Nerlens Noel isn’t happy. He shouldn’t be. He’s the third or fourth big man on the Sixers during his contract year, in a situation he has no interest being in. He faced a DNP-Coach’s Decision last night, while Joel Embiid played 27 minutes, Jahlil Okafor played 28 minutes, and Ersan Ilyasova played at the center position. So how did we get here?

Bob Cooney and Liberty Ballers’ Kyle Neubeck took on this question today. Both spread the blame out between Sam Hinkie, Bryan Colangelo, and Nerlens Noel. As Neubeck points out, Colangelo sat in front of all of us in his introductory presser and said “We need to start to change the narrative. This is a relationship business.” At the time, it sounded gentle and promising. Today, I hear it through the subtle Welsh accent of Wetsworld’s Dr. Robert Ford. And Colangelo is dangerously close to his “these violent delights have violent ends” moment.

How We Got Here

Noel was patient zero of the process. The very first move Sam Hinkie made in his tenure as the Sixers’ GM was to trade Jrue Holiday and the rights to Pierre Jackson to the New Orleans Pelicans for (the rights to) Noel and the draft pick that turned into Elfrid Payton (and then Dario Saric and another first round pick). The deal was typical Hinkie in a way we didn’t even know yet. Noel, the consensus number one pick before he went down with a torn ACL, was hand-picked by Hinkie.

He, like Embiid after him, sat out his first full season while he was recovering. When he finally played, he showed defensive ability beyond his years while looking like Bambi on a frozen lake on offense. He ended the year averaging 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.9 blocks. He was the first rookie to average those steal and block numbers since David Robinson (who averaged 1.7 and 3.9). Compare those numbers for Noel at 20 years old to DeAndre Jordan at 24, two years away from being named first team All-Defense:

  • Points per 36
    • Noel: 11.6
    • Jordan: 13.0
  • Rebounds per 36
    • Noel: 9.5
    • Jordan 10.6
  • Steals per 36
    • Noel: 2.1
    • Jordan: 0.9
  • Blocks per 36
    • Noel: 2.2
    • Jordan: 2.0
  • Defensive Rating
    • Noel: 99
    • Jordan: 101

He was a defensive stud in the making.


As the next season loomed, there were both concerns and some excitement over how the Sixers would manage both Noel and Joel Embiid. The Sixers were rumored to be favoring guards in the draft. Instead, they fell to the #3 spot, Hinkie picked Jahlil Okafor – whether he was allowed to draft Porzingis or not is a moot point – and Embiid got re-injured. All of a sudden, the pairing of two defensive behemoths, one of which had raw but undeniable offensive potential, turned into the pairing of a defensive stud with blind spots on offense and an offensive stud with absolutely no desire to play defense. Noel, your rim protector, ended up playing out of position a good chunk of the year at power forward. The experiment didn’t work. The team was best with Noel on the floor (still not especially “good”), bad with Okafor on the floor, and worst when they played together. Factions formed. The terms PrOkafor and No-Kafor become identifiers in the Liberty Ballers comment section, among podcast listeners, and in awkward in-person conversations. Enter Jerry Colangelo.

From there, things speed up. The Sixers traded for Ish Smith, and Noel thrived playing center with a moderately competent point guard. Okafor went down for the rest of the year. And Jerry’s son Bryan was brought in to usher in the offseason.

Bryan, like Hinkie before him, inherited a mess. Hinkie’s mess was one of a lack of potential, draft picks, and hope. Bryan’s was that Hinkie drafted three centers, and we knew for a fact two of them couldn’t play together.

The weekend before the NBA draft, Keith Pompey ran a puff piece on Bryan Colangelo, announcing his presence as “A Man of Action.” Rumors swirled that the Sixers were gunning hard for another top-5 pick in the draft. A new trade package involving Noel popped up every day. Stories alternated over which big they would rather trade– Noel or Okafor. One thing seemed to be guaranteed: A trade would be made.

In May, David Aldridge reported that there was “strong support within the organization for Nerlens Noel, who provides defense and rebounding that none of Philly’s other bigs provide.” In September, after hearing his name floated in potential deals, Noel expressed his annoyance with the whole situation. In October, staring down the barrel of a contract year, Noel decided to have elective knee surgery. Last week, when he returned and got very little playing time, he once again expressed his displeasure, which takes us to last night’s DNP-CD.

Now, literally just now, Colangelo spoke on this:

 

Where Do We Go From Here?

TRAAAAAADDDEEEEE HIMMMMMMM. If I had to place blame for the situation we’re in today on everyone, I’d say the pie chart looks like this:

whose-fault

I would prefer the Sixers keep Noel and trade Okafor. Some disagree. But trading Noel and keeping Okafor is still 100,000 times better than what is happening now. What you get in return doesn’t matter. Right now, the best return on a trade is not having this problem anymore. Trade someone. Please. We beg of you. (Bryan Colangelo just said he would not make a trade just to make a trade).

Does Noel deserve this? No. His reaction to everything hasn’t been great, but it’s been understandable. I like Noel. I would like him to stay here. But right now, wearing my realist hat, all I want for Christmas is for this to be fucking over.

*all stats via Basketball Reference and StatMuse