Nerlens Noel is a physical manifestation of the prototypical “super raw rookie prospect”. He’s long, he’s springy, and everything he does is made possible by his physical gifts rather than any abundance of basketball skill.
He has not been a notable scorer in the NBA thus far, drawing the ire of some of the basketball punditry. I don’t get why this is a bad thing. He’s always sucked at scoring, even since high school, so everyone’s expectations should have been adjusted by now. He seems to subscribe to the Roy Hibbert school of big-man shooting philosophy; “I’m really tall, so I should shoot this shot”. Every hook he throws up is a prayer, and that’s okay. Gotta learn somehow.
One underrated stat he’s among the best in the league in is “TIP/36”, or “Thumbnail Images Produced per 36”, a proprietary advanced stat invented by myself. Whether he’s just standing around on D, getting hyped after a huge block, or looking sadly at the bench as the coaching staff yells at him, he’s always good for high-quality YouTube thumbs. I haven’t yet finished compiling TIP/36 for the entire league, keep an eye out for the full list in a future description.