A Weird Reunion Will Give A Feeling of a New Chapter for Nerlens Noel, Sixers

A reunion against now Dallas Mavericks center Nerlens Noel will be weird for him and the Philadelphia 76ers, but signifies a new chapter.

For the first time in his entire career, Nerlens Noel will walk into the Wells Fargo Center as a guest on Friday night. For the first time, Noel will come out of the opposition’s tunnel. Noel was drafted in June of 2013, and up until late February of this year, spent his entire career with the Philadelphia 76ers.

These last few years have been interesting. As the team hired Sam Hinkie, the team began to do things unconventionally. They looked to win, just not right away. They looked to succeed, but more off the court in the draft rather than on the court right away. They went with youth and talent potential rather than veterans and wisdom, and were largely criticized for what they did.

It all started at the concluding of the 2012-13 season, when Sam Hinkie came in as president and general manager. His first draft leading the way for Philly was in 2013.

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Fans have felt a strong connection to Nerlens Noel because he was essentially the pay-off of the first move that Hinkie made. The Sixers traded Jrue Holiday, an All-Star point guard for Noel in the draft. It also helped that his elite rim protecting abilities and incredible transition lane-filling and lob potential was really, really high.

Although he sat out his first season with the Sixers, he would debut in what should have been his sophomore year, and was really good. Noel averaged 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. He also blocked 1.9 shots per game, and his defense was one of the main pieces of evidence for his future in the league.

Noel, the first piece of the process, was the final man standing from the early process days after the team waived Hollis Thompson earlier this season.

All signs pointed to the Sixers trading Jahlil Okafor to clear their logjam at center created by Okafor, Noel, and Joel Embiid. Leading up to the deadline, reports even came out that Okafor was the man to be traded by Thursday that week.

When Thursday afternoon came, though, just hours before the deadline, Noel was on the move. He was traded for a heavily protected first-round pick from the Dallas Mavericks that will almost certainly convey into two second-round picks, and Justin Anderson. The piece fans had fallen in love with and seen with the team from the start of the process in Noel was going to suit up with a different team in a different city for the first time.

It was sort of fitting that Noel be on the move. From the beginning of the season, he expressed his displeasure with the Sixers. At media day, he expressed to the media that he didn’t feel the big man logjam would work. While he was recovering from injury for the first several weeks of the season, he opted to complete his recovery in Alabama rather than with the team.

There seemed to be evident friction with the team.

Brett Brown and the team seemed a bit turned off by Noel’s desire to recover far away from the team, and felt at one point like he wasn’t even a part of the team.

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Noel saw a different tone in his very first week with the Mavericks. He, presumably because he got confused, was late a team plane, and was demoted as a starter for one game because of that. This was something that would have probably been overlooked had it happened when he was with the Sixers, and kept behind closed doors.

Being with a new team is weird. Going back to play your old team is even more odd.

Speaking to Keith Pompey of Philly.com, Nerlens Noel had a lot to say about the game, and said he had been thinking about it for some time. Noel still refers to his Sixers former teammates as his “guys.”

"“You know, I’ve been thinking about this game for some time now,” Noel said. “So I’m definitely looking forward to seeing my guys again, playing against all my guys. It’s going to be a very weird feeling. But I’m definitely ecstatic to step in that arena to play a basketball game.”"

Although he still sees them as his guys, he’s not afraid to put them up and stuff a shot if he has to.

"“I have to look them in the eye and say, ‘I have to block your shot if you come my way,’ ” he said. “It’s the little things you never really take so serious in practice. But now, it’s all about [how] I’ve got to compete against them.”"

This game is going to be interesting for everyone involved. Coaches, players, and especially the fans at the Wells Fargo Center, who were chanting and cheering for just about a month ago. The result of the big man logjam very much did not go how fans had anticipated, nor how they wanted.

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This is where we are, though, and this game really signifies the end of one era and the beginning of something new. This game shows that the old era, the Hinkie era, has passed, and although the rebuild is still very much in effect, it’s just different.