What Did You Think Colangelo Would Get?

Everyone’s favorite collar Bryan Colangelo traded away Nerlens Noel, much to the dismay of a gang of Sixers fans, basically for two second round picks, a salary dump, and Justin Anderson.

Anderson is a former first round pick that has underperformed at the NBA. He’s still young and was a solid defender out of the University of Virginia, a program known for their defensive intensity. There’s a chance that Anderson can come in and play solid defense off the bench at the 2 guard and maybe put up 8-10 points. Quite honestly, that kind of sounds like Nerlens Noel skills, just at the center spot.

To be clear, I was never a Nerlens fan, probably because he stiffed Syracuse at the last minute for Kentucky. That being said, what did you really think the Sixers could/would get for Nerlens and his skill set in this current circumstance.

Everyone knew the Sixers were unloading a center. As a result, the Sixers had zero leverage. Colangelo was bent over the proverbial barrel. The league was gonna low-ball him for either Noel or Okafor.

Leverage is everything. That’s why I go to the car dealers at the end of the month and, ideally, the end of the year. The dealers have to move cars. There’s pressure to reach sales quotas and not pay fees on cars for the next month. The league basically went shopping for Noel and Okafor on the equivalent of December 31st in the auto sales world.

Colangelo grabbed two second round picks, probably to stock up on Euro players, and a guy with a little potential to contribute. That’s not bad in the context of things. Should he have moved one before the season? Maybe, but the leverage would not have been much better.

The Sixers made a decision that they were not interested in bringing Noel back for $18-20M/year in a backup role. A good chance exists that Noel would command those numbers on the open market (see Biyombo). Combine that with the low-ball offers and Noel was the obvious choice to move.

I know the Noel supporters wanted Okafor to go, but I disagree. If you are gonna trade either Okafor or Noel in a low-ball market, you have to move Noel because Noel is at his ceiling. Everyone knows what he is. He puts up 12 points a game, blocks a couple of shots, and grabs a couple steals.

What is Okafor’s ceiling? That’s unclear at this point. Yes, he has looked horrible for most of the season. However, he is a guy who put up 18/7.5 as a rookie. I believe part of his decline is the horrendous situation for big men in Philly. It’s damn near impossible not to be frustrated and dejected not playing for stretches of time and totally impossible to get into any kind of offensive flow or improve your game. Defense and rebounding is all about hustle. Can he find that motivation? Maybe.

Will Okafor show improvement with substantial playing time over the last 20 games? I don’t know. Nobody knows for sure.

If Colangelo is going to take a low-ball offer, I’d rather it be for a guy with Noel’s ceiling instead of one for Okafor and find him to be putting up 20/10 consistently in a year or so.

With all things considered, did you really think Noel would pull in a top 12-15 first round pick?