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

[ThePaintedArea]

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.

Not a plausible argument.  Asik's only 30 now.

A bit of a mystery; was it the coach? With Thibs he was a monster defender, one of the tops in the league. When he signed with Houston his D dropped off a cliff.

Or was it the money?

[Snakehead]

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.

Not a plausible argument.  Asik's only 30 now.

A bit of a mystery; was it the coach? With Thibs he was a monster defender, one of the tops in the league. When he signed with Houston his D dropped off a cliff.

Or was it the money?

IMO opinion it's money and fit.

Perkins is a good example people are familiar with.  He fit the Celtics roster at the time perfectly but you send him to another team and pay him and he becomes an albatross.

Guys that are super limited need specific fits and I sure as hell don't want be the guy to pay them like they don't have said limitations.

Asik with Davis is not a good fit (Davis should be playing C unless you have a really good C on your team) and the team doesn't have enough going on on offense at other positions to allow you to play an Asik type.  Fit matters so much with defensive bigs who are liabilities on offense.

[PAOBoston]

The C's might have the #1 defense without Noel.

[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.

Not a plausible argument.  Asik's only 30 now.

A bit of a mystery; was it the coach? With Thibs he was a monster defender, one of the tops in the league. When he signed with Houston his D dropped off a cliff.

Or was it the money?

IMO opinion it's money and fit.

Perkins is a good example people are familiar with.  He fit the Celtics roster at the time perfectly but you send him to another team and pay him and he becomes an albatross.

Guys that are super limited need specific fits and I sure as hell don't want be the guy to pay them like they don't have said limitations.

Asik with Davis is not a good fit (Davis should be playing C unless you have a really good C on your team) and the team doesn't have enough going on on offense at other positions to allow you to play an Asik type.  Fit matters so much with defensive bigs who are liabilities on offense.

 To the not a plausible argument guy. Noel is in a whole other stratosphere than Asik. Asik was doing a good job five years ago.

 Noel is a Ben Wallace once in ten years type of defender. He's probably a future Defensive player of the year type talent when he gets on a winning team.

 If he was on the Celtics for the next five years and we were a top 2 seed ever year you here his name all the time. In Philly nobody cares.

[Snakehead]

 Noel is a Ben Wallace once in ten years type of defender. He's probably a future Defensive player of the year type talent when he gets on a winning team.

 If he was on the Celtics for the next five years and we were a top 2 seed ever year you here his name all the time. In Philly nobody cares.

If I cared enough I would signature this because it aint happening.  Ben Wallace was amazing.  But I just don't' care enough.  He will never be that good at all.

[Bobshot]

 It's another argument should we pay this kid 20 million per year, but if you answered yes he will make us the best defense, than awe shucks, we should just sign him.

 Watching him play defense you just sit there and imagine, I'm like Omg, can you even imagine this kid with Horford playing behind, Smart, Crowder, Bradley, Brown, and Rozier?

 I think Silver would have to take a Brooklyn pick away from Danny like there take picks from the Patriots. They would accuse the Celtics are building an unfair defense legitimately.

 Watch this defense only highlights and just imagine the potential.

 https://youtu.be/AJZ0H-lEvb0

Stern seemed to be doing that to the Celtics in the 80s and 90s with Bias and Lewis, but I doubt Silver is up to anything like that. I am suspicious, however, about the Cavs winning that lottery with a 1% chance after signing James. There has always been talk about the lottery since Ewing fell into the Knicks lap many moons ago. Ping pong balls were fixed in the PA lottery about 20 years ago.

On the subject, it depends on who they have to give up for Noel. If they retain Bradley, Crowder and Smart, they would be formidable defensively with Noel. If they have to give up one of those guys, I'm not sure they are that much better defensively. Maybe more balanced.

[KG Living Legend]

 Noel is a Ben Wallace once in ten years type of defender. He's probably a future Defensive player of the year type talent when he gets on a winning team.

 If he was on the Celtics for the next five years and we were a top 2 seed ever year you here his name all the time. In Philly nobody cares.

If I cared enough I would signature this because it aint happening.  Ben Wallace was amazing.  But I just don't' care enough.  He will never be that good at all.

 FYI, Wallace wasn't Wallace until he went to The Pistons and was 26 years old.

 Noel is on pace to be better than Wallace. Because at 22 years old Ben Wallace was avg 1 ppg and 1.7 rpg.

 Wallace was a great rebounder but Noel may make it to his level by age 27. Wallace first blocked 3 per game at age 27. No one would be shocked if Noel did that at the same age.

 Noel will be the better offensive player for sure. So if his defense and rebounding keep improving he could be better.

 It's a great comparison.

[ThePaintedArea]

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.

Not a plausible argument.  Asik's only 30 now.

A bit of a mystery; was it the coach? With Thibs he was a monster defender, one of the tops in the league. When he signed with Houston his D dropped off a cliff.

Or was it the money?

IMO opinion it's money and fit.

Perkins is a good example people are familiar with.  He fit the Celtics roster at the time perfectly but you send him to another team and pay him and he becomes an albatross.

Guys that are super limited need specific fits and I sure as hell don't want be the guy to pay them like they don't have said limitations.

Asik with Davis is not a good fit (Davis should be playing C unless you have a really good C on your team) and the team doesn't have enough going on on offense at other positions to allow you to play an Asik type.  Fit matters so much with defensive bigs who are liabilities on offense.

 To the not a plausible argument guy. Noel is in a whole other stratosphere than Asik. Asik was doing a good job five years ago.

 Sounds like you missed my point. What's not plausible is that Asik's game dropped off because he got older - his game dropped off at age 25,  and, in any case, he has never relied on any great athleticism.

[vjcsmoke]

Horford would not be on the bench even if Boston acquired Noel. 
Noel has a great defensive game but offers almost nothing offensively.
Think of him as a quicker, more athletic Kendrick Perkins.

The thing you need to remember is that this Boston defense is already shaping up to be a top 5 unit without Noel.  Adding him would certainly help, but the price has to be right.  Noel is a not a star player in the mold of a Cousins or a Davis.

[guava_wrench]

 Even with Horford on the bench image.

 Noel
 Crowder
 Brown
 Bradley
 Smart

 Holy crap. I don't think they
Would ever get scored on.

They would get scored on plenty because of all the fast breaks against them because they never score.

[guava_wrench]

 Noel is a Ben Wallace once in ten years type of defender. He's probably a future Defensive player of the year type talent when he gets on a winning team.

 If he was on the Celtics for the next five years and we were a top 2 seed ever year you here his name all the time. In Philly nobody cares.

If I cared enough I would signature this because it aint happening.  Ben Wallace was amazing.  But I just don't' care enough.  He will never be that good at all.

 FYI, Wallace wasn't Wallace until he went to The Pistons and was 26 years old.

 Noel is on pace to be better than Wallace. Because at 22 years old Ben Wallace was avg 1 ppg and 1.7 rpg.

 Wallace was a great rebounder but Noel may make it to his level by age 27. Wallace first blocked 3 per game at age 27. No one would be shocked if Noel did that at the same age.

 Noel will be the better offensive player for sure. So if his defense and rebounding keep improving he could be better.

 It's a great comparison.

It is a horrible comparison because you don't compare guys to all time great defenders until they make a few all defense teams. It just makes discussions nonsensical as people distort player values by lazily comparing them to great players.

There is no "pace" that makes any sense to talk about in the comparison.

[Fred Roberts]

Celtics already have a few of the league's best perimeter defenders in Smart, Bradley, Rozier(?) and Crowder.

Amir, Horford and Jaylen ought to add quite a bit to that this year.

Having Noel to anchor it all w/ shot blocking we haven't seen in a long time would be the finishing touch. No doubt that would be immense!