula by FiveThirtyEight as ‘proof’ that Smart will be a star one day.
For those that are not familiar already, this formula uses a set of metrics to find any players most comparable (past and present) NBA players on a points system. It then uses those metrics and comps players to attempt to accurately predict a player’s future performance, wins above replacement and market value. While I do believe the formula is intriguing and could provide predictive data, it is extremely flawed to be using it as your only basis when deciding if a player is good or that they will be in the future.
This formula lists Marcus Smart in the “Future All-Star” category and Boston Celtics fans will go to war defending that. What is interesting to me though, is that this is the same formula that lists Avery Bradley as “Average starter” when he has better ratings than Smart in any Scoring metric and is only slightly worse in the defensive categories. It also lists Kent Bazemore as a “Rotational Player” when he is nearly better than Smart in every metric aside from draft position. It is also worth noting that Smart’s top comparison is Iman Shumpert and that is the part that I strongly agree with.
Like Shumpert, Smart brings a strong defensive presence and is good at attacking the rim and drawing fouls. This is something the Sixers did not have much of, if at all, last season. That being said, Smart will need to drastically improve his shooting efficiency as he has averaged under 36 percent from the field since entering the league.
Quite simply, even if you think it's equal value moving Smart for Noel makes no sense for Boston because next season Noel will take up a star's salary slot and Smart won't. Same with Bradley. Given that they're all supporting pieces, I'll take the two making a fraction of what the third is when you're out hunting stars.
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