By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Though Nerlens Noel has flashed enough potential, specifically defensively, in his tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers for some to be willing to potentially give him a max-deal after his rookie deal expires, he hasn't exactly had an ideal start to his NBA career.
Noel missed his entire rookie season while recovering from a torn ACL, an injury that occurred towards the end of his freshman season at Kentucky. The Sixers went 19-63 that year. In his sophomore season, Noel showed immense defensive potential in his first on-court action, but did so on a team that went 18-64. His third season in the league saw him struggle to co-exist with first-round pick Jahlil Okafor, as the Sixers won just 10 games. Noel, now with both Okafor and Joel Embiid in the mix, made his season debut in a win over the Detroit Pistons Sunday, and while he was effective in his time in the game, he was limited to just 10 minutes after a wrist injury ended his evening. This came after he had surgery in October to shave down an inflamed plica in the same knee that he once tore his ACL in.
We can (and will) debate the merits of tanking for years, but between injuries and incessant losing, it's hard not to feel bad for Noel, who is the only player in the organization that has been with the team for the entirety of former general manager Sam Hinkie's plan.
After enduring 199 losses in his first three seasons in the organization, Noel's made it apparent he's not happy that the team's plan seems to be coming together with a log-jam of big men.
Naturally, there's been a variety of teams connected to Noel, who the Sixers reportedly shopped at this past summer's NBA Draft along with Okafor, but Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical says Noel's reputation has hindered potential trades:
“The research teams have done on him is not good,” Wojnarowski said. “They don’t get good reports back on their intel, how he’s carried himself there, of his habits. It’s not a great return. There are teams willing to do a deal for him and bring him in but they don’t want to give up much. And so at some point there, Philly has got to make a decision, ‘What’s the best we can get for him?’ I think at some point he probably moves, too.”[Transcript via The 700 Level]
It's not hard to see how a ton of losing, mixed with some difficult injuries and disappointment in long-term prospects with your current team could hurt your approach, but it certainly doesn't help a player's trade value. If general manager Bryan Colangelo is shopping Noel for high draft picks and/or established back-court players, teams have to seriously take into account how hard a player works, how hard they think a player would work after getting a max deal and how said player would impact their team's culture.
As Wojnarowski noted, it seems the Sixers are eventually going to have to move Noel or Okafor for a return that they feel is pennies (or a few quarters) on the dollar. Noel seems to be suited better for the style that the Sixers want to play, when you consider that his brand of elite defense and athleticism running the court could be very effective off the bench. However, you do start to get the feeling that Noel may push his way into a change of scenery, one where the team acquiring Noel from the Sixers would be the beneficiary of the trade.
