Ericb5 wrote:cellar-door wrote:Ericb5 wrote:I said at the beginning of the season that I respected the comments that Noel made, but he has now gone too far.
It is in NOBODY'S best interest for him to have that tantrum last night. It was pure juvenile crying.
I have a long posting record of preferring Okafor to Noel in terms of nba talent, but I have always been open minded to the idea of Noel sticking around and Okafor being traded.
After this tirade though I now think that Noel can't stick around because he won't even tolerate being behind Embiid. He literally HAS to be traded now, which really hurts the team because Okafor is probably 75% has to be traded too.
So there is now a much smaller chance of even one of them surviving here.
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It puts pressure on the organization to either play him or trade him. That's in his best interest. The worst scenario for Noel is not playing as it could hurt his FA offers. His agent will work on other teams to convince them that his attitude will be fine once he's out of a toxic situation of a bad team who are mishandling his career.
The organization is under pressure already to trade Noel. What he just did is show the rest of the league that he isn't a team player. He is hurting himself, and the team by doing this.
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There is far more pressure to trade a player when he is criticizing the team and coach in the press than just a logjam. He may be hurting himself as well, but that is less clear, if he forces his way out of town and then behaves at his next stop he'll get a nice big contract in a better situation for him, that's a net upgrade for him even if along the way he looks selfish.
He's also going to not look as bad because most people around the league probably in some ways agree that he's being put in a bad situation by the team.
Most people in the league understand that it's a business, and a guy who is going to be an RFA getting buried on the bench (especially on a bad team) when he has at least rotation, probably starting C capability elsewhere is going to have to make a fuss because it's what's best for him. He has talent, and teams will be happy to overlook something as minor as mouthing off in this situation, long-term this is highly unlikely to hurt him.
This is a powerplay. Colangelo wants to get significant value for either or both of Noel and Okafor, other teams look at the situation, see there is nowhere to play all the bigs, and that it will only get worse when Simmons is back and are waiting him out. Those teams know someone if not multiple players are going to be very unhappy with their playing time, and it is going to continue to grow as a press story and in-house distraction. Noel and his agents know the deal too, which is why they are trying to make it a constant talking point in the press, so Colangelo is forced to make his move instead of waiting it out.
So far Colangelo is sticking to his guns that unless a good offer comes along he'll let guys rot on the bench and re-evaluate in the off-season, but the more Noel complains, and the more it spreads (Okafor and/or Embiid becoming more unhappy) the more the pressure ratchets up to move someone.
TL:DR- any damage to Noel's rep will be short-lived if he can force a trade and behaves at the destination, there is far more upside than down for him to kick up dirt.
