Joel Embiid: With Mavs, Nerlens Noel ‘to Get the Chance He Wanted'

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Nerlens Noel emerged from the trainer's room in a red sweatshirt and made his rounds of handshakes and hugs. It would be his last time in the Sixers' training complex as a member of the team, marking the end of the longest-tenured player's stay in Philadelphia.

The Sixers traded Noel to the Mavericks on Thursday for Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut and a top-18 protected first-round pick, according to a source (see story). He went through a portion of practice and was removed from it because of the deal. 

Noel's now former teammates had a strong reaction to his departure. 

"Nerlens, he's my guy," Joel Embiid said. "He's been my best friend since I got to Philly and I'm happy for him. He wants to start. I think in Dallas he's going to get the chance to start and they're going to re-sign him and they're going to pay him a lot of money. Here it was kind of hard for him to start unless they were starting us together. But I'm happy for him. He's going to get the chance he wanted."

Noel's future with the Sixers had been in question for two years as he enters restricted free agency this summer. Last season, the team struggled to find a way for him and Jahlil Okafor, both true centers, to play together. This season, the logjam was magnified when Embiid made his debut and took over the starting role. 

Noel candidly spoke out about the overcrowding at the beginning of the season but that situation was sidetracked when he missed 23 games because of injury. Once he returned, he quickly was on the short end of minutes. 

"I need to be on the court playing basketball," Noel said in mid-December. "I think I'm too good to be playing eight minutes. Like, no, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. They need to figure this s--- out."

The Sixers did figure out his role, later making him the defensive leader of the second unit as Okafor became the odd man out. The Sixers also considered the possibility of pairing Noel and Embiid in the starting lineup, as they did with Embiid and Okafor, but that experiment played out only over a handful of minutes. 

"I'm a little bit disappointed," Embiid said of not playing more alongside Noel. "I thought we should have tried that a little bit more. I think the few times we did, it actually looked pretty good offensively and defensively."

Of the bigs, it seemed like Okafor would be the one moved at the deadline after being held out of two games because of trade talks. In the end, it was Noel as the one to go on Thursday. 

"He's one of my favorite players here," Dario Saric said. "He's always ready for jokes, he's always ready to enjoy every moment." 

Noel was the only player remaining from Brown's first season as head coach with the Sixers. Brown could not comment on the Noel trade because it was not official at the time he addressed the media. 

Ilyasova leadership missed
On Wednesday night the Sixers dealt Ersan Ilyasova to the Hawks for Tiago Splitter, a 2017 second-round pick and 2017 second-round pick swap rights. Even though Ilyasova played only 53 games for the Sixers, the veteran leader left his mark.

"He was a consummate pro," Brown said. "He helped teach our young guys about that professionalism and helped contribute to our culture. He was good. You add those things up and we're going to miss him." 

Ilyasova's departure affects those who played with him and behind him. Embiid credited Ilyasova for stretching the floor when they were in the starting lineup together. 

Saric, though, is perhaps the most impacted by the trade. Saric moved to the second unit when Ilyasova took over the starting role. He learned from his fellow international power forward, who helped him adjust to the NBA on and off the court. Saric is likely to get the nod as a starter. 

"For me, it's hard," Saric said. "I lost in Ersan some kind of mentor." 

Brown also plans to play Robert Covington and Richaun Holmes at power forward at times, as well. If Covington slides over from small forward, Brown eyes Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Gerald Henderson and Nik Stauskas as players who could fill in at the three spot. 

The Sixers will resume activity on Friday morning for shootaround ahead of their game against the Wizards. They will approach that contest without familiar faces on the court. 

"I lost two good friends," Saric said. "But this is the NBA. This is part of the business, part of the job."