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Dallas Mavericks: What’s going on with Nerlens Noel?

By Weston Blasi

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 25: Nerlens Noel #3 of the Dallas Mavericks during play in the first quarter at American Airlines Center on February 25, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 25: Nerlens Noel #3 of the Dallas Mavericks during play in the first quarter at American Airlines Center on February 25, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Nerlens Noel is not meshing with the Dallas Mavericks early on this season. We try to understand why and if there’s a potential resolution

If you haven’t been watching much of the Dallas Mavericks this season, first of all congratulations. You’re not missing much. Dallas is 2-13 with the worst record in basketball. If you have been watching, you may have noticed that big man Nerlens Noel has been spending most of his minutes on the bench.

After trading for Noel last season with a seemingly underwhelming package of two second-round picks and salary filler, Dallas is no closer to finding their center of the future than they were a year ago.

This season, Noel has earned himself a spot in coach Rick Carlisle’s doghouse with his play. After spot-starting in a few games earlier this season, Noel has been relegated to the bench, and worse, seen his minutes dwindle to 12 total the last four contests.

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Lets figure out why this happened.

Point blank, Noel has not been good. During his time on the court he has largely been ineffective on defense, supposedly one of his hallmarks. His blocks and steals per 36 minutes are down from last season even though he seems to be gambling more on defense, per basketball-reference.

Noel has always been a risk taker, oftentimes getting bailed out by his extraordinary athleticism.

From the naked eye, it seems like there is some lack of effort from Noel. Maybe he is disgruntled due to his lack of playing time, but mental mistakes will not land you more minutes.

Here Noel is in good position to box out Pau Gasol, but leaves him to stand under the rim:

Though he entered the league as a switchy big who can also defend the rim, he hasn’t been able to harness those skills this season. The Mavs defensive rating plummets to a league-worst 114.8 with him on the floor, per NBA.com

Lets move on to offense.

Carlisle has been looking for that versatile rim-runner ever since Tyson Chandler left. There was/is some hope that Noel could fill that void, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Although Noel jumps out of the gym, he sometimes struggles with his lob awareness. Here is a play he didn’t finish after a nice lob from JJ Barea:

Another play here where he brings the ball down off the lob catch to give the smaller Patty Mills an opportunity to take the ball:

Warlock Carlisle has an affinity for starting small in the frontcourt with Harrison Barnes pairing with Dirk Nowitzki. It doesn’t appear the Dirk is headed to the bench anytime soon because he can only play right after warmups while his body is loose, according to ESPN. Yes Dirk sounds like an old man, because he is an old man.

I am really going to miss these Dirk OLAYs when he’s gone:

If Carlisle wants to go small to start and end games, frontcourt minutes are going to hard to come by. Especially if Salah Mejri keeps playing like he has been.

Mejri has been the first or second big off the bench for Dallas of late, in front of Noel. This week Carlisle spoke about his big man rotation after Noel got a DNP.

"[via ESPN]“Look, minutes have to be earned. At this point, if it’s between him and Salah. Salah has earned the minutes. There’s no doghouse here. There just isn’t. It’s pretty simple: You compete, and if you earn minutes, you get minutes. And you’ve got to compete to keep them, because it’s a competitive situation.”"

Surprisingly, Mejri has been really good. He is a feisty screener who the home crowd rallies behind. Sort of a poor man’s Steven Adams.

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    • His best attribute has been his rim protection. Albeit a small sample size, Mejri is averaging a massive 5.1 blocks per 36 minutes, per basketball-reference. He is even trusted to play crunch time minutes in matchups when Dirk becomes unplayable.

    It hasn’t been all bad for Nerlens Noel. He has sprinkled in some good games early on in the year, and had a great first quarter in Minnesota last week where he was blocking shots, finishing lobs, and helping on defense.

    The problem is those instances have been few and far between. Even more damning is that Mark Cuban and the Mavericks franchise can see what he is capable of in those spurts, and him not consistently showing out.

    For a guy who famously turned down a four-year, $70-million because he wanted a max offer instead, the season cannot be going as planned. Getting DNPs a month into the season isn’t ideal.

    Noel switched agents during the free agency period last year to Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul, and subsequently was asking for a full-max offer sheet.

    As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks point out, the salary cap environment next summer is bleak. Not many teams have cap space, and even fewer are vying to sink big money at the center position.

    It seems unlikely that Dallas would trade Noel during the season, considering he would have to approve the trade because Dallas would be giving up his bird rights.

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    Sitting at 2-13, Dallas may soon truly #EmbraceTheTank and start moving towards a top pick in next year’s draft. If that’s the case, perhaps they make a trade involving either Noel or Mejri and may tell Seth Curry to go play some golf.

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