Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown spent year one of his time with the team tutoring injured then-rookie Nerlens Noel. Now, year two is about getting Noel in a place where he can be majorly effective partnering with currently-injured rookie Joel Embiid down the road.
"All the time. All the time. All the time," Brown said when asked if he coaches Noel with Embiid on his mind, via Philly.com. "For sure we do. It would be kind of naive to not try to pair them up and figure out how they coexist and what it means to their respective games. Nerlens is the one that is going to have to adjust. I'm not going to make Joel a power forward. Nerlens has the chance to do that. They most definitely can coexist. That's the most asked question, 'How can they play together?' Quite possibly, maybe the answer is, 'Just fine.' "
Noel's defense has played a huge role in getting the Sixers to 12th in overall defense at the All-Star break, but he knows that he needs to work on all facets of his game to maximize his potential individually, and as an upcoming frontcourt duo (likely next season) with Joel Embiid.
"I just want to continue to progress in certain ways and sustain energy and just play the way that I know I can play," Noel said. "I think that I've been doing better with being more consistent."
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