NBA Free Agency: Problem child Nerlens Noel offers assets OKC need

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DALLAS, TX – OCTOBER 18: Nerlens Noel #3 of the Dallas Mavericks dunks the ball against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on October 18, 2017. (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Nerlens Noel’s biggest skill, might be the unknown. His biggest weakness however, is the known.

Skills

Nerlens Noel has good size, and can play the four and also the five for any team in the NBA. While he can not shoot the ball from deep, he can defend the perimeter pretty well for his size. If he were to see playoff minutes, the new-aged teams like the Warriors and Rockets will not run him off the floor.

While 7.2 is his career average for total rebounds per game, that number can see a jump with consistent minutes. Averaging over a block per game in his career displays his ability to protect the rim. When playing in over 50-games (3-seasons), Noel saw a bump in offensive production.

Per Game Table
Season	G	GS	MP	FG%	eFG%	FT%	ORB	AST	PTS
2014-15	75	71	30.8	.462	.462	.609	2.5	1.7	9.9
2015-16	67	62	29.3	.521	.522	.590	2.3	1.8	11.1
2016-17	51	19	20.5	.595	.595	.694	1.8	1.0	8.7
Career	223	158	26.0	.512	.512	.624	2.2	1.4	9.3

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/26/2018.

In that 2015-16 season with the Philadelphia 76ers, Noel posted 11-points per game, in a year where he flashed his true potential.

Weaknesses:

Nerlens Noel has always carried some baggage. Just in Dallas, Noel caused a holy trinity of riffs. The first being turning down a 4-year $70-million dollar deal, to sign the one year qualifying deal last offseason assuring he will be an unrestricted prize this summer.

In August it was clear a break up was unavoidable. The aforementioned Hot Dog incident, and butting heads a few more times, in other organizations as well. Not to mention his 5-game suspension for violating the NBA drug policy.

On the floor, sometimes his effort lacks. While he has the upside, if he does not feel the ball is touching his hands enough, or he is not touching the floor enough his effort and intensity can lag behind.

Noel also just did not fit Rick Carlisle’s system, and unlike most projects Dallas brings in, Noel did not conform to said system. Setting screens and doing the dirty work as a big man for other players is not Noel’s cup of tea. That caused the Mavs head man to get…aggravated.

Rick Carlisle pulled Nerlens Noel. "You weren't running until I f------ yelled at you! C'mon!" Then sent him right back to scorer's table.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) October 29, 2017