How Does Nerlens Noel Playing Power Forward Affect Sixers Defense?

With the season winding down, Brett Brown has began to experiment with this Sixers roster. For example, BB has started and given more minutes to some of the rookies, such as Jerami Grant and JaKarr Sampson.

The most notable experiment that Brown has tried has been playing Nerlens Noel at the power forward position. While Noel has played 94 percent of his minutes this season at center, he is projected to slide to the four when Joel Embiid is ready to go next season.

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Nerlens Noel has been the driving force behind the Sixers 101.5 defensive efficiency, which is good for 11th best in the league. With Nerlens on the court the Sixers have a 99.9 defensive rating and it drops to 103.9 with him off. Among players defending at least five attempts at the rim per game, Noel ranks sixth in the league with opponents shooting only 45 percent on 9.6 attempts per game with him at the rim. Young Nerlz also ranks third in the league in defensive box plus/minus, a box score metric that explains a players defensive impact.

Although it has been a small sample size, the Sixers have struggled defensively in the past four games (technically three and a half after he got hurt last night) that Noel has played at the power forward position. Philly has posted a 104.2 defensive rating and Noel has not defended as many shots at the rim. By guarding power forwards, Noel floats around the perimeter more often than he is stationed in the paint.

It’s hard to see it this way now with Furkan Aldemir and Henry Sims currently playing at center, but moving Nerlens to the four should make the Sixers defense even better next season. It’s not crazy to think that having him at the four is bad thing because it draws him away the rim. That would be a concern if the Sixers had a guy like Enes Kanter, who is a terrible rim protector, playing next to Noel. In that case the Sixers would be moving an elite rim protector away from the hoop and replacing him with a terrible one.

But coming out of college, rim protection was one of Embiid’s strengths as a player. At Kansas Joel averaged 2.7 blocks per game. He may not accumulate the blocks that Nerlens has this season, but Embiid should be just as effective and intimidating around the rim as Noel is. Also, playing power forward allows Noel to not have guard as many bigger guys that can bully him in the post.

Another thing that the Sixers can do with Noel at the four is switch a lot on defense, like the Warriors do with Draymond Green. Any pick involving a guard or forward, the Warriors can switch on because of Green’s strong defensive ability. There have been some cases this season where Noel has gotten switched onto a guard and he was able to hold his own and force a missed shot. So while the Sixers might not do it exclusively, they will have the option of doing a lot of switching on defense next season.

Nerlens Noel has had a surprisingly dominant season while anchoring the Sixers defense. But with Joel Embiid joining him in the front-court, the Sixers defense should be even better, and a lot more fun to watch next season.

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All statistics were retrieved from nba.com/stats and basketball-reference.com