Poll: Yes or No, Celtics the #1defense in the NBA with Noel

[Snakehead]

Horford is certainly quite a bit better than Noel on defense and not useless on offense.  Some of you guys are so lost on Noel thinking he is some amazing player with huge potential.  We already have a much better big man who can play offense and defense locked up for multiple years.

[Big333223]

Horford is certainly quite a bit better than Noel on defense and not useless on offense.  Some of you guys are so lost on Noel thinking he is some amazing player with huge potential.  We already have a much better big man who can play offense and defense locked up for multiple years.

Horford can't play 48 minutes a night and the Celtics don't have a good backup center. Noel would be a great addition, too, because Horford is versatile enough to play the 4 with Noel at the 5.

[Rosco917]

Depends who they gave up to get Noel.

I'm in the camp that the C's will have the best defense in the league as the team currently stands.

this ^^^

If we have to give up scoring, I don't feel it will be worth adding more D.

When we added Horford, the acquisition of Noel lost it's luster for me. 

[Snakehead]

Horford is certainly quite a bit better than Noel on defense and not useless on offense.  Some of you guys are so lost on Noel thinking he is some amazing player with huge potential.  We already have a much better big man who can play offense and defense locked up for multiple years.

Horford can't play 48 minutes a night and the Celtics don't have a good backup center. Noel would be a great addition, too, because Horford is versatile enough to play the 4 with Noel at the 5.

If you're proposing giving up any assets for him or signing him in a market where someone will overpay him on a different team: no thanks.  If we are so high on this guy and pitching him as a back up and maybe he can play next to Horford well I think we see what we're dealing with.  I'd rather not have a big who is useless on offense out there.

[timpiker]

Out in left field here.  Could Noel be today's Bill Russell?

[KG Living Legend]

Out in left field here.  Could Noel be today's Bill Russell?

 I mean No. He's certainly not Russell. However the very first time I saw him play at Kentucky, I thought he was one of the most talented Defenders I've ever seen.

 Just uncanny quickness and timing for a big man.

[walker834]

I'd love to get Nerlens. I feel like he is what this team is missing in ways.   I'm  not giving up Smart or Brown though.  He isn't the passer, rebounder Russell was or team leader.  Russell was a player coach. He's a really good defender though.  I'd give up Crowder and a future pick maybe.  That's still a lot. Right now we are fine with Amir, Horford, KO, Zeller etc and our guards.  We are a much higher scoring athletic team that way. 

Amir isn't too bad himself and is more a veteran.  Noel is an upgrade but we are really fine where we don't have to give up a ton.

There's something that doesn't fit right there. That's why Ainge is paid the big bucks though to make it make sense.

I'm fine waiting on Noel. He's going to be a free agent.  Philly has too many big men with Simmons, Noel, Embiid and Okafor where they aren't going to be able to keep them all. They really need a pg and might have done a swap if we had drafted Kris Dunn, but those are rumors and we drafted Brown because we liked him.   

I think there is much more that goes on vs just saying we'll draft Dunn and trade him for Noel.  It doesn't work like that.  We drafted Brown because he was our guy.

Giving up really good talent for a guy who is going to be a free agent is silly.

[Celtics18]

I think that if we acquire Steve Novak, we'll be the best defensive team in the league.

[SHAQATTACK]

But he is n't worth Marcus Smart.   ....

I vote yes but not giving up Smart to acquire him .

[ThePaintedArea]

Out in left field here.  Could Noel be today's Bill Russell?

 I mean No. He's certainly not Russell. However the very first time I saw him play at Kentucky, I thought he was one of the most talented Defenders I've ever seen.

 Just uncanny quickness and timing for a big man.

Yes, great quickness and timing to go with so much length - great combination of size and mobility.

I get the appeal.  Not for the third pick.  He's a liability as a starter and definitely if he's at starter money. 

It's different if he's your ninth man, where you can have a specialist - because he's just a really lousy offensive player.  I said "is" - he's got room to grow, youth, and athleticism.  Depends on the price. 

Definitely not for Jaylen Brown, who can give you a complete game, with stopper potential in a scorer, and versatility - being able to switch onto 4/3/2 looks very reachable.

Big concern is Nerlens' knees.  They've already taken him out of what would have been his rookie year.  Look at the joints - slightly hyperextended in resting position.  A joint closer to the end of its range of motion already.

Hey, Al Horford is 30.  But they got him because they want bigs you can run offense through.  And... he's a rim protector.  And he can pick and roll or pick and pop.  He protects the ball at a superb rate - about half of Evan Turner's turnover %.

Horford also has a variety of ways he scores effectively - big upgrade in efficiency.  I'm glad for Turner!  Got paid, man, and he earned it. And he's a great guy.

But the Celtics just upgraded their offensive efficiency big-time.

People don't talk about turnovers around here, but Evan was not very efficient.  It's just that they needed him to do all that shot-creating off the dribble.  Now they can run stuff through Horford - and we'll see early and often experiments with Jaylen taking it into the paint and looking for spot-ups.

This could be a really potent offense, with three guys generating offense in their different ways.

[Ed Hollison]

This collective obsession with Nerlens Noel gives me chilling flashbacks to this board's obsession with Omer Asik about three years ago.

The Pelicans traded for Omer Asik, at the time known as one of the best defensive centers in the game, to pair alongside Anthony Davis in the frontcourt. Guess what? They still sucked.

Gotta have offense from all five positions these days if you want to win. Or have Lebron.

[greece66]

If we are talking of regular season rankings we have a (small yet real) shot at #1 with our roster as is.

But this not the same thing as the best D in the NBA because regular season =/= playoffs

[KG Living Legend]

Horford is certainly quite a bit better than Noel on defense and not useless on offense.  Some of you guys are so lost on Noel thinking he is some amazing player with huge potential.  We already have a much better big man who can play offense and defense locked up for multiple years.

 I'm not sure about that. And the fact is with Horford and Noel the defense would be dominant.

[KG Living Legend]

This collective obsession with Nerlens Noel gives me chilling flashbacks to this board's obsession with Omer Asik about three years ago.

The Pelicans traded for Omer Asik, at the time known as one of the best defensive centers in the game, to pair alongside Anthony Davis in the frontcourt. Guess what? They still sucked.

Gotta have offense from all five positions these days if you want to win. Or have Lebron.

 The difference is Ask was much older. A solid defender and good rebounder. Noel is 22 and could be the best Defensive big in the game for another 10 years.

[Snakehead]

Out in left field here.  Could Noel be today's Bill Russell?

The shark you jumped must be in left field too.