MLB News: Indians closer Chris Perez expected to return by Friday
June 17, 2013Man of Steel disappointing but doesn’t sink the franchise completely – WFNY Podcast – 2013-06-17
June 17, 2013There may be massive questions surrounding Nerlens Noel and the people with whom he’s associating with as the NBA draft draws near. In a podcast with Bill Simmons, Ryen Russillo wondered aloud who would end up writing the article on the topic, but it seems to me he just broke the news.
“I think the Noel thing is the most interesting,” Russillo said of the 2013 NBA draft. Russillo expounded “He has, by all reports if you start digging a bit deeper on this – and I don’t know who is going to end up writing this story – but he has some like epic bad dudes with him.”
The rest of the story is that he hasn’t signed with an agent, he’s been a serial appointment breaker with business people including multiple agents, Clevelander Rich Paul and the infamous World Wide Wes.
Combine that information and the well-known injury questions surrounding the young athlete, and it seems less surprising when there are rumors about Noel dropping down draft boards, including the one being operated by Chris Grant and the Cavaliers.
Of course, maybe there’s more to the story. Certainly a kid rebuffing agents and business managers in the NBA is going to draw attention and cause negative stories in the media. Who else is going to source more stories in the media other than the many managers and agents who pepper the landscape of the NBA? But maybe there’s a real cause for concern too.
You can bet all this and more is factoring into the Cavaliers decision-making process for this year’s draft. We’ll just have to wait, see and judge all this on the back end unless someone really figures it out through an exhaustive reporting process into Nerlens Noel’s “handlers” whomever they might be.
I recommend the entire podcast to Cavs fans, by the way. There were some juicy trade scenarios as Simmons and company like to play with.
49 Comments
Read somewhere that he didn’t get an agent initially because he was so focused on his rehab. (Personally, I think that’s more important.)
But of course, the super agents all think they are more important…and so…does it really surprise anyone that they are throwing up red flags? I mean, who else (besides the shunned agents) would be complaining about this?
Seems like much ado about nothing in my opinion. He now has an agent and is still super focused on his rehab.
who cares about bad dude rumors – why isn’t anyone worried about the verified fact that he could only manage to average like 10 and 9 when he was healthy
I do agree that the lack of an agent part of it is a non-issue; I’d rather draft a player with no agent at all rather than one like Scott Boras.
The more worrisome part of that discussion is about the quality of the characters he hangs around with. Last thing we need is to draft a player #1 overall who not only has injury problems, but off-the-court problems as well. I can handle one of those, but not both at the same time.
or that his offensive game is 2 steps above caveman status
Don’t buy too much into the college stats, they aren’t always good predictors of what’ll translate at the next level. A few examples:
Roy Hibbert: ~ 13 & 6 his whole college career
Greg Monroe: ~ 14 and 8
Hasheem Thabeet: ~ 14 and 11
Joakim Noah: ~ 12 and 8
DeAndre Jordan: ~ 8 and 6
Those figures are all over the place, and the worst out of the 5 in the NBA (Thabeet) had by far the best college stats.
As long as those “epic bad dudes” are Bone Thugs-n-Harmony I’m ok
what about how he’s always falling down in his highlight reels
Wouldn’t BTH be epic “good” dudes tho?
And I still pass but hey Charlotte how about a trade? I’m hoping they can move the pick which would create even more options but I know that’s a long shot. If they can’t use the pick on someone else, please. And this “story” has nothing to do with it. If anything it’d be like reason #8 or #9 on my list.
I don’t want to comment substantively because I don’t know much about the kid and haven’t yet listened to the podcast upon which Craig’s report is based.
Will say: this report is coming out for the first time just 10 days before the draft. These type of rumors are always released just before the NBA and NFL drafts, just like dirt is sprayed just before presidential elections. It’s good timing for someone who wants to plant a seed of doubt among the undecided or create negative fan pressure, enough time to really let the story disperse and be repeated, insufficient time to investigate and rebuff before final decisions are made. Maybe all or parts are true, but the timing makes me ask: if it’s true, why now?
Geico cave men on line 2!
I meant “bad” in the colloquial sense of the word, which actually means “good”. Kids these days…
Got any links showing Noel falling down in his highlight reels?
Why so worried? Are you expecting Noel to average 10 and 9 for his whole NBA career?
Ah yes, the excellent “falling down in highlight reels” predictor. It’s the exact same method the NBA scouts use!
/sarcasm, if that wasn’t obvious.
Blowing off a meeting with LRMR Lebron posse douchbags is not a negative. I like Noel even more for that move.
Ur so hip I guess this is sorta like when Michael “Hee hee” Jackson asked, “Who’s bad?”
That’s called flopping!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZB42RYC3Oc
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more like 4 and 3
As a Kentucky fan, I’ve followed Noel for the last few years. I’ve found this “bad dude” report strange because Noel has acted as a model citizen throughout his Kentucky career. It seemed like there never was a day were Noel was seen helping out sick kids and volunteering for charities. To be honest, the guy is as close to a class act as you can get.
I counted 4 times he fell down out of probably a hundred or so highlights. On 3 of the 4 he was pushed in mid-air. This is literally the most inane criticism of a player I’ve ever seen or heard.
he still fell down lol
for the sake of precision, there were probably 20-25 highlights there, not hundreds – the vid was only 2 min long
It’s been shown over and over again: Character counts, maturity matters, and selfish, entitled knuckleheads ruin teams.
I’m not saying Noel’s a jerk cuz I don’t know. But if he is, I don’t want him.
Okay, I definitely exaggerated on the number of highlights. But now that I re-watched it, one of those times falling down was him going to the floor for a loose ball.
And also, what do you mean by “he still fell down.” Getting your legs taken out from under you or just getting pushed in mid-air makes it almost impossible to control your body. If he was just randomly falling down on every play then this might be a concern, but people fall down in the NBA. It happens. Especially when pushed.
there were two where i felt he just looks like a weak player – diving for the loose ball is a good sign
i hope he can still do that when he gets back from his torn acl
Hanging out with “bad dudes” seems like a perfectly generic thing to say for spurned agents or teams wanting him to drop. Also, it’s just obscure enough that it might not be disproven before the draft.
No one’s saying he’s at NBA-strength yet. But that’s what happens in the NBA. You get the best, most dedicated training and you bulk up. He’s never gonna be a bruiser, but he’ll put on enough weight to where he won’t be quite so easily pushed around.
whoa lotta clips/celts talk. painful. what minute is the noel talk happening in?
[btw, simmons is proposing the a pierce to cavs deal like kanick had.]
Really? Do you have any ironclad evidence that proves that Noel will average 4 points and 3 rebounds throughout his entire NBA career?
LeBron went 0 and 0 in college. he also hung out with “epic good dudes,” and look where that got us…
Awwwww, Snap – that’s good. One of those dudes used to live in my neighborhood.
NO.
You’re trolling pretty hard, bro, or you’re just really dense. That Dwyane wade character used to fall a lot too, what a bum he turned out to be. Averaging 10 and 9 as an 18 yr old freshman exceeds many other star centers’ numbers in college. Check the 18 year old stats of hibbert, Noah, horford, vucevic, etc. do a little research before you post next time.
If Nerlens’s posse is made up of bad enough dudes to rescue the president, then he has to be the pick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPYJsxeQOMc
The thing is…at the time of the podcast (was like the 15th or 16th) he had already hired an agent (on teh 13th.)
This just sounds like sour grapes on the part of the big name agents that feels like they’ve been spurned.
Ask LBJ
He is going to get drafted to detriot for Bad Boys II
Bad Dudes was a double dragon rip off, but neither beats River City Ransom
I would totally do the 31 + 33 deal he was advocating. #19 would be a tougher sell because we could get a future building block like Karasev or Bullock there.
The arcade version of BD was great, the NES version was AWFUL.
Seems like shameless character assassination to me. Not that I’ve listened to the podcast (I wont), but does this sleezeball have anything to back up his vague and mean spirited statement? What makes these dudes bad? And what exactly makes them epically bad? And what does that even mean?
It sounds like he’s made a vague, unprovable statement, attempting to insinuate a character flaw, by not even saying anything at all. Who are these guys and why are they so bad? It causes the listener themselves to fill in the blank and guess what negative behavior the person must be up to. What a shameless tactic.
A championship appearance and actually winning?
Not sure why the C’s want to trade Doc perhaps it’s allegiances or maybe Rondo wanting him gone. I guess if they got Bledsoe and more plus were able to sign big Al Jefferson and bring him back I’d be happy. Of course if they got Bledsoe not sure what/if that would mean anything for Rondo. Perhaps George Karl would be interested but most likely Del Negro.
I was against Pierce to the Cavaliers but depending on the cost it may not be such a bad deal.
@clevta who i respect greatly thinks strongly that pierce won’t want to come here, will retire a celtic or go back home to LA. i defer to TA generally, but i’m not so sure pierce wouldn’t embrace playing on this cavs team.
i also don’t know what it would cost in terms of cap or picks. but a frontloaded two year contract (using this year’s cap, leaving space for next year) is something the cavs ‘could’ do. would the celtics take 19+31? dunno.
all i’m saying is that pierce is playing at a very high level,, higher than you think. he plays the position that is the biggest hole. if the cavs want to get in the playoffs next year, pierce is a good way to get there.
Noel signed an agent on the 13th. This podcast was recorded on like the 15th or the 16th. Seems like he is butt hurt for losing out on a good prospect.
He’d be a legit piece if for nothing more then a few years but I tend to believe the Cavaliers would be a longshot. I’m sure Pierce would prefer to go to another contender to end his career IF he does leave.
Hey, Marc Gasol is a caveman thank you very much
Def has some bad dudes surrounding him. Supposedly, he get free tickets to the Lil Dicky concert in philly, and invited the rapper back to his pad after the concert. So.. Tehyre in cahootz it seems.