Revisiting OKC Thunder offseason and grading every move to date
By Aidan E
The on-again, off-again, on-again deal:
Heading into the offseason, Nerlens Noel was OKC’s primary free agent, a nice change-up from Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant before him.
Nerlens initially re-signed with the Thunder before all the trades went down and that was major as he was a very solid backup center for OKC last season. Then a few days later he backed out of the deal, presumably to look at other options considering he signed for the minimum. Then he re-signed with the Thunder again, a few days before the PG trade assuming that he would be playing for a contending team. Well, he decided to officially stay with the Thunder this time as stayed on his original agreement for a one-year minimum deal.
Despite Nerlens offensive game lacking, and his defensive instincts being relatively poor, he is still good on defense (especially for a backup center) and provides energy and rim running ability off the bench.
I would much rather have Noel on the minimum than a similar player (DeAndre Jordan) for nine million. While I don’t think he’ll ever be a starting-caliber center, he’s a good backup, especially on his contract.