Nerlens Noel appears on the verge of returning from left knee surgery he had in late October, which, well, doesn’t seem to have changed anything between him and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Any way you slice it, Noel remains an awkward fit for a team that already has Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor at the center position and will be hard-pressed to create minutes at the 4 once Ben Simmons joins Ersan Ilyasova, Dario Saric and Richaun Holmes.
Sixers head coach Brett Brown addressed this issue, among others, prior to the the Sixers’ Monday night matchup with the Miami Heat, per Tom Moore of Calkins Media:
#Sixers Brown: Noel has been in team meetings and video sessions. 'he understands clearly what he needs to do to get back in this mix.'
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) November 21, 2016
#Sixers Brown: 'I would've' liked to see Noel here more often.
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) November 21, 2016
#Sixers Brown expects Noel to need another few weeks to be ready. Says 'it's going to be hard' to find minutes for him
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) November 21, 2016
It’s not too surprising that Noel appears to have distanced himself from the team. He clearly wasn’t happy with all the bigs on the roster at the start of training camp, and that’s unlikely to have subsided with Embiid playing so well and Okafor’s minutes restriction being lifted. It all adds up to fewer minutes for Noel, who, as a restricted free agent this summer, is playing for his next contract.
Although his name has ben bandied about in trade rumors for months, there’s no guarantee Noel finishes the season elsewhere. And if that happens, there is, in turn, no guarantee the Sixers don’t match any contract offers he receives over the summer.
Sure, logic dictates they let him walk. But logic also dictates that you don’t give up top-seven prospects for nothing coming off their rookie-scale deals. The Sixers might decide to just pay him, hope he builds up his value and figure out the rest later.
Then again, the situation in Philly is clearly awkward, so it feels more likely that the Sixers will try finding him a new home once he’s healthy and it’s closer to the February trade deadline.
