What would it take to land Nerlens Noel?

[celticsclay]

Philly has no leverage.  None.  It doesn't matter what they want.  Noel isn't that good.  Okafor doesn't fit the modern paradigm of the NBA.  Embiid hasn't played in two years.  Saric is an unknown.  And Simmons could be closer to Lamar Odom than LeBron James.  The only thing Philly has going for then is that if any two of their current bigs produce, it won't kill them to just let Noel walk for nothing.

And can we stop with the Simmons point-forward stuff as though it solves their playing time log jam?  Yes, they will likely run some of their offense through him BUT THEY STILL NEED SOMEONE TO DEFEND THE OPPONENT'S POINT GUARD.  Simmons was a bad defender against college bigs.  The team is not going to humiliate him on a nightly basis by having him exclusively defend perimeter players.

Now, while Philly has no leverage, there's also little pressure on them.  It's fairly easy to win 20something games in the NBA and only a little more effort to get into the low 30s.  They can still massively suck in reality and still project an image of being substantially improved.  So while they actually do need to trade at least one of their bigs, they can put it off as long as possible.

Mike

 I don't buy the whole Okafor has no place in the modern Nba theory. A guy that can Get 20 points on any given night off the bench and grab 7 to ten rebounds can play on my team on any era.

sounds like a slightly better greg monroe. he got benched on the freakin bucks. none of his teams have ever made the playoffs or been relevant. both of his teams were better without him.

I think Okafor off the bench as a scoring big would be awesome. That is different from those that view him as a future all star. However a great scorer off the bench gets like 14 points. I would be surprised without looking it up if anyone averaged more than 16 or 17 off the bench in the entire league last yeR

[tarheelsxxiii]

Philly has no leverage.  None.  It doesn't matter what they want.  Noel isn't that good.  Okafor doesn't fit the modern paradigm of the NBA.  Embiid hasn't played in two years.  Saric is an unknown.  And Simmons could be closer to Lamar Odom than LeBron James.  The only thing Philly has going for then is that if any two of their current bigs produce, it won't kill them to just let Noel walk for nothing.

And can we stop with the Simmons point-forward stuff as though it solves their playing time log jam?  Yes, they will likely run some of their offense through him BUT THEY STILL NEED SOMEONE TO DEFEND THE OPPONENT'S POINT GUARD.  Simmons was a bad defender against college bigs.  The team is not going to humiliate him on a nightly basis by having him exclusively defend perimeter players.

Now, while Philly has no leverage, there's also little pressure on them.  It's fairly easy to win 20something games in the NBA and only a little more effort to get into the low 30s.  They can still massively suck in reality and still project an image of being substantially improved.  So while they actually do need to trade at least one of their bigs, they can put it off as long as possible.

Mike

 I don't buy the whole Okafor has no place in the modern Nba theory. A guy that can Get 20 points on any given night off the bench and grab 7 to ten rebounds can play on my team on any era.

sounds like a slightly better greg monroe. he got benched on the freakin bucks. none of his teams have ever made the playoffs or been relevant. both of his teams were better without him.

I think Okafor off the bench as a scoring big would be awesome. That is different from those that view him as a future all star. However a great scorer off the bench gets like 14 points. I would be surprised without looking it up if anyone averaged more than 16 or 17 off the bench in the entire league last yeR

Yeah, he'd be like a glorified but worse rebounding Enes Kanter.

[jpotter33]

Philly has no leverage.  None.  It doesn't matter what they want.  Noel isn't that good.  Okafor doesn't fit the modern paradigm of the NBA.  Embiid hasn't played in two years.  Saric is an unknown.  And Simmons could be closer to Lamar Odom than LeBron James.  The only thing Philly has going for then is that if any two of their current bigs produce, it won't kill them to just let Noel walk for nothing.

And can we stop with the Simmons point-forward stuff as though it solves their playing time log jam?  Yes, they will likely run some of their offense through him BUT THEY STILL NEED SOMEONE TO DEFEND THE OPPONENT'S POINT GUARD.  Simmons was a bad defender against college bigs.  The team is not going to humiliate him on a nightly basis by having him exclusively defend perimeter players.

Now, while Philly has no leverage, there's also little pressure on them.  It's fairly easy to win 20something games in the NBA and only a little more effort to get into the low 30s.  They can still massively suck in reality and still project an image of being substantially improved.  So while they actually do need to trade at least one of their bigs, they can put it off as long as possible.

Mike

 I don't buy the whole Okafor has no place in the modern Nba theory. A guy that can Get 20 points on any given night off the bench and grab 7 to ten rebounds can play on my team on any era.

sounds like a slightly better greg monroe. he got benched on the freakin bucks. none of his teams have ever made the playoffs or been relevant. both of his teams were better without him.

Speaking of Monroe, I saw a rumor today that the Bucks were in discussions with the Hornets regarding a Monroe for Hawes and Lamb trade. Talk about lowered value.

[alldaboston]

Philly has no leverage.  None.  It doesn't matter what they want.  Noel isn't that good.  Okafor doesn't fit the modern paradigm of the NBA.  Embiid hasn't played in two years.  Saric is an unknown.  And Simmons could be closer to Lamar Odom than LeBron James.  The only thing Philly has going for then is that if any two of their current bigs produce, it won't kill them to just let Noel walk for nothing.

And can we stop with the Simmons point-forward stuff as though it solves their playing time log jam?  Yes, they will likely run some of their offense through him BUT THEY STILL NEED SOMEONE TO DEFEND THE OPPONENT'S POINT GUARD.  Simmons was a bad defender against college bigs.  The team is not going to humiliate him on a nightly basis by having him exclusively defend perimeter players.

Now, while Philly has no leverage, there's also little pressure on them.  It's fairly easy to win 20something games in the NBA and only a little more effort to get into the low 30s.  They can still massively suck in reality and still project an image of being substantially improved.  So while they actually do need to trade at least one of their bigs, they can put it off as long as possible.

Mike

 I don't buy the whole Okafor has no place in the modern Nba theory. A guy that can Get 20 points on any given night off the bench and grab 7 to ten rebounds can play on my team on any era.

sounds like a slightly better greg monroe. he got benched on the freakin bucks. none of his teams have ever made the playoffs or been relevant. both of his teams were better without him.

Speaking of Monroe, I saw a rumor today that the Bucks were in discussions with the Hornets regarding a Monroe for Hawes and Lamb trade. Talk about lowered value.

i saw that. the person who reported it was the same guy who said we were discussing trading 16, 23, and another player for Middleton and Monroe on draft night: http://www.woelfelspressbox.com/blog-entry/24/will-bucks-celtics-play-lets-make-a-deal (an obvious lowball offer if i ever saw one)

i stopped believing this dude after that. a few bucks fans on reddit also voiced their opinions against the guy. he seems like Milwaukee's Sherrod