By Darien May, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer 
Yesterday, Bryan Colangelo decided it was time to ascend from the depths of his smartphone and address the media for the first time since September. In my estimation, if Colangelo never had to speak to media, he wouldn’t. His comments, in both instances, seem reactionary. More so damage control to suppress the bleeding only because he has to, not because he wants to keep us informed.
When Colangelo spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in September he was quoted saying "The discomfort comes in trying to manage and maintain the happiness of three talented young players and that’s something that I think will work itself out." This came on the heels of Nerlens Noel saying "I think it's just silly, this situation that we are in now with three starting centers.” Noel then went on to say "With the departure of Sam Hinkie, I would have figured that management would be able to get something done this summer."
There is an overwhelming common theme in which Colangelo decides to make himself available to the media. Noel complains and Colangelo attempts to sweep it under the rug as if it never happened. A couple of times he even makes it seem as if Nerlens is being penalized for not being around, albeit this is understandable given the time he missed when he elected to partake his a minor knee surgery. But even if this is half true, once he is completely healthy and back in the swing of things, how many minutes can he truly garner? There are simply just not enough minutes to go around and it is completely unfair to all those involved.
I get that this is a business and the cog won’t miss a beat to appease just one piece but I believe an organization to always be auditioning to the masses and this is certainly not a good look. Colangelo said he will not make a bad deal for this organization and even said he didn’t think (at least up to this point) that he was in a place to entertain any trades for any of our starting caliber big men. While some of this may be true given the uncertainty when it came to the health concerns looming over all three centers, I believe it just isn’t fair to put these big men in a stranglehold when we can all agree that Joel Embiid is the future for this team at the center position. Whether you agree that keeping just one of either Jahlil or Nerlens around for a security blanket for Embiid is a smart tactic or not, something needs to happen sooner rather than later. Just sitting on your hands and seeing how things play out isn’t the way this front office should approach any matter.
I haven’t been shy about voicing my opinion on what I believe to be the remedy to alleviating the log jam of front court the 76ers currently have. With that being said, I believe the 76ers have handled the Noel situation horrendously. The 76ers don’t deserve him and they should do everything in their power to appease him. As I said before, I understand it’s a business but that aside I also understand the horde of emotions that Noel has been rightly displaying as of late. Let’s start at the beginning. The 76ers first acquired Nerlens Noel via trade in 2013 for Jrue Holiday and draft rights to Pierre Jackson. During the same draft they acquired their alleged point guard of the future in Michael Carter-Williams. Noel didn’t play at all in that 2013-2014 season due to surgery that was needed for the tear of his ACL in his left knee.
Now let’s talk about the character makeup of Nerlens Noel, like many of his fellow Kentucky Wildcat associates he was highly touted coming out of high school. He was rated the #1 player in the 2012 high school class by ESPN and was early on branded as one of the greatest shot blockers of his generation. Fast forward to college, he dominated at protecting rim just like most predicted he would. Nerlens went on to set the Kentucky Men’s Basketball record for most blocks in a game, recording twelve in one game, a record that was held by Sam Bowie since 1981. In February of 2012 Noel tore his ACL while attempting a chase down block and was sidelined for the remainder of the season, he would go on to declare for the NBA Draft in April. Prior to tearing his ACL, many considered Noel to be a lock for the #1 selection in that year’s draft. Noel was the perfect soldier as he witnessed the 76ers draft two center in succession and didn't say a word. So, essentially the point I am making here is that Noel was and is used to being either the focal point or an integral part of any team he is a part of. Here in Philadelphia, it seems, he no longer has any shot at being that. There are simply not enough minutes to go around appeasing everyone and at this point it seems as though Noel is on the outside looking in.
Noel has every right to feel the way he does and nobody should blame him for his recent remarks either. In a very short amount of time, Nerlens Noel went from being a potential #1 overall selection to not being good enough to crack the rotation for a 10 win team. He was drafted under a notion that he was the future for this team at the center position, only for that to be proven hilariously false. The longer this organization waits to alleviate this log jam, the louder Noel’s grumblings will get. Our front office needs to prove to current/future players and agents that this is a desirable location and we will take care of you if you decide to join this family.
Just to play devil’s advocate, let’s say, everything Colangelo said yesterday was true and this isn’t a benching for Noel and Brett Brown’s comments were taken out of context. Let’s say, the team is truly in an experimental phase when it comes to seeing which bigs mesh best with Joel Embiid. Let’s say, this time next month Noel is the experimental piece starting next to Embiid and Okafor is “out” of the rotation. There is still so much uncertainty surrounding this team and speaking in code is helping no one. Colangelo and Brown contradict one another every time they speak and don’t seem to be on the same page, let alone the same chapter. This even leads me to believe that Brett Brown’s job may not be secure as one may think but I’ll save those remarks for a later date.
This roster and front office still have a massive amount of growing to do and they won’t get there without experiencing their fair share of growing pains. I still believe that this franchise has one of the brightest futures in the league, but if we have learned anything over these last few months it's that it is going to take quite some time to iron out the foundation of that future.
