Nerlens Noel: Playing For His Job In Philly

There’s both good news and bad news for the Philadelphia 76ers in what I’m about to say…the 2015 NBA Draft is only a little less than six months away.

This is good news in that the Sixers will finally be able to reap the benefits of yet another year spent tanking when what will likely be the No. 1 overall pick becomes a Sixer. But the bad news is, with the clear-cut favorite to be the No. 1 pick being a freshman center from Duke by the name of Jahlil Okafor, Sam Hinkie will need to ship one of his prized big men off to make room for Okafor if he makes the obvious selection on draft night, which would point to rookie Nerlens Noel being the odd man out.

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With that said, it’s time for Noel to play the next three and a half months like his future in Philadelphia depends on it because, well, it very easily could.

For those who haven’t heard about the dominance Okafor is displaying in what should be his only year in college, the 6’11”, 270-pound big man is putting up numbers worthy of an NCAA Player of the Year award with 19.5 points on 68-percent shooting and 8.7 rebounds per night. And Okafor is much better than even what his number suggest. To put it simply, he’s legitimately a once-in-a-generation talent in the paint.

Meanwhile in Philly, Noel is averaging 7.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 30.1 minutes of action per night for the lowly Sixers. These aren’t necessarily bad numbers for an undersized rookie that everyone knew had tremendous potential and would be a project in-the-making for a few years, but when you have the opportunity to pair a once-in-a-generation big man in Okafor along with a guy who has drawn Hakeem Olajuwon comparisons in Joel Embiid, there has to be good reason to pass on that opportunity.

Unfortunately for Noel, his efforts thus far likely haven’t been enough to secure his future in Philly with the talent-driven Hinkie trying to build a championship dynasty from the ground up.

Noel has shown signs of being a defensive stopper and rebounder, but that’s not where the cause for concern comes from. In his 29 games, Noel has scored in double figures only nine times, as he’s shooting 41-percent from the floor. These are far from impressive numbers, but between his hustle plays and the midrange jumper from time to time that he’s trying to incorporate into his game, there’s the understanding that there’s a plan in place for Noel’s offensive game and someday, he will grow into a consistent contributor.

But again, there’s a guy playing for Duke right now that’s constantly displaying why he’ll be nearly impossible to pass on, and his offensive skillset is already four or five years, at minimum, ahead of Noel’s. Okafor has a much more NBA-ready body size at 270 pounds, and his overall well roundedness and instinct for the game is something that’s going to be hard to pass up in an offensive-minded league.

This is very likely something Noel is well aware of, and with only months to prove why he deserves to kept around in Philly, we can expect to see some amped up efforts from the box-top rookie on the offensive end. It doesn’t have to be too much, but just enough to prove to Hinkie why he would be making a mistake by shipping off one of the highest-upside defenders with the mindset to be great to complement it.

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