Three potential star centers on one team? That just seems silly, but it is the reality of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team as we enter the 2016-17 NBA season.
We aren’t the only ones who think it is silly either, as the elder statesmen of the three centers on the team, Nerlens Noel, vented some of his frustration heading in to the final year of his rookie contract.
After all, what would you do with names like Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid sitting at the position you are best suited to play?
Speaking to Philly.com, Noel let his real feelings on the center situation for the 76ers be known:
“I think it’s just silly . . . this situation that we are in now with three starting centers,” Noel said on the eve of the Sixers’ media day. “With the departure of [former general manager and president] Sam Hinkie, I would have figured that management would be able to get something done this summer.”
Noel isn’t wrong, as the organization has publicly stated it wouldn’t go in to the 2016-17 season with three centers. However, it is also an organization that had offers for Noel ahead of the NBA Draft this June and rebuffed them all.
According to the Philly.com report, teams like the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, and Houston Rockets all were attempting to acquire Noel before the Draft. Obviously new GM Bryan Colangelo valued Noel more than what was being offered at the time.
Still, Noel wasn’t the only piece other teams may have been after, and here we are on the eve of the season, and all three centers are still around.
Noel wouldn’t go as far as outright demanding to be traded, but it is clear that the situation at his position and the positioning of the team as still rebuilding nearly four years in to his career are getting to him.
He also spoke on the possibility of getting traded before or during the season:
“I feel like it definitely needs to be figured out. I think at the end of the day, again, you have three starting-caliber centers. And it’s just not going to work to anybody’s advantage having that on the same team. That’s how I’m looking at it. I’m not opposed to anything, but things need to be situated.”
One thing he does seem opposed to? Continuing to rebuild with no real path or plan for future success laid out in front of him.
“We’ve gone from zero and we are not at 100,” Noel said. “We went from zero and things are still building here. . . . I think I sacrificed a lot. And at this point, there’s really not too much that I’m capable of sacrificing.”
Should the 76ers have him in their future plans, one way to show him that would be to deal someone else in the three-man rotation at center. That seems to be unlikely as teams sour on Okafor, and the Sixers clearly love Embiid.
Let’s just say it will be another “interesting” season in Philadelphia if things don’t change quickly.
