Okafor and Noel haven't played a single minute together so projecting that combo as a failure already is ridiculous. If Okafor gets 30 minutes at center that leaves 18 minutes for Noel. When they're on the court together, there shouldn't be a spacing problem if the other 3 players are outside shooters. Okafor's passing out of double teams should be a big plus.
Al Jefferson and Tyson Chandler have never played a minute together in the NBA.
Would it be ridiculous to project that combo as a failure?
If both of your big men are non-shooters (i.e. can't hit anything outside of the paint and poor free throw shooting), it doesn't matter what your guards and wings can do. That's a spacing issue.
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I agree that Embiid is probably no longer a factor, but you never know.
I just don't think there's much hope of Noel and Okafor being able to play together. I suppose you could look at them and think maybe they could function offensively the way Duncan and Splitter, for example, worked together at times for San Antonio.
But Duncan can actually hit a jumper and Splitter is more skilled offensively than Noel, and that combo gave way to Diaw / Duncan much of the time in the playoffs, anyway.