After playing his first two games of the season, Philadelphia 76ers forward Nerlens Noel voiced his frustration. Noel had missed the first 23 games of the season after recovering from an off season knee surgery. He has already expressed his concerns about the roster back at the start of training camp. Now he’s frustrated after playing just 8:02 in the first half in a 100-89 loss at the hands of the Lakers.
He once again voiced his concern of the roster and let it be known that he is not happy with his role. Noel stated:
““I just want to play basketball,” Noel said in response to whether or not he wanted to be paired with another center. “I don’t really care who I’m playing with. I’m not an eight-minute player so I don’t know what that’s about. I don’t really care. I need to be on the court playing basketball. 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.”
Noel had been cleared a little over 30 minutes left before the game. He sprained his left ankle in his season debut on Sunday and sat out their game on Wednesday.
Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid played 24 and 29 minutes respectively. Head coach Brett Brown stated “I felt like when they started going small something had to give. And Nerlens was a casualty to that, as well as his health is not 100 percent.” The team has been trying to figure out the overcrowded issue in their frontcourt. Rotating between Noel, Okafor, Embiid and Ersan Ilyasova has been a tall task for Brown, and Noel understands that the coach is trying to get all the players on the court.
With the trade deadline two months away we will see if the Sixers look to make any changes.
