Sixers 2013 Off-Season Thread

[Sgt PSN]

But they don't have Andrew Bynum on the roster anymore, so they're still winning.

[MDS]

evan turner is their best player

evan turner

[ice grillin you]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - At 11:30 on a late August morning at Champion Sports Medicine, 76ers rookie Nerlens Noel was already two hours into the first of his two workouts.

The 6-foot-11 center's blue shirt and white shorts were saturated in sweat. He had a cramp in his left foot and a burning sensation in his hamstrings. And his usually crisp high-top fade needed grooming.

Noel was completing a series of lower-body exercises - squats, hamstring curls, and sprints - leading to single-leg bridges with resistance.

He extended one leg in the air. The heel of his size 16 foot on the other was positioned on top of a medicine ball with his hips off the floor.

Noel's repeated grunts revealed that fatigue had set in. Yet, other than a water break, the 19-year-old's only rest came while walking to and from workout stations.

With his body completely drained, it would have been easy for him to take at least a five-minute break. Most NBA observers believe the Sixers are jockeying for position in what is expected to be a talent-rich 2014 draft. And Noel won't play until December - if at all this season - because of the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered during his lone season at Kentucky.

But resting on this day was not an option for Noel, who spent 51/2 months rehabilitating his left knee with renowned physical therapist Kevin Wilk and his staff before moving to Philadelphia earlier this month.

The third of four children, Noel knows a lot about real pain and working past the brink of exhaustion.

And he'll tell you this isn't it.

How to tell the story of a player expected to alter the direction of the Sixers franchise? It starts with his mother, Dorcina Noel, who grew up in the Haitian coastal city of Gonaïves.

She was a standout defender on the women's soccer team at college in Gonaïves.

After frequent visits to America, Dorcina and her now estranged husband, Yonel, moved to the States 23 years ago in search of a good place to raise a family.

The immigrants chose Everett, a blue-collar town four miles north of Boston with a large Haitian community.

"When I came here, I loved Boston," said Dorcina, who still possesses a thick Haitian accent. "But the city was too crowded. So I love this area."

The city has a similar feel to Northeast Philadelphia. It's known for producing Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly, Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, and former Penn State and NFL tailback Omar Easy.

Walk past Lou Diamonds barbershop on Elm Street, and you get the sense of pride in the pro sports squads of Boston. There's a framed cover of ESPN magazine proclaiming Boston "America's Most Dominant Sports City" in a storefront window with a teddy bear wearing a Celtics uniform.

But the pride of this city is the football team at Everett High, where Easy is the vice principal.

The Crimson Tide boast one of the best programs in Massachusetts. Everett has won two mythical national titles, 10 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I "Super Bowl" titles, and 24 Greater Boston League titles.

But when the Noels arrived in Everett in 1990, the family wasn't concerned with the sports scene.

Looking to make ends meet, Yonel worked as a cabdriver, while Dorcina had a short stint at a local hospital. But trying to financially help relatives back in Haiti, the registered nurse quickly realized that working at two nursing homes would be more profitable.

"I still take care of my sisters and my brothers," Dorcina said. "You know in Haiti, they don't have any jobs. People can't do it."

Noel sat on a weight bench in Birmingham and said with conviction that Dorcina will not work another day.

He's determined to use part of this season's $3,172,320 salary to move her out of the lime green duplex on Liberty Street in Everett. He said he will buy Dorcina a home of her choice in Philadelphia or any other place she decides to live.

Being able to provide for his mother is the reason he practiced with the Everett High varsity basketball team as a fifth grader. It's the reason he transferred to basketball powerhouse Tilton School in New Hampshire after two years at Everett High. And it's also the reason he is determined to battle through any grueling workout Wilk or the Sixers put him through.

But nothing he'll do can compare to the physical pain his mother suffered daily to provide for Noel and his siblings: Jim, 22, Rodman, 21, and Nashdah, 14.

Dorcina broke a bone in her back in 1996. She never had surgery.

She feared that time away from work would keep her from providing for her family. So despite being in intense pain, Dorcina worked her two full-time jobs six days a week.

She would leave the house at 5:30 a.m. and wouldn't return until 11:30 p.m. On occasion, she worked 48 hours nonstop between the two nursing homes. But one day she felt a piercing pain shoot up her back while lifting a patient into bed. She was physically and emotionally drained, and Dorcina's body told her enough was enough.

"The thought of her just really pushes me to get those extra reps and push that much harder to get back," Noel said. "That's something that I see as a will. You know, a will to really keep pushing and fighting.

"My mom instilled that in me."

Noel began to appreciate his mother's willpower at an early age.

Jim, Rodman, and Noel would routinely greet Dorcina at home after her evening shift. Noel always greeted her with a drawing of a flower or something else he made at school.

"My mom's name, Dorcina, was my first tattoo ever," said Noel, pointing to the marking on his left forearm. "I was 15. I mean it was my first tattoo. So I wanted it to be something special that had a lot of meaning to me. I love my mother to death.

"The tattoo means so much to me and how much she's done for me and my family."

As a first-round pick, Noel is the one in the national spotlight. However, his siblings' athletic prowess is well-documented in Everett.

Jim was senior captain last season on Boston College's football team. The defensive back signed a rookie free-agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks before being released before training camp.

Rodman is a reserve redshirt junior outside linebacker at North Carolina State. And Nashdah is a 5-91/2 freshman guard at St. Anne's-Belfield, a prep school in Charlottesville, Va.

But athletic genes and a work ethic are just a part of what Dorcina passed along.

Following their mother's lead, they have all volunteered time to give to the less fortunate.

"Our mother worked right up the street from where we had football practice," Jim said. "So we would visit her and would see my mother help out the elderly. That's what really stuck with Nerlens and us ever since.

"Just the fact of helping people and trying to help somebody's life is a big thing."

While at Kentucky, Noel made frequent visits to the Kentucky Children's Hospital and several Lexington-area nursing homes. He even had a special guest with him at the Kentucky Derby in May: Kelly Melton, a 7-year-old boy battling leukemia.

His only regret is that his acts of kindness have been made public.

"I mean I'm not really with the glitz and glamour," he said. "I don't do it to be the lead story of ESPN. I'm doing it from the kindness of my heart.

"I want to be able to have that feeling that I'm definitely doing something good with my celebrity status, because that's the main thing."

His mother wouldn't have it any other way.

At Champions Sports Medicine, Noel briefly glanced out the window at pedestrians on St. Vincent's Drive, paused, and delivered a message for Sixers fans.

"I'm all about winning," he said. "I don't care what the stats look like as long as I'm winning and I'm contributing and really getting my teammates involved."

Noel added that fans should know that he's a blue-collar player with an undying love for the game.

"I mean, whatever I have to do to win over the city of Philadelphia," he said, "I will do."

Known primarily as a defensive specialist at Kentucky, he's determined to contribute on the offensive end. Noel said he was always hesitant to shoot and preferred to focus on the defensive end.

"I never wanted to hurt my team," he said of missing shots. "Now, I'm definitely being able to go in the gym and work on my game and do a lot of repetition.

"I'm definitely going to have a strong offensive game."

But no one knows when or if he'll get to unveil it this season.

The Sixers are in no rush to get him on the court. Though Noel is ahead of schedule in his weight-room workouts, Wilk doubts he will be ready to play before December.

"Right now, the stuff we are doing is not necessarily on the court," Wilk said. "He's got to get used to the court, cutting on the court. Used to playing defense one-on-one. Things of that nature.

"So it's probably going to get pushed a little further back, even though he looks like he's ready."

For now, his regimen includes strengthening exercises designed to build bulk, agility, and proprioception exercises, and non-muscular training.

So far, Noel has bulked up to around 221 pounds from a listed 206 at May's NBA predraft combine.

While he wants to gradually add more weight, Noel doesn't think his slender build should be an issue.

"I'm never going to be a Shaquille O'Neal," he said. "I'm going to be my own person in my own size. I'm not expecting to be that big. I'm who I am. I'm definitely going to progress with my body and my skills."

But he doesn't step on the scale and say, 'Oh, I'm 221 pounds.'

"I definitely just measure it by the heart I have," Noel said. "The determination I have to be a great player."

Kentucky coach John Calipari is confident that his former standout will become a fan favorite once he gets on the court.

Calipari, who was a Sixers assistant coach under Larry Brown, believes Noel was the best player in the draft, despite being selected sixth by the New Orleans Pelicans and being traded to the Sixers.

"Something inside of him when the game gets hairy comes out," he said. "It's that it factor those great players have. That's what I'm telling everybody. I know he hurt his leg, I know.

"But of all those players in that draft, he was one that had that it."

Calipari pointed to Noel's five blocked shots in the last four minutes against Mississippi last season. The coach added that his former player always produced when the game was in the balance, whether it was a steal, a block, a dive on the floor, or a basket.

That's why Calipari believes Philadelphians will enjoy Noel.

"They demand great effort," he said. "They demand that we fight and battle and play that way every day. That's giving us the best you have. And they will get that."

[ice grillin you]

lots of good stuff in here....

Nerlens Noel, Michael Carter-Williams Reunite in Philly

Michael Carter-Williams dribbled the ball up the court and made eye contact with Nerlens Noel. They were the two most athletic and talented players on the court, but their biggest strength seemed to be that they were always on the same page. In this instance, they were in sync for an alley-oop. Carter-Williams waited for Noel to spin around his defender and then lobbed the ball toward the basket. Noel swiped the ball out of midair, slamming it with authority and shaking the backboard.

While this sounds like something out of a Philadelphia 76ers practice, this sequence occurred years ago. Long before Carter-Williams and Noel were teammates on the 76ers – long before Noel had the recognizable flattop – they were playing side by side on the same AAU team. The duo played for the Boston Amateur Basketball Club, one of the most prestigious AAU teams in the country. They were coached by Leo Papile and were a dominant duo, as expected.

The two players had an excellent connection on the court, but they were even closer off of the court. They were thrilled when, on draft night, the 76ers acquired both of them. After all of these years, they can't believe that they're reuniting in Philadelphia. Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie did his homework on the players and wanted them to be the cornerstones of his franchise for years to come.

"I'm really excited," Carter-Williams said. "Me and Nerlens grew up together.  We're best friends.  We played on the same AAU team in high school.  It's like a dream come true.  We always talked about how we were both going to make it to the NBA.  For us to end up on the same team is a blessing.  It means a lot. ... I played two or three years with Nerlens. I was surprised he went sixth, but it's how things end up. It was meant to be. I'm sure he has a chip on his shoulder now, and who knows, maybe that's what he needed for him to be great in the NBA. Maybe this pushes him to work harder. That's what it should do for him. I know he's happy as ever to play with me, also. So to look at it in that perspective is great."

"Once I got back to the room, I had heard that Michael Carter-Williams had gotten drafted by the Sixers as well and I was just thinking, 'What are the odds of that? What a coincidence,'" Noel said with a smile. "Sam is just a genius, thinking of something like that – drafting two players who played AAU together and already have a great relationship. And it's the point guard and big man relationship too, which is big. You have to give Sam a lot of credit for that, for building that as the foundation of the organization."

The 76ers are clearly in rebuilding mode, trading away All-star Jrue Holiday and building around rookies. However, Hinkie believes he's assembling one of the best up-and-coming cores in the league, taking a step back in the short-term in order to form a very strong young nucleus in the long-term.

"As the draft started this year, we were very focused on finding more talented players to add to our team, finding players who are hard workers and compete every day, finding players who could add to this pipeline of what we're trying to build here in Philadelphia," Hinkie said."This is a really big step for us."

Carter-Willians and Noel are excited to be the faces of the franchise in Philadelphia.

"I'm ready," Carter-Williams said. "I think I'm a quick learner and I'll adapt to the NBA fast. I have the keys to the car. I have a lot of confidence in myself, and Philadelphia has a lot of confidence in me.  I'm going to go there and play my best.  I'm just going to go out there and perform every night like I can. ... There is some pressure there, no doubt about it, but I'm just going to use it as motivation and just work hard every day to try to get better and better. I've been dealing with a lot of pressure coming from Syracuse and having the ball in my hands my sophomore year after a bunch of guys left, and it was my job to lead the team. It's not the exact situation, but it's a similar situation. I'm just going to do my best."

"I definitely feel that I'm ready," Noel said. "It's going to be a lot of pressure, but I feel that if I perform at my highest level then the pressure will be gone. I'm definitely ready to take that on and face that challenge. There will be no excuse to not progress the way that I want to progress. Basketball will be the number one priority. That will be my main focus and it's going to take up most of my time. I'll be able to really work on it as a craft and bring my development along."

Both players are aiming for greatness, hoping to eventually become one of the best players at their respective positions.

"If I want to be the player that I want to be, those high expectations are going to be there – that comes with wanting to be great," Carter-Williams said. "I think that me being a bigger guard helps me out a lot. I can defend well, see over the little guards and rebound well. I think offensively, I have a point guard mindset. I've come from the point guard position. I think on the defensive end since I'm a bigger guard, I'm going to be able to defend two or three positions. Either way, basketball is basketball, but I think that I'm a point guard at heart."

"I definitely feel that way," Noel said when asked if he can become one of the NBA's elite players. "I know it will take a lot of work, but I definitely want to put the time and work in to be one of the top players in the NBA. That's a dream come true and I'll definitely take advantage of it so I definitely feel that I can become one of them and reach my full potential. I definitely feel that I can be [the best defender in the league]. I have to do a lot of work and make sure I bring it every night, but I think I can get there."

When Carter-Williams and Noel were younger, they imagined that they were Jason Kidd and Kevin Garnett, dominating their high school peers.

"Growing up, I always modeled my game after Jason Kidd in his prime," Carter-Williams said. "He was a great defender, and I think I'm capable of being a great defender. He passed the ball really well. Of course our games are a little bit different, but we have that foundation. Also, he's a winner and I like to win. Every team I've been on, we've gone pretty far and competed and won pretty much everything."

"I definitely try to watch Kevin Garnett a lot, and I definitely try to model my game after him," Noel said. "I try to play how he plays, especially on defense and especially his passionate nature. I've been watching him play and studying his game from a young age."

The duo can't wait for the season to get started. While Noel likely won't make his Sixers debut until closer to December, he and Carter-Williams are anxious to get back on the court together and attempt to duplicate their AAU success.

"I'm looking forward to it," Carter-Williams said. "I know it's going to be a learning experience. We're going to have a lot of young guys, but we're also going to have some veterans so we're going to learn from them. We're just going to try to bring everything together as a team and be the best we can."

[BigEd76]

Wiggins

[hunt]

love the blow up/rebuild...long overdue.

love the return of the high top fade.

hate the head coach's boston accent. 

should be a fun season...by that, i mean really painful to watch...but necessary.

[smeags]

hunt sighting ? 

[BigEd76]

Sixers/Thunder from London is on NBATV at 3 today

[Sgt PSN]

Each team sent out a player to address the crowd before tip off.  The Thunder sent out Kevin Durant.  The Sixers sent out Spencer Hawes.  Guess which team is a legit championship contender. 

Also, the game is in Manchester Ed, you farging slacker. 

[Sgt PSN]

Lol.....Hawes tried pump faking from behind the arc and then driving to the basket on Ibaka.  It did not end well. 

[BigEd76]

Also, the game is in Manchester Ed, you farging slacker.

Same thing unless there's a bay in between them, then they can never mix.  Ever.

[Sgt PSN]

You know they're like 200 miles apart right? 

[Sgt PSN]

Evan Turner just drove the lane and had a nice strong finish at the rack. I'm going to cite this 1 specific play and say that he's totally athletic now contrary to what every other play tells me. 

[BigEd76]

You know they're like 200 miles apart right?

Yea, and there's no bay between them.  Do they like the Sharks?

[Sgt PSN]

No.  They like futbol.   

MCW went 3-4 from 3.  Somehow they are running with the Thunder (up 2 at ht), but they are sloppy as hell. A lot of turnovers and blown rotations on d.