The Sixer Sense
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Rookie of the Year: The Case for Nerlens Noel

By Dan Falcone

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The difficult part of making a case for Nerlens Noel as Rookie of the Year will be to come up with a rationalization for why Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins should not receive the award.

Wiggins is the top scorer among NBA rookies at 15.7 ppg and his abundant skill level is obvious. He plays a finesse game but he also plays power ball. His 4.7 trips per game to the FT line also is tops among rooks.

Wiggins has also shown an enormous capacity to compete. He put up big numbers against playoff caliber teams this season; against teams like Houston and Cleveland. He’s starting to have a reputation for strutting his skills against the best. Consider his 33-point and 27-point performances against LeBron James and his former team in Cleveland.

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Perhaps overlooked is Wiggins’s defensive displays. Zach Harper has covered Andrew Wiggins and his ability to be a multifaceted defender, ranging from him shutting down the “volume scorer” to his capability to guard the wing and the point. He guards the best player the opposition has on a nightly basis, which stands for something.

But enough with Wiggins, what about Nerlens Noel’s chances for ROY? How can he possibly edge out Wiggins in the voting?

Nerlens Noel leads all rookies in the NBA in rebounds, blocks, and steals. Noel is also the only player in the entire league to rank in the top ten for blocks and steals. That’s something amazing for a 20-year-old kid.

Noel is also improving at a rapid pace. He has averaged a double-double since the All-Star break. His rim protection keeps increasing, blocking a total of 15 shots in his last seven games.

In his last six games, he has totaled a stunning twenty-one steals.

Coach Brett Brown has indicated Noel’s special abilities to include: “exceptional attributes [like] ambidextrous shot-blocking, an uncanny sense of timing, and a pogo-stick second jump.”

Another reason Noel is the Rookie of the Year is because the Sixers are frankly a better team than the Timberwolves; experimental-roster-shifting-tanking and all. Furthermore, Noel has done more for his team than Wiggins and under far more challenging circumstances.

Having said that, Noel is certainly behind Wiggins as an offensive threat.

He struggles in the half-court and he barely has a semblance of a jumper or skill set facing the rim, but he can pass, play unselfish and do everything on defense. Even though his jumper is struggling, he’s leaps and bounds improved on offense than his short stint at Kentucky.

Mar 7, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel (left) and center Joel Embiid (right) share a laugh during warm ups before a game against the Atlanta Hawks at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

His free-throw shooting has improved from 33 percent and 42 percent in October and December to 75 percent in February and 66 percent in March. He’s now shooting 60 percent from the line this season, which was a goal that Brett Brown explained at the beginning of the season. In terms of that development, Noel is making the mark. His true shooting percentage also failed to be over 50 percent in his first three months in the NBA, but has been over 50 percent in the last two months.

Nearly every Sixer’s run this season can be traced to Nerlens Noel’s athleticism. He plays beyond his years like a veteran point guard who anchors his team. His ability to protect the rim like Shaq and steal the ball like Chris Paul is unseen and unheard of at his size.

Other rookies that will receive some attention are Orlando’s Elfrid Payton and Chicago’s Nikola Mirotic, but place your bets on Wiggins, who has the traditional stat line to be revered (points per game).

The narrative of Wiggins being dealt away from Cleveland and then dropping 33 on LeBron will be hard for Noel to overcome.

But keep your eye on this Rookie of the Year race, for as Nerlens Noel keeps up the live wire act of filling the stat sheet while improving offensively, the distance is slimming.