The Philadelphia 76ers had Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor switch roles in their 110-105 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Noel started at center with Okafor coming off the bench. Noel had 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds, two assists and four steals.
Okafor added 10 points and 10 rebounds in what was his first game back after missing the previous two with a sprained right knee.
"I think that lineup really worked for us," Noel said of Wednesday’s lineup. "I think we were able to get up and down the court, and Jah brought his post-playing just rebounding especially. And I think this team can really go in a lot of different ways. We have a lot of different dynamics, especially with Jah coming off [the bench] and Ish running the point."
Jerian Grant started at power forward.
"For me, when we split up Jahlil and Nerlens, because of how they played, they didn’t go backwards in their numbers although they went backwards in their minutes," Brett Brown said. "Jah with more minutes would have scored more. But he ended up with a double-double."
Noel is more effective and comfortable as a center than a power forward. Meanwhile, Brown believes that Okafor is a natural power forward.
"The four-five, five-four you know it’s still a mystery right now," Brown said of deciding where to play Noel and Okafor. "It really is. And I think we are going to have this conversation throughout the whole year.
"Trying to grow those two guys is a challenge. So for me, it ends up more matchups than this overwhelming responsibility where it hurts the team. You know we want to win games. How I navigate that is a challenge."
