twslam07
All-Star
I'd love to trade for Noel. . .
if Cousins is still on the team.
In fact, I've thought that if the Kings were to land in the top three either leapfrogging the Sixers and/or pushing the Lakers pick to sixth (which means Philly gets it) then it might be worth trying to swap picks and nab Noel.
Attached is a screenshot of ESPN's lotto simulator showing one scenario where that works out. The Kings jump up to #2 with the Magic jumping to #3 pushing Philly to #5 and LA to #6. If Minny takes Okafor then I could see the Kings staying pat and grabbing Towns. If Towns goes #1 then the question is whether or not to take Russell or Okafor or trade down. If The Sixers offered the fifth or sixth pick + Noel for the #2 I think I'd jump on that. Then at 5 or 6 you either trade down again or you grab Mudiay, Winslow or Porzingis depending on who is left.
Cousins/Thompson
Noel/Landry
Gay/Casspi
McLemore/Stauskas or whoever he can net you in trade
Mudiay/Collison/Miller
is a hell of a team. Or throwing Porzingas in as the backup PF and giving him time to grow as a high risk, high reward gamble would work too. You get your athletic weakside defender in Noel and your stretch 4 in Porzingis, a guy who could ALSO grow to become an athletic weakside defender in the NBA.
Nice.
And the icing on the cake is that the Lakers miss out on a lottery pick setting them up for another terrible season next year.
Yeah, it would require a ton of luck, but regardless of how the lottery plays out I see infinitely more ways the team can get better WITH Cousins in the fold vs getting better trading him.
In fact I would challenge anyone to give me a reasonable scenario where the Kings are better next year with Boogie playing for another squad.
I have a very, very hard time seeing Philly trading up 3-5 spots with the difference being Noel. I'm not even sure they would do a Russell for Noel trade straight up. Noel is already showing signs he can be a successful big in the NBA. It's pretty risky to trade an up and coming player like that for an unknown like Russell.
If I was Philly and I landed the #1 pick, I'm doing two things. I draft Towns and trade Noel for a pick/young prospect, or I trade #1 and grab #3/#4 and a prospect along the way. Depending on who lands at #3 and #4, Muhammad/Lavine and #3/#4, Hardaway and #3/#4, Clarkson and #3/#4, Payton/Gordon and #3, or McLemore/Stauskas and #3 could all be possible deals. Rusell/Wroten/McLemore/Covington/Saric/Noel/Embiid would be a solid foundation to build on.
Personally, I would trade Noel if they got the first pick. Towns (in theory) would be a much better compliment to Embiid and I think Towns has more potential than Noel. With that being said, what could Noel alone get them in a trade? #3? #4? #5? #6? I would be willing to trade #6 straight up for him. I'm not sure if we would have to add any sweetener to that deal (McLemore/Stauskas).