More on Nerlens Noel Trade
Jessica Camerato: Nerlens Noel on communication with Brett Brown: "We keep it real."
Keith Pompey: Brett Brown on @Nerlens Noel: "I don't begrudge Nerlen Noel at all for what he said."
Jessica Camerato: Nerlens Noel: "It’s a tough situation to still be in and year by year see things get more difficult to show your value. Year by year, it’s always been something. It’s really at a point where it’s just a lot."
Tom Moore: #Sixers Noel: 'Someone needs to be moved around. It's just a tough situation. I have no say, no power.'
Derek Bodner: Nerlens Noel: "No, I'm not surprised (to still be a Sixers)." Says he's happy to be one as well.
Derek Bodner: Nerlens Noel on the center logjam: "I don't see a way of it working."
The 76ers center wants clarity about his future. He loves Philadelphia and his Sixers teammates. But after three years of watching his team tank, after years of wondering how he fits in, Noel said Sunday he needs for his current situation to change. "I think it's just silly . . . this situation that we are in now with three starting centers," Noel said on the eve of the Sixers' media day. "With the departure of [former general manager and president] Sam Hinkie, I would have figured that management would be able to get something done this summer."
"I think something needs to happen," Noel said. So is he demanding to be traded?
Noel said that he's not asking to be traded or demanding that the Sixers trade someone else. He just wants them to hurry up and do the inevitable. "I feel like it definitely needs to be figured out," he said. "I think at the end of the day, again, you have three starting-caliber centers. And it's just not going to work to anybody's advantage having that on the same team. That's how I'm looking at it. I'm not opposed to anything, but things need to be situated."
Colangelo later denied that the team has been shopping the big men. He said that teams reached out to the Sixers about them. "I know I was shopped," Noel said. However, a source said that the Sixers turned down several offers for Noel.
“But the notion that we were out shopping any of them and aggressively pushing to make a deal is not the case,” Colangelo said. “We certainly listened because a lot of people thought we were in a corner. We never felt like we were in that corner. We feel like we’ve got three talented players that we are going to obviously let work itself out.”
There’s a solid chance that the Sixers will trade Noel or/and center Jahlil Okafor this season. But if he stays, Sixers coach Brett Brown says Noel will be an asset for the team that also features center Joel Embiid.
Keith Pompey: Sixers coach Brett Brown on the three centers: "I'm going to coach them until I'm not." Team looked to trade Nerlens Noel & Jahlil Okafor.
Brand, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft, is a two-time NBA All-Star. After announcing his retirement from basketball in August 2015, new Sixers CEO Jerry Colangelo signed Brand in January to take a leadership role in the Sixers’ locker room. The Sixers have had periodic trade talks this summer involving Noel and Okafor and plan eventually to move one of them, league sources said. Philadelphia doesn’t believe the two players’ talents are complementary.
Noel has not asked for a trade, but multiple league sources told CSNNE.com that he is “very open” to being traded if the Sixers decide to make that decision. Another league source contacted by CSNNE.com on Thursday morning indicated that the Celtics still have a high level of interest in Noel but no deal is imminent.
Nerlens Noel: I'm blessed to be from Boston. Love my city.
Based on Nerlens Noel’s social media posts recently, it appears he’s taking such sentiments to heart. And if he is indeed on the move, he’s more than open to the idea of playing for his hometown team -- the Boston Celtics. On his Twitter page, Noel’s bio reads, “#BostonStrong – Former Kentucky Wildcat – Current Philadelphia 76er!!” The Everett, Mass., native has a similar message on the bio page of his Facebook account as well. Who refers to the team they play for as “current?” A player who wisely suspects that “current” label will become “former” sooner rather than later.
The Philadelphia 76ers have a logjam at the big positions in Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel. "There's no question you can look at our roster and say we have some unbalance," said Bryan Colangelo. "We're top heavy. We have some good talent there."
Talks for Philadelphia power forward Nerlens Noel, the sixth pick in the draft two years ago, fell apart on draft night — per sources, Terrence Ross was in play, but the Raptors asked for more. Another move seems likely. LeBron James still rules the East, but the Raptors may as well try to make him sweat.
The Raptors will need to move at least one big deal to have any hope of retaining both DeMar DeRozan and Biyombo, and teams will call about DeMarre Carroll. Toronto has already approached Philly about a deal sending out a rotation player -- perhaps Terrence Ross, and other goodies -- in exchange for Nerlens Noel, who could then assume Biyombo's backup center role, according to league sources. The talks haven't gained much traction yet.
"I think everybody (in Philly is) overvaluing those two guys," an NBA source said of Noel and Okafor four hours before the draft began. It's also conceivable that other clubs are undervaluing Noel and Okafor. If that's the case, the Sixers would benefit if something changed at least one team's mind.
Kris Dunn already has said he wants to play for the 76ers. The Sixers, who are interested in acquiring the third pick, have an interest in the former Providence point guard.The Sixers are known to be shopping players, primarily centers Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, and sources say the Celtics want the Sixers to include Noel in any deal with them.
Michael Scotto: Sources: Philadelphia 76ers are shopping Nerlens Noel and picks No. 24 and 26 to teams with picks in the top eight selections. #NBADraft
Marc Stein: Numerous rivals describe Philly as the most active team in circulation ... with a trade involving Nerlens Noel looking more and more likely
Jon Johnson: Per league source, several teams have been in contact with Sixers about Okafor,Noel, including BOS & NO.
According to Bryan Colangelo, they are still working on trying to determine how to resolve the Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor front court situation. “We’re still working on that every day. We’re not going to make a bad deal so we’re going to do everything we can to make the right choice if we decide to ultimately move one,” Colangelo said about his big men. “We’ll try to make the right deal for the organization.”
The Sixers are shopping Okafor and center Nerlens Noel to other NBA teams. The franchise is expected to trade the player who brings them a better deal. Sources have said that the team would prefer to trade Okafor. The Sixers expect to get equal value in return, but it could be hard to do that when every team knows they are looking to unload the big man.
Okafor has played and produced on offense. Noel has played and produced on defense. The evidence from 2015-16, though, is that they don't fit well together, leading to trade talks. "I don't know that there's a likelihood," Bryan Colangelo said. "I can't put a number on it. I would just simply tell you that there's been conversations and there's been a lot of interest expressed in some of the players that we have, but nothing that's made enough sense to pull the trigger on. We've talked about the five position in particular."
A source has confirmed that the Sixers have had multi-player trade talks with the Atlanta Hawks. Yahoo Sports reported that the teams are discussing a deal centered around packages that include the Sixers center Nerlens Noel and Hawks point guard Jeff Teague. Noel will enter the final year of his rookie deal next season. Meanwhile, Teague will become a free agent following the 2016-17 season.
Atlanta and Philadelphia are discussing a possible trade centered on Hawks guard Jeff Teague and 76ers center Nerlens Noel, league sources told The Vertical. The sides have discussed the deal recently, but an agreement isn’t imminent, sources said.
For Philadelphia, there has been strong interest over the past year in acquiring a high-end starting point guard. The 76ers have the No. 1 overall pick in the June 23 NBA draft and will likely select Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram, but have a glut of talent in the frontcourt, including Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid and potentially Dario Saric.
Shams Charania: Atlanta and Philadelphia are discussing a deal centered on a Jeff Teague and Nerlens Noel package, league sources tell The Vertical.
Sources told ESPN that the Sixers are determined to gauge the trade market for both Okafor and Noel and are increasingly likely to move at least one of them in conjunction with the draft, in which Philadelphia holds the No. 1 overall selection for the first time since selecting Allen Iverson in 1996.
With that in mind, NBA insider Chad Ford doesn't think the Sixers will wait. In fact, in an interview for 97.3 ESPN, the veteran reporter went on to describe the possibility of either Okafor or Noel being traded before the 2016-17 season as likely. Chad Ford: I think that there's a very high likelihood, that whether it's to move up in the draft or use them to grab a free agent in a sign and trade or just to a trade, that you will not see the Nerlens Noel-Jahlil Okafor pairing at the start of next season. I think that they'll gauge the interest of both players. I think that there might be a slight preference for Noel, to keep him around with the Sixers, and I think you might be right, there might be a slight, better value for Okafor out on the market, but I think everyone agrees that that combination of those two players doesn't necessarily work.
Ford: The Sixers needs to pick up assets, especially if they're gonna go ahead and do a Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram with the first pick in the draft. Then they're gonna need those assets to start to fill out their backcourt, because the 24th pick and [the 26th pick], you're not finding starters. I'm not even sure that you're necessarily finding rotation players at that back end of the draft that are gonna make big impact, so they're gonna have to do that via free agency or via trade, and I think either Okafor or Noel — I don't think they'll trade both — but one of those two is probably their best trade chip.
Bob Cooney: Sam Hinkie: "A fair bit of interest (in Okafor and Noel at trade deadline). They understand that we were much more likely to keep them."
Coach Brett Brown is trying to figure out a way to make it work with natural centers Noel and Okafor, but it's been difficult with the natural centers who each want to be close to the basket. "It's a tough situation," said the first source.
Keith Pompey: #Sixers PF/C Nerlens Noel on missing #RisingStarsChallenge: "I would have loved to play in this great game, but my health comes first ...
That's because centers Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor have the biggest trade value on the team. As a result, teams have been calling about those two. However, the Sixers don't want to part ways with either until they know if Joel Embiid, a third center, will be healthy enough to play. Embiid, the 2014 third overall draft pick, has yet to play because of right foot surgery in each of the past two summers.
"Everything will come down to Joel Embiid. That's the big question," said the executive, who asked not to be identified. Embiid has been sidelined for the second consecutive season after foot surgery. "If Embiid can play, then in my opinion, they will have to trade Okafor, because Embiid and Okafor cannot play together," he added. "If Embiid can't play, then they have to decide whether to keep both Noel and Okafor. But the combination hasn't worked out.
Rick Ruhl: I see Noel getting moved, team like the Celtics this year. Okafor is center piece. Tom Moore: Hear the Celtics like Noel.
