Where is Nerlens?

[Sixersftw]

I won't lie, I'm loving these new developments on the Noel front.

Embiid really does "have it all." Hakeems defense, Pat Ewings Face up game, and Lebron's GM capabilities.

Loving all this too.

[NatiboyB]

I think you guys should give the Embiid/Noel front court a chance for a few games also before moving one of them.

[Winejk]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/244342/Joel-Embiid-Calls-Nerlens-Noel-My-Best-Friend-On-The-76ers

The question that isn't answered is does Nerlens feel the same way as Embiid?

Embiid might be just politicking by saying Nerlens is his best friend, but let's take it for face value and assume Embiid means it. If Nerlens doesn't feel the same way about Embiid, then it really doesn't matter. It is like being in love with a girl that doesn't love you. If that's the case, Nerlens won't reciprocate, sacrifice and do what it takes to make it work. Be interesting if Nerlens responds publicly at all.

[rzzzzz]

The question that isn't answered is does Nerlens feel the same way as Embiid?

Embiid might be just politicking by saying Nerlens is his best friend, but let's take it for face value and assume Embiid means it. If Nerlens doesn't feel the same way about Embiid, then it really doesn't matter. It is like being in love with a girl that doesn't love you. If that's the case, Nerlens won't reciprocate, sacrifice and do what it takes to make it work. Be interesting if Nerlens responds publicly at all.

yeah, no kidding. along with his recent enthusiasm, his willingness to play second fiddle to Embiid has given Jah a little slack on the club. i figured that Noel made up his mind last year that he was not going to be happy not being THE man. if he comes around on this, than the logjam becomes more complicated, but in a good way. i think Jo really likes Jah, but pairing them has not been as smooth on the offensive end as they'd have liked, and they've had problems on the defensive end. (though Serge isn't helping them with any of this.) there's a real possibility that Jo and Noel could have better chemistry. it that happened, i wonder what the chances are that Bryan can get the same offer from Ainge that Hinkie turned down.

[Winejk]

Winning would go a long way in curing this problem. If the Sixers were showing improvement record wise, then it is easier to bite the bullet and sacrifice for the team. Everyone wants to be on a winner. Not the same for being on a losing team. As it stands right now, the Sixers look like a collection of individuals and not a team. If Ben Simmons comes back and gets the Sixers winning, maybe all this kind of gets swept under the rug.

[eyeatoma]

This is going to set a potential interesting chain of events... One one hand you're happy Embiid is standing up for a player, who could help create a defensive juggernaut. On the other hand it creates a myriad of issues.

1. Embiid's best friend is Noel. That should ring warning bells for us about Embiid. I believe its because they both missed atleast a year, and were here from the beginning. Noel has a shietty attitude though... He has been a lousy tenant, has aired his problems publically, was not part of the team over the summer, and had other issues as well. Embiid has some teething issues when he first started rehab... I don't want Noel's attitude to rub off on Embiid.

2. If Noel is traded is that going to piss off Embiid? Will he eventually leave because we traded his best friend?

3. This is going to alienate Okafor... He is trying his best to be a good soldier, not complain, and fit in... Despite all that, he is still a defensive liability, not efficient offensively (albeit a few games), and now the undisputed leader of the team is backing the other guy...

All of this is not good. Colangelo should have pulled the plug on this experiment a long time ago, and traded one of the players. Now, you've got people taking sides which is dangerous. He needs to get rid of someone or both of them at the deadline. It is imperative, to prevent further damage to the image of the organization, as well as the chemistry of the team.

[Ericb5]

This is going to set a potential interesting chain of events... One one hand you're happy Embiid is standing up for a player, who could help create a defensive juggernaut. On the other hand it creates a myriad of issues.

1. Embiid's best friend is Noel. That should ring warning bells for us about Embiid. I believe its because they both missed atleast a year, and were here from the beginning. Noel has a shietty attitude though... He has been a lousy tenant, has aired his problems publically, was not part of the team over the summer, and had other issues as well. Embiid has some teething issues when he first started rehab... I don't want Noel's attitude to rub off on Embiid.

2. If Noel is traded is that going to piss off Embiid? Will he eventually leave because we traded his best friend?

3. This is going to alienate Okafor... He is trying his best to be a good soldier, not complain, and fit in... Despite all that, he is still a defensive liability, not efficient offensively (albeit a few games), and now the undisputed leader of the team is backing the other guy...

All of this is not good. Colangelo should have pulled the plug on this experiment a long time ago, and traded one of the players. Now, you've got people taking sides which is dangerous. He needs to get rid of someone or both of them at the deadline. It is imperative, to prevent further damage to the image of the organization, as well as the chemistry of the team.

I don't think any of the three things that you listed are problems.

Embiid has a good relationship with both of them.

I think that all three of them know two things. One is that Embiid is the man, and two is that they know that all three can't stay on the team long term.

So basically it is a competition between Noel and Okafor to see who stays, and who goes, and I'm not sure that they would view staying as winning or losing that competition.

It is business.

I don't think that Embiid is backing Noel over Okafor. He is just saying that Noel deserves a chance.

So far the experiment with Okafor has been pretty mixed. I think we should give it a couple more weeks, and then switch Okafor and Noel and give him a tryout. Then trade the player that they like with Embiid less at the deadline.


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[eyeatoma]

This is going to set a potential interesting chain of events... One one hand you're happy Embiid is standing up for a player, who could help create a defensive juggernaut. On the other hand it creates a myriad of issues.

1. Embiid's best friend is Noel. That should ring warning bells for us about Embiid. I believe its because they both missed atleast a year, and were here from the beginning. Noel has a shietty attitude though... He has been a lousy tenant, has aired his problems publically, was not part of the team over the summer, and had other issues as well. Embiid has some teething issues when he first started rehab... I don't want Noel's attitude to rub off on Embiid.

2. If Noel is traded is that going to piss off Embiid? Will he eventually leave because we traded his best friend?

3. This is going to alienate Okafor... He is trying his best to be a good soldier, not complain, and fit in... Despite all that, he is still a defensive liability, not efficient offensively (albeit a few games), and now the undisputed leader of the team is backing the other guy...

All of this is not good. Colangelo should have pulled the plug on this experiment a long time ago, and traded one of the players. Now, you've got people taking sides which is dangerous. He needs to get rid of someone or both of them at the deadline. It is imperative, to prevent further damage to the image of the organization, as well as the chemistry of the team.

I don't think any of the three things that you listed are problems.

Embiid has a good relationship with both of them.

I think that all three of them know two things. One is that Embiid is the man, and two is that they know that all three can't stay on the team long term.

So basically it is a competition between Noel and Okafor to see who stays, and who goes, and I'm not sure that they would view staying as winning or losing that competition.

It is business.

I don't think that Embiid is backing Noel over Okafor. He is just saying that Noel deserves a chance.

So far the experiment with Okafor has been pretty mixed. I think we should give it a couple more weeks, and then switch Okafor and Noel and give him a tryout. Then trade the player that they like with Embiid less at the deadline.


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Hope so... I think it's a little naive for you to think that Embiid may not start having attitude problems himself. Again, he had those issues (understandable) during rehab... I don't want any part of Noel if he's not going to be about the team first. He can fake it all he wants right now, but his character is pretty clear with what he did in the summer, and to that apartment/house he had rented.

I don't disagree with you about the other players knowing the pecking order. I actually never disputed that. Never said that one of Noel/Okafor will think they're the man.

It is a business. It also needs to be handled a lot better. Having all these things leak to the media is something you hear about with dysfunctional franchises like the Kings, Suns, or Reggie Jackson with the Thunder. I don't want players airing out their grievances with the media... Keep it in house. If it leaks later through an expose, or feature article about Embiid fine.

Also... I do not see Noel and Embiid working out well... We are going to need SImmons at PF... Brown can say Simmons at PG all he wants, long term though that's not going to work. Noel needs to play C offensively and defensively... That's where Embiid needs to be. You're actually including an even more offensively challenged player as opposed to Okafor. It's not going to work... This is such a charade, and needs to be put to an end by the trade deadline. Wait any longer and the team environment becomes toxic, and you start worrying about how it will effect Embiid.

[Sixerscan]

Lol in less than a week we've gone from people worrying about Noel being a cancer to people worrying about whether trading him will piss off Embiid.

[Ericb5]

This is going to set a potential interesting chain of events... One one hand you're happy Embiid is standing up for a player, who could help create a defensive juggernaut. On the other hand it creates a myriad of issues.

1. Embiid's best friend is Noel. That should ring warning bells for us about Embiid. I believe its because they both missed atleast a year, and were here from the beginning. Noel has a shietty attitude though... He has been a lousy tenant, has aired his problems publically, was not part of the team over the summer, and had other issues as well. Embiid has some teething issues when he first started rehab... I don't want Noel's attitude to rub off on Embiid.

2. If Noel is traded is that going to piss off Embiid? Will he eventually leave because we traded his best friend?

3. This is going to alienate Okafor... He is trying his best to be a good soldier, not complain, and fit in... Despite all that, he is still a defensive liability, not efficient offensively (albeit a few games), and now the undisputed leader of the team is backing the other guy...

All of this is not good. Colangelo should have pulled the plug on this experiment a long time ago, and traded one of the players. Now, you've got people taking sides which is dangerous. He needs to get rid of someone or both of them at the deadline. It is imperative, to prevent further damage to the image of the organization, as well as the chemistry of the team.

I don't think any of the three things that you listed are problems.

Embiid has a good relationship with both of them.

I think that all three of them know two things. One is that Embiid is the man, and two is that they know that all three can't stay on the team long term.

So basically it is a competition between Noel and Okafor to see who stays, and who goes, and I'm not sure that they would view staying as winning or losing that competition.

It is business.

I don't think that Embiid is backing Noel over Okafor. He is just saying that Noel deserves a chance.

So far the experiment with Okafor has been pretty mixed. I think we should give it a couple more weeks, and then switch Okafor and Noel and give him a tryout. Then trade the player that they like with Embiid less at the deadline.


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Hope so... I think it's a little naive for you to think that Embiid may not start having attitude problems himself. Again, he had those issues (understandable) during rehab... I don't want any part of Noel if he's not going to be about the team first. He can fake it all he wants right now, but his character is pretty clear with what he did in the summer, and to that apartment/house he had rented.

I don't disagree with you about the other players knowing the pecking order. I actually never disputed that. Never said that one of Noel/Okafor will think they're the man.

It is a business. It also needs to be handled a lot better. Having all these things leak to the media is something you hear about with dysfunctional franchises like the Kings, Suns, or Reggie Jackson with the Thunder. I don't want players airing out their grievances with the media... Keep it in house. If it leaks later through an expose, or feature article about Embiid fine.

Also... I do not see Noel and Embiid working out well... We are going to need SImmons at PF... Brown can say Simmons at PG all he wants, long term though that's not going to work. Noel needs to play C offensively and defensively... That's where Embiid needs to be. You're actually including an even more offensively challenged player as opposed to Okafor. It's not going to work... This is such a charade, and needs to be put to an end by the trade deadline. Wait any longer and the team environment becomes toxic, and you start worrying about how it will effect Embiid.

To be sure, I don't think that EITHER player is a good fit with both Embiid and Simmons, so the most likely scenario is that they both need to be traded.

However, I think that one of them HAS to go before the deadline this year. I'm not against trading either one, and I'm also not against signing Noel to a contract in the off season.

The thing with selfish players is that they really can't be on your team if they are your best player. That's why Cousins won't succeed until he shares a team with a better player. Embiid isn't going to adopt Noel's attitude, and given winning and playing time, I think Noel will adopt Embiid's attitude.

Noel isn't a bad guy. He has just handled this situation poorly. I don't think that he is not salvageable.

Embiid is clearly capable of chasing 4's on D when he plays with Okafor, but it limits his effectiveness. When sharing the floor with Noel, Embiid could be the center, and Noel could chase the 4's around. We know that he can do that.

On offense, obviously Noel is less skilled than Okafor, but in a strange way, he might work better next to Embiid on offense simply because he would be out of the way of the post, and Embiid would be the main guy on offense. Noel would give you less than Okafor, but he would probably interfere with Embiid less too.

It should be tried is my point.

We really don't have anything to lose while Simmons is out. As long as we are prepared to trade one of them at the deadline for peanuts if need be, then we might as well give it a shot.

And BTW, I don't think that Noel or Okafor should ever share the floor with Embiid for more than 10-12 minutes a game anyway. There are enough minutes for Noel or Okafor to survive on the Sixers backing up Embiid at the 5, and sharing the floor with him for 10-12 minutes.

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[AdotSmoove]

I think you guys should give the Embiid/Noel front court a chance for a few games also before moving one of them.

That's what everyone wants to see. The question is if anyone actually wanted to see this Okafor/Embiid pairing


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[Ericb5]

I think you guys should give the Embiid/Noel front court a chance for a few games also before moving one of them.

That's what everyone wants to see. The question is if anyone actually wanted to see this Okafor/Embiid pairing


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I wanted to see Embiid and Okafor play together, and it has largely played out expectedly so far.

It can clearly WORK for stretches. The problem is that it has negatively affected Embiid on both offense and defense. Embiid isn't being used correctly when he shares the floor with Okafor, and Okafor isn't good enough to make it worth it.

I haven't given up on it yet, and I want to give Noel a solid chance too. I mean if we were offered a great trade for Noel today it would be fine, but as long as the value is poor, we might as well try it out.


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[Foshan]

Embiid kinda strikes me as a guy who has fun with everyone on the team, like they are all best buds... unless maybe he hates them. i could see him totally doing one of those straight faced no emotion faces when TJ tries to tell a joke :D (Not saying he doesn't like tj)

[AdotSmoove]

I think you guys should give the Embiid/Noel front court a chance for a few games also before moving one of them.

That's what everyone wants to see. The question is if anyone actually wanted to see this Okafor/Embiid pairing


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I wanted to see Embiid and Okafor play together, and it has largely played out expectedly so far.

It can clearly WORK for stretches. The problem is that it has negatively affected Embiid on both offense and defense. Embiid isn't being used correctly when he shares the floor with Okafor, and Okafor isn't good enough to make it worth it.

I haven't given up on it yet, and I want to give Noel a solid chance too. I mean if we were offered a great trade for Noel today it would be fine, but as long as the value is poor, we might as well try it out.


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I will admit I didn't like Jah coming out of college. I thought he needed a team committed to running the offense through him and one that played stellar team D to hide him. I still hold both opinions.

Having said that I do believe the Jah/Joel experiment has failed. Embiid is a terrifying C. He can play PF, but he is good enough at C to tell BB to kick rocks if he ever tries putting him at PF again bc it is a massive waste of Embiid. We shoved them together on the court so that Jah would still see some minutes but this is horrible for the team not just Joel.

It hurts our defense and stagnates our offense. I swear watching Joel just stand on the perimeter is heartbreaking. He can hit threes but no one can handle him in the post. Jah can't do anything but post so to accommodate we let Jah be the post man. This isn't CYO where every kid should get to play.

If the second unit wasn't blowing every lead or close score the starters worked for Jah would never have been inserted into the 1st unit. Our second unit however does not have the defense to cover Jah's deficiencies. When the biggest question for the coach is how can we hide this player, the answer is the bench not the starting five.

We're still in baby tank mode or else we wouldn't have moved Embiid to PF. This lineup is only good for Jah and potentially increasing his value. From this perspective I understand the decision, but thinking that Joel/Jah is a better combo than Joel/Ersan for the teams success is walnuts.

All this talk about Noel being a me first player, but look who we have bent over backwards trying to accommodate.

[CoreyGallagher]

We're not playing any of the other bigs and Embiid is still only on a 28 minute restriction of which he only reaches about half of the time anyways. We're playing them together more than we need to be to see it. Also, the pairing is affecting them both negatively the past month, it was mostly due to the Lakers game, they played quite a bit together (especially compared to how much they had to that time) and were so outmatched by the mismatch that was the Lakers being able to play physical small ball 4's against us throughout the game.

In December, Okafor without Embiid has only a -3.6 net rating, together a -13.6 net rating. Conversely, Embiid without Okafor actually has a positive 2.7 net rating, together it's the same as above, obviously (-13.6). I'd return to more typical rotations if I were Brett and use the pairing sparingly against what it had been working against - other big lineups.


Offensively I'm not sure what you're expecting differently pairing Embiid with Noel, we're still going to lack spacing without Embiid on the perimeter. The issues that fans have with how Embiid is being used on offense will likely persist with Noel. I would love to see it though, for defensive purposes and potential.

[hookshot199]

We're not playing any of the other bigs and Embiid is still only on a 28 minute restriction of which he only reaches about half of the time anyways. We're playing them together more than we need to be to see it. Also, the pairing is affecting them both negatively the past month, it was mostly due to the Lakers game, specifically they played quite a bit together (especially compared to how much they had to that time) and were so outmatched by the mismatch of them being able to play physical small ball 4's against us throughout the game.

In December, Okafor without Embiid has only a -3.6 net rating, together a -13.6 net rating. Conversely, Embiid without Okafor actually has a positive 2.7 net rating, together it's the same as above, obviously (-13.6). I'd return to more typical rotations if I were Brett and use the pairing sparingly against what it had been working against - other big lineups.


Offensively I'm not sure what you're expecting differently pairing Embiid with Noel, we're still going to lack spacing without Embiid on the perimeter. The issues that fans have with how Embiid is being used on offense will likely persist with Noel. I would love to see it though, for defensive purposes and potential.

Amen. But even the Okafor pairing needs more time and perhaps, as you insinuated, used more selectively - against bigger slower teams. I truly wonder what Brown does in their practice sessions to prepare them for these pairings.

[LloydFree]

We're not playing any of the other bigs and Embiid is still only on a 28 minute restriction of which he only reaches about half of the time anyways. We're playing them together more than we need to be to see it. Also, the pairing is affecting them both negatively the past month, it was mostly due to the Lakers game, specifically they played quite a bit together (especially compared to how much they had to that time) and were so outmatched by the mismatch of them being able to play physical small ball 4's against us throughout the game.

In December, Okafor without Embiid has only a -3.6 net rating, together a -13.6 net rating. Conversely, Embiid without Okafor actually has a positive 2.7 net rating, together it's the same as above, obviously (-13.6). I'd return to more typical rotations if I were Brett and use the pairing sparingly against what it had been working against - other big lineups.


Offensively I'm not sure what you're expecting differently pairing Embiid with Noel, we're still going to lack spacing without Embiid on the perimeter. The issues that fans have with how Embiid is being used on offense will likely persist with Noel. I would love to see it though, for defensive purposes and potential.

Amen. But even the Okafor pairing needs more time and perhaps, as you insinuated, used more selectively - against bigger slower teams. I truly wonder what Brown does in their practice sessions to prepare them for these pairings.

Predictable. It's Brown's fault the team's Defense falls off a cliff when you put Okafor on the court next to Embiid. The best thing about them attempting this nonsense, was going to be it would quiet the silly chatter to play them together. Now we gotta read it "... It's Brown's fault it's not working" or "... It's the guards fault Okafor can't guard anybody". Unreal.

[JojoSlimbiid]

It's gonna be interesting to see what happens if they try it now. When it inevitably fails people are just gonna say "You can't judge it without Simmons" or " You need better guards to be able to judge Nerlens and Joel." Yet these same people won't extend that leeway with Jah

[hookshot199]

We're not playing any of the other bigs and Embiid is still only on a 28 minute restriction of which he only reaches about half of the time anyways. We're playing them together more than we need to be to see it. Also, the pairing is affecting them both negatively the past month, it was mostly due to the Lakers game, specifically they played quite a bit together (especially compared to how much they had to that time) and were so outmatched by the mismatch of them being able to play physical small ball 4's against us throughout the game.

In December, Okafor without Embiid has only a -3.6 net rating, together a -13.6 net rating. Conversely, Embiid without Okafor actually has a positive 2.7 net rating, together it's the same as above, obviously (-13.6). I'd return to more typical rotations if I were Brett and use the pairing sparingly against what it had been working against - other big lineups.


Offensively I'm not sure what you're expecting differently pairing Embiid with Noel, we're still going to lack spacing without Embiid on the perimeter. The issues that fans have with how Embiid is being used on offense will likely persist with Noel. I would love to see it though, for defensive purposes and potential.

Amen. But even the Okafor pairing needs more time and perhaps, as you insinuated, used more selectively - against bigger slower teams. I truly wonder what Brown does in their practice sessions to prepare them for these pairings.

Predictable. It's Brown's fault the team's Defense falls off a cliff when you put Okafor on the court next to Embiid. The best thing about them attempting this nonsense, was going to be it would quiet the silly chatter to play them together. Now we gotta read it "... It's Brown's fault it's not working" or "... It's the guards fault Okafor can't guard anybody". Unreal.

It is also predictable that some of you guys have made up your mind about certain players. That's your right, even if some of us think you're wrong. I also believe - and stated - that Brown deserves a pass for the first 20 games of the season BECAUSE OF INJURIES both to his front court and back court.

I also believe that Okafor is entitled to a chance to play the four and both Okafor and Noel are entitled to a chance to be the 'chosen one' to build around Embiid. And I think it's horsesh*t every time you guys talk about money as if it's a big deal. It isn't.

Brown gets a pass for the first 20 games - Embiid and Okafor were both on severely restricted minutes, Noel and Bayless were out. He gets a pass for Hinkie's screwup last year: no veteran point guard until December.

But he doesn't get a pass if he f**ks this up.

We need to know, possibly by the trade deadline and surely by the end of the season before the draft exactly who can do what and when - and, more importantly, who's going to be the best match moving forward with Embiid.

A little factoid for you: Of the top 10-rated players at this juncture on nbadraft.net, there is only one power forward and no centers. If you're in need of a center come June and have guards on the roster, why would you conclude that some sort of a draft-night trade couldn't be worked?

Brown needs to give management data and shut his mouth. Yes, it is the coach's fault when he goes public before the first game they are healthy enough play together (declaring that Noel would be a 'reserve' defensive center) and after when he made one of his players look bad for questioning his playing time.

It should have all been dealt with behind closed doors before the Lakers game.

There's no rush.

[rzzzzz]

I will admit I didn't like Jah coming out of college. I thought he needed a team committed to running the offense through him and one that played stellar team D to hide him. I still hold both opinions.

Having said that I do believe the Jah/Joel experiment has failed.

All this talk about Noel being a me first player, but look who we have bent over backwards trying to accommodate.

Yeah, last year Jah LOOKED better because the offense was running through him, even if the rest of the squad, save Noel and sometimes RoCo, were a bunch of scrubs. I think he's actually better at this point, but so far, he and JoJo deferring to one another has gone from OK to terrible. which correlates with Sergio's pg play falling off the table. Bigs need someone to give them the ball in the paint, and no one delivering to 2 bigs is an unmitigated disaster.

Noel will be the first one to tell you. He railed against MCW, while publicly thanking Ish. (as did Jah last year.) so while i'm hoping Noel and Embiid click (which they should on the defensive end), i don't think the twin towers will ever get off the ground this year, unless Simmons comes in and is able to pull a full Giannis. (despite his pouting and whining and contract, Noel is in a good position here IF HE WANTS TO STAY. i still think he's determined to be top dog elsewhere.

Boston is the team with stellar D who are looking for a the right guy in the paint to run their offense through. as much as Jah is willing to be a role player here, while working on his deficiencies, he would be best served by a change of scene. i'm just selfish enough to want to hold onto him as a sparkplug off the bench, once we get an NBA level backcourt.