Seeing former Kentucky big man Nerlens Noel wearing a Philadelphia Jersey in this year's NBA Summer League games was a breath of fresh air. Noel hasn't seen any court action after tearing his ACL in a game against Florida last March and missed his whole rookie season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Now that he has fully recovered, he has the chance to show the world what hes got.
Nerlens Noel was widely regarded as an irresistible prospect and could have easily made the case as the No.1 overall pick if only he had not suffered that gruesome ACL injury. And this year in the summer league, he is showing the NBA why the 76ers has drafter him No.6 overall.
Nerlens Noel's length, explosiveness, and exceptional athletic ability - stands at 6'11" with quick feet and a 7'4" wingspan - made him an intimidating force in the paint. His teammates on the bench were counting how many shots he altered and reported that it reached double figures before they lost track. He also swatted four shots in his debut game against Cleveland including a clear block on Anthony Bennett, the former No.1 overall pick, on his way to the rim.
"When the guards start being a little more timid on their drives and they start shooting a lot more floaters then I know I'm the reason," Noel said.
But swatting shots and intimidating guards wasn't the only thing that the 76ers big man impressively displayed in his debut in Vegas. He was also tough down low. He plays with a kind of tenacity and physicality than one would not expect - hes not bulky but will not be backed down easily. His defense and quickness though, was the reason why all heads were turning on him.
"He's active, he's all over the place," Sixers Summer League coach Chad Iske said. "He's trying to do everything, he's trying to do too much on both ends. The hard part is do you want to just settle him down or do you want him to play with that aggressiveness? I don't want to give him too much and cloud him, and then he's thinking instead of playing. I think we just have to get out there and find the happy balance between him being within our rules and him being himself."
And he has displayed some nice touch and good post moves that people really didn't get much of a glimpse of when he was at Kentucky. He was able to drill 5 lefty jump hooks, splashed an 18-foot jumper, and made several beautiful driving layups to the basket.
The time Nerlen's Noel packs more muscle in his upper body and core and his overall offensive game starts to come around, he is surely going to be an electrifying above-the-rim highlight reel at both ends of the floor. Eventually, we will be able to see Nerlens Noel alongside Joel Embiid forming a formidable front court in the NBA and when you add Michael Carter-Williams and maybe Dario Saric, the 76ers will a have pretty solid line up. One that is very intimidating defensively.
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