When word broke that the 76ers would likely end up receiving a pair of second-round picks from the Mavericks in the Nerlens Noel trade, rather than a first-rounder, critics were quick to rule the deal a misstep for GM Bryan Colangelo and the Sixers. However, in the view of Mavs GM Donnie Nelson, the draft compensation isn’t even the most important part of the package heading to Philadelphia — Nelson thinks Justin Anderson is that centerpiece.
“Look, they had an extremely difficult situation,” Nelson said of the Sixers, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. “They were overstocked at the center position. You’re looking at basically the possibility of a couple-month rental, and so I think they did the best that they could with the situation they had. It was really a need position for us, and it was taking the best possible deal they could get. They like Justin Anderson a lot. He is the critical piece, and it was hard for us to give them that piece.”
David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News agrees with Nelson’s sentiment, writing – even before the Mavs GM spoke to reporters – that the success of the deal from the Sixers’ perspective figures to hinge on the development of Anderson.
Here’s more on the Sixers, who announced earlier today that Ben Simmons will be out for the rest of the season:
- The trade market for Jahlil Okafor leading up to the deadline was “much more broad” than the market for Noel, but the right deal didn’t present itself, per Colangelo (Twitter links via Jake Fischer of SI.com). The Sixers GM hinted that the team will probably revisit trade talks involving Okafor at a later date.
- Andrew Bogut won’t be with the Sixers for at least a week while dealing with personal issues, but that doesn’t preclude the two sides from negotiating a buyout during that time, says Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter links). A buyout is considered likely, so Bogut may never end up reporting to Philadelphia.
- Colangelo said today that Tiago Splitter is hoping to get back onto the court this season and the Sixers will help him rehab, but the big man – acquired from the Hawks this week – isn’t part of the club’s long term plans (Twitter links via Fischer and Pompey). Splitter will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
- Colangelo said today that Ersan Ilyasova will be seeking a long-term deal in free agency this summer, but wasn’t part of the Sixers’ long-term plans, which was why the club felt compelled to move him this week (Twitter link via Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com).
- Joel Embiid wasn’t thrilled with the cagey way in which the Sixers handled updates on his knee injury, as Tom Moore of The Burlington County Times writes. “I was told I was going to kind of miss two or three weeks, so I wasn’t happy with the way it was handled,” said Embiid, who was announced as day-to-day when he first went down. “I thought keeping my name out there was going to literally have people think about me all the time instead of just saying when I was going to be back.”
Do the math, when the guy who fleeced the Sixers is the only guy saying how great the Sixers did.
It’s not only Justin Anderson also, they now can offer that max contract to anyone they want instead of Noel.
The Sixers would most likely have been able to sign Noel for quite a bot less than a max deal. If Noel was considered to be a max deal guy with teams in the league, the Sixers would have received better offers from teams that had long term plans for Nerlens. BFM…BadF%^$%Move.
All it takes is one team to make him a max deal player, and he probably would have gotten that deal. The reason they didn’t receive better offers was because other teams knew that and wanted to avoid it.
Noel wanted to start… wants major close .. good enough deal richaun Holmes is the man to watch
Noel is not a max player. They have no intentions of offering a guy $15 million plus to be your backup. Noel is a great defensive player, but his offense has not evolved enough. Also, people forget that he’s been an injury liability himself. The guy came in talking like he was entitled to a starting spot. Well, he earned nothing and he wasn’t entitled to anything. He’s a great piece on a winning team. Not this team. He wasn’t coming back. There’s a lot of potential with Anderson and he’s in a great development situation. They have a need for a player of his skill set, and have money to go after one, possibly 2 big FA, along with a Top 5 pick to add to the nucleus. The core of this team is Embiid, Simmons and Saric.
Noah got 18m a yr, mosgov too, and mahimni, big man that can block shots and quick feet to defend pick and roll and then get up and down the floor quick, catch lobs and rebound is valuable now. I agree he isn’t worth the max or even close but someone will give him a big offer and probably end up regretting it. Who knows though we haven’t seen him play enough to come to a conclusion he is still super young. Fans and media write players off so quickly now a days especially when the player hasn’t gotten a chance to establish himself or find a team willing to commit to giving him consistent minutes. And it’s hard to show what you have playing on the sixers, and they don’t win so everyone looks bad.
Noel’s skill set as a capable defender on the screen and roll/hedges etc. really helps his case for a hefty RFA contract.
I think everyone can agree at this point…. Hinkie > Colangelo. Plain & Simple. He wouldn’t have f’d up the market for Noel / Okafor like Colangelo has. I am glad they have kept Okafor though, play him through the end of the season, move up in the draft.
We definitely can agree on that lol
Stinkie*