Poll: Marcus for Nerlens straight up

[Neurotic Guy]

I think Smart is only a hair behind IT for team MVP - especially the last dozen games.   I'd hate trading him for anyone right now. 

[jacigar]

I think the trade now ,should be B Bradley for Noel or similar Defensive big and draft Fultz. We would be paying Noel later,but Fultz will cover not paying Bradley later. (G) It-Fultz-Marcus-Rozier-Jackson

[KG Living Legend]

I think Smart is only a hair behind IT for team MVP - especially the last dozen games.   I'd hate trading him for anyone right now.

 Agreed NG. This idea is officially closed for businesses. Smart= greater than Noel now.

[vjcsmoke]

Hell no.  Why would you give up Marcus Smart for a rental?

[Geo123]

I think Smart is only a hair behind IT for team MVP - especially the last dozen games.   I'd hate trading him for anyone right now.

 Agreed NG. This idea is officially closed for businesses. Smart= greater than Noel now.

Maybe for the last 12 games but before that it was Bradley and it wasn't even close....

[Rosco917]

The name of the game is sigh Noel as a free agent. Not trade away the heart of the team.

[trickybilly]

The name of the game is sigh Noel as a free agent. Not trade away the heart of the team.

Gonna take a BIG offer for Philly not to match, I think they're in on Nerlens.

[GreenShooter]

post deleted

[jambr380]

could someone post the picture from this link? I can't figure out how it's done. Thanks in advance!

There you go - spooky ;0)

On another note, Pennywise the band has always been one of my fave bands. Thanks Stephen King!

Btw, to post a pic, just copy the link and then click the picture button (underneath bold, above  Make sure the link is highlighted before clicking the button.

[Vermont Green]

Even though I think Noel has some promise (we'll see if he fulfills it) I would not trade anything of value at this point.  He is not good enough to make an immediate impact and thereby not really worth "renting".  I see his current value at Mickey plus future Clippers pick or something in that range.  Certainly not Smart or Bradley at this point in the season.

Philly can match.  Very little reason to take a low ball offer which is all they will get i suspect.

[ssspence]

I was once a believer in this deal. I was wrong.

But who are the 28 people who still feel this is a good idea? Hard to believe....

[Geo123]

I think the trade now ,should be B Bradley for Noel or similar Defensive big and draft Fultz. We would be paying Noel later,but Fultz will cover not paying Bradley later. (G) It-Fultz-Marcus-Rozier-Jackson

Bradley IS WAY too much for Noel.  He's your second leading scorer and leading rebounder plus a first team defender. When you add in that Noel will have to be paid big bucks in FA next year while he really hasn't done anything.  Maybe Rozier and a low first...   

[PickNRoll]

I have no statistical evidence, but I watched about 15 sixers games last year and in my opinion he's not an elite defender.  He's roughly on par with Amir Johnson, just with more theatrics and more mistakes.  A guy like DeAndre Jordan warps the entire court.  You never get that sense with Noel.  He can be moved out of a play by a SF.  Not elite.

There's layers there to pull through.  Did you happen to catch games he was playing out of position?  We're talking about a 10 win team that was intentionally trying to lose games.  They didn't really have NBA players on that roster for the most part.  FWIW, he had by far the highest defensive rating on the team.  He also put up far better stats as the starting Center than he did as a PF.  We also saw him make a leap when Ish Smith returned - so maybe he'd succeed with decent players surrounding him. 

The kid could probably flourish on this team.

The games were evenly distributed, more or less.  They improved from a D-league team to simply the worst team with Ish.  The effort was surprisingly good throughout.  Credit to coach Brown.  I don't think it matters if he was playing 4 or 5, tbh.

My problem with Noel is that his game is defined by highlight reel blocks and alley-oops.  He plays with a sort of anticipation of the next highlight.  For every weak side shot block, he gives up an offensive rebound.  For every steal, he turns the ball over twice.  He grabs a nice rebound in traffic and you'd like him to make a quick outlet pass, but he palms the ball instead, celebrating his rebound.  It's like he's playing his own game. Basically the opposite of Smart.

He'd probably look significantly better on a real basketball team.

I don't see why that would be true.  e.g. the Spurs don't select players like Noel and mold them into good players.  They draft intelligent, team-oriented players.  You'll never see Noel on the Spurs, I guarantee that.

Maybe the problem with Noel is expectations.  People think he can be an elite center some day because he was a top pick.  That just isn't true.  He should focus on being the best Tyson Chandler he can be.

Tyson Chandler was the #2 pick in his draft.

And he had a nice career as a role player.  He wasn't Hakeem Olajuwon.  That's my point.  Noel's ceiling is in the Tyson Chandler range, not the Hakeem range.

Who said he had Hakeem potential?  I think it's well known Tyson Chandler is the comp. 

The question, then, becomes whether or not you think Tony Allen or Tyson Chandler makes more of an impact on a team.   Tony's a great defender, but he has only so much impact on the game.  Tyson Chandler was a DPOY and helped a team win a championship.   As others have said, if you're choosing between two defense-only players, you go with the big.

That said, I still truly hope Marcus Smart makes a leap next season and surpasses what looks like a Tony Allen ceiling right now.

I think Smart is more Joe Dumars than Tony Allen, and I don't think Noel ever reaches  that Tyson Chandler ceiling.  It's too simple to say they're both defensive players.  Smart shows the best defensive fundamentals and instincts I've seen in 35 years.  Noel is behind the curve.

That's funny.  I think there is a decent to very good chance that Noel can be become Tyson Chandler.  I think it is a perfect comp and that there is a  chance it happens.  On the other hand, I think there is virtually no chance that Smart becomes Joe Dumars, who is in the Hall of Fame for ****. 

Kind of tired of seeing fans not understand the idea of a combo guy, which I presume people think of when they think of Smart.  They see a guy that isn't a true PG, isn't a true SG and think hey, he's both; just like Joe Dumars!

The difference is, Dumars could handle multiple roles WELL.  All Smart has shown offensively is that he can't handle either well.  There is a huge difference between someone like Smart and Joe Dumars.

Dumars was 6'3, 200ish, long wingspan, smart, gritty, physical, great defender.  He shot 20% on threes in his second year.  He averaged 9 and 12 points over his first two seasons but blossomed into a reliable 20 point scorer.  He didn't have a great first step.  He didn't get to the FT line much in his first few years, but became more aggressive in the middle stages of his career.  He was never a #1 option, really more of a 3rd or 4th option.  He shared ball handling duties with IT.  He averaged 4.5 assists for his career, never a true distributor or playmaker, but decent. Later in his career he became a great post-up guard and developed a nice floater --the same things Smart is working on.  His build, his role, his play style, his career trajectory... nearly an exact match and a perfect role model for Smart.

 Wow man, talk about Bold predictions. If smart ends up anything close to Joe D, I'll give you 100 Tp's just for the bold prediction.

 Joe also peaked out at 23.5 ppg. Smart will never do that. Joe shot .843% career at e free throw line and peaked at .900% smart can't shoot like that.

 Joe shot .382% from three fit his career and peaked at .432% doubtful smart ever comes close.

 But they are both great defenders and they both play basketball so there are some similarities.

Step 1 complete.  Marcus is making good on my promise.

[action781]

I like seeing this old poll brought back up so I can get a sense of my older perspectives.  Glad I voted the right way

[Dino Pitino]

Is Dallas pretty much guaranteed to match whatever any other team would offer Noel? Are sign-and-trades still a thing?