The Sacramento Kings are interested in free agent center Nerlens Noel, according to Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto. Noel spent last season with the New York Knicks, where he averaged 5.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.
Multiple teams have free agent center Nerlens Noel on their radar, including the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors. The Knicks also remain interested in re-signing Noel. More on @hoopshype. https://t.co/1J759wnuDw
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 14, 2021
On Hoops Hype, Scotto wrote of the Kings interest in Noel:
Regarding Sacramento, it depends on what happens with their free-agent center, Richaun Holmes.
Holmes is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Should the Kings lose out on keeping Holmes, Noel makes a lot of sense to try to fill some of that production. Noel is a defensive-focused big man, as evidenced by his 2.2 blocks per game.
Going from Holmes to Noel would be a downgrade for the Kings, but barring trades to create cap space the Kings will be limited in what they can offer. Signing Noel could require using the team’s full Mid Level Exception (around $9 million), which would be a painful price to pay for a downgrade at center.
NBA Free Agency begins on August 2nd.
My favorite proposed solution so far is the trade for Lonzo and Adams. Covers a lot of the team’s issues, and gives them a lineup of legit two-way players.
If the asking price for Lonzo and Adams is simply Hield and Bagley, I MUCH prefer that trade to Simmons for Hield, Bagley and three 1st round picks.
If the Kings view Ball as a long term starter at SF, then it makes a lot of sense. I’d like to keep Holmes tho.
They would have to convince Ball to be a starting SF here though, as he is a RFA, and I would guess will have interest from at least Chicago and NY, and more.
Oh, for sure. That was assuming we were in a position to land him.
Right? Convince someone else who isn’t a starting small forward to be a starting small forward. What could possibly go wrong?
Sorry, failed comment on my end. Much like the Kings
Agreed. I don’t know why they would want or need Buddy when Seth Curry is as good or better for far less money.
Hm. I’d like to how a failed comment led to a comparison between Hield & Seth Curry.
He edited it after I replied.
I get that, but what was the original comment & how was it a failed comment?
I had this response about the proposed Simmons trade and how Buddy, Bagley and picks make no sense for Philly. Looked back and it didn’t actually fit what the poster was talking about. I misread what they wrote.
I like Adams very much as a player, but he doesn’t stretch the floor even a tiny bit, and the less congestion in the paint there is, the more dynamic Fox becomes.
I would prefer Adams too if Holmes signs elsewhere which he might. Buddy to NOP for Adams who they want to dump and #10.
Because Ball is RFA not sure if he and Adams can be in same deal. and agree that this is a better option than all those picks to Philly
I think that Nerlens might be had for less, if given the opportunity to play 30-35 minutes per game. He was right at $5 mil for the Knicks last season, and if he’s agreeable to that for 2-3 years, I wouldn’t be mad about it.
Noel has shown capable of anchoring a pretty stout defense. We have nothing like that here, of course, but he’d be a solid addition on that end.
I have always been a fan of his, and would like to see him in a Kings uni, but all of these rumors are so hard to really have an opinion on without the context of other roster moves. I wonder if a coaching staff less adept at defense such as the Kings would really be able to get full utility out of a player like Noel, or if Noel really enjoys playing with Thibs. It could be just as likely he might want to seek a starting position and not back up Robinson. He is someone to keep an eye on though.
I chose this picture for this article because I am desperately trying to figure out what is happening with Nerlens’ thumb
Hadn’t noticed it…but now I am somewhat disturbed by it. Appreciated 😉
Update: In researching Noel, he had a severe left thumb injury in 2018. Likely explains the pic…I wouldn’t recommend the doctor that did the surgery. Haha
The length and downward-dog position makes it looks like lesser thumbs have definitely regretted declaring war upon it.
The only thing better than a rim-protector is one with a double-jointed thumb.
Elite 2nd joint? Where do I sign?
-Vlade
Not sure how much sense it makes to sign Noel for a couple million less than Holmes. Are we going full Maloof here? If we’re talking about significant savings, then I could see it.
It wouldn’t be to save money, it’s because the Kings have a limit on how much they can pay Holmes. They’re over the cap, and only have Early Bird Rights, so they can’t go above that. If they create more cap space in trades, they could offer Holmes more.
This is more a situation where another team pays Holmes more than the Kings can offer, so then they pay Noel to fill the void.
(You’re not supposed to counter the narrative that everyone and everything is incompetent. Most of it, sure, but not all of it.)
If this GM can’t create a couple million in cap space from Noel -> Holmes and Holmes is the guy they want, he’s in the wrong line of work.
Totally agree.
Right? Changing the narrative from “We’re too cheap” to “Creating cap space is too hard” is not better.
Especially if letting assets walk for nothing is the new trend.
Letting assets walk for nothing has been happening for a long time. It wouldn’t be a new trend if it happened again.
It’s probably in McNair’s contract somewhere as a job requirement.
So Carl, you are engaging in preemptive criticism, speculative criticism, hypothetical criticism, in lieu of actual criticism?
Imagine what negative outcome may transpire and rip the expected offender ahead of time? Giannis really choked away Game 7 of the finals with that airballed free throw. (Note: Game has not been played)
McGenius is going to shock and awe, razzle and dazzle, his wheelhouse approaches. Could it all go haywire with Bagley for a bag of donuts and Moody or Wagner or milquetoast candidate at #9? It could, I will be the first to voice my disgust and discontent.
But McGenius is no dummy, that is why he is McGenius!
On Noel, inquiry into him does not preclude resigning Holmes. If we have a Buddy and / or Bagley trade “in the pipeline” then the Holmes contract only remains to be signed, and why not, if there are a lot machinations behind the scenes to which we are not privvy.
Greg is drawing presumptuous conclusions, using specious logic, not the first time.
Per my end of the year assessment, Damion Jones showed glimpses, encouraging signs, but not enough to defintively award to him back up center role. The team and the coach need competition and alternatives and may the best man win.
The inquiry into Noel is the attempt to shore up your interior defense and rebounding primarily because whether Jones is the warrior you need to play 15-20 MPG is an open ended question. Secondarily, Noel does provide insurance if Holmes walks.
If you want to read reasonable specualtion into the interest of Noel it may be that a beefy center like Steven Adams and to a lesser degree Alperen Sengun may not be the direction that this GM wants to go. The trend in playoffs, a continuation of regular season, with bigs exposed on the perimter and often unplayable is evidence of this possible intent.
Noel is relatively mobile center and more comfortable away from the basket than a more lateral challenged center and a center who can slide down to defend PFs and SFs in a pinch.
This is why Isaiah Jackson is rocketing up my board and Kai Jones is not. Jones is more of a conventional center whereas Jackson will eventually defend three positions without overreaching and loss of balance that Jones can more often succumb to.
But the more that I review and reflect what will happen on draft day, not considering trades too difficult to predict, I see this GM is going to (1) take Zaiare Williams at #9 (2) take Isaiah Jackson if Zaiare goes between picks 5-8, (3) do everything in his power to see Bagley is “adios amigo” on or around this day. Marvin’s departure is a done deal, it is only the particulars that have to be sorted.
All of this is predicated on a “wow” workout to assauge concerns over Zaiare’s bad year at Stanford. I would also like to see him tip the scales over 200 lbs due to muscle gains not buffet gains.
Zaiare’s terrible season, mitigated by extenuating circumstances, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, pushing a Top 5 player to us. This kid is fantastically skilled, moves like Kevin Durant, has all the game and the head on his shoulders to put it together. Hes also in the “backyard” of the GSW, and would not be surprised he lands there at #7 if they do not take Davion Mitchell.
Ideally we need Zaiare and the Unicorn, sign Noel, TD and Holmes. This is is the type of offseason bonanza we need, and fortunately we have a GM with the wherewithal to see it to fruition. No certainties, just reading dem tea leaves.
The basis of this assertion is that were able to build out our bench (TD, Wright, Metu, Jones) for free on minimum deals in return for scrub players (Joseph, Bjelica) with no value and no future. What can a GM like this do with actual assets by contrast, albeit not the most desirable (Bagley, Buddy, #9)?
This is what fans ignore, the resourcefulness of the man in charge, the value hunter, the anti-Vlade, the hero we need and deserve. His stage time beckons, let the show begin.
Tells people not to speculate then continues to speculate that McNair is some kind of McGenius playing 4D chess.
Got it.
I’m not trying to absolve anyone of anything, but maneuvering the cap is tricky and the Kings have put themselves in a bad spot in terms of their ability to retain Holmes. Tim has written about the specific numbers, and I’m not a cap guru, so I’ll just be speaking in generalities. But it’s not a situation where you unload a $3M contract and have an extra $3M in cap space.
The Kings are currently operating as an over-the-cap team, meaning they have certain tools at their disposal, and those tools can’t be combined. The Kings can re-sign Holmes using Early Bird Rights, but there’s a limit to that amount they can spend. To use cap space instead, they would need to renounce all their cap holds (including all RFAs, adding to the possibility of letting players walk for nothing), and still dump salaries to have more cap space for Holmes. Doing that also means you lose out on other exceptions that are available for over-the-cap teams.
Again, this isn’t absolving anyone of anything. They put themselves in this situation by not acting earlier. But it’s a lot more complicated than just creating a few million more in cap space.
Good explainer, covers the broad strokes without getting into the weeds.
Not necessarily. Cap holds just count against cap space, and if your point is those cap holds are keeping the Kings from resigning Richaun Holmes, I’d agree. But to get cap space, you don’t have to renounce cap holds, just your exceptions.
What does it mean to renounce exceptions instead of cap holds?
There are different exceptions available to over and to under cap teams. Kings would have to get under cap and lose potential over cap exceptions?
Cap holds exist to keep teams exploiting loopholes like signing other FAs before their own. But they are tied to a player’s Bird rights (or early or non Bird rights for that matter). Once a player signs a new deal with the team or another, that cap hold goes away.
Exceptions allow teams to operate over the cap and still sign players. Mid Level exception is one. The Rookie exception allows every team over the cap to sign their 1st round picks. Bird rights are an exception.
When you renounce a player, and their cap hold, you are losing your non/early/Bird rights to exceed the cap to resign that player. You have to use other things like cap space or the Mid Level to sign that player at that point. It works the same as trying to sign another teams FA.
It’s about choices. That’s what this comes down to. Teams usually prefer cap space to exceptions as there are more options to function under the cap than there is over it.
Exactly. There are exceptions available when you’re an over-the-cap team that go away if you’re not over the cap.
I appreciate your attempting to keep this simple FWIW.
There is a way to sign Holmes: he signs a one year deal with the Kings at reduced rate, “betting on himself”. He then has full Bird rights and the Kings can wink/wink sign to much larger deal after the one year.
BTW- this is “illegal” in the CBA
The Kings could resign Holmes using his EBRs, as well.
The benefits of Nerlens No “L” get cancelled out by Luke No “W”.
If McNair lets Holmes walk for nothing, just like Bogi, then spends to keep TD, with an already deep backcourt, then spends to get a downgrade replacement in Noel, I’m gonna kick a puppy.
Next year’s rotation would look like this:
PG: Fox, Hali, Wright
SG: Buddy, Hali, TD
SF: Who the fuck knows?
PF: Barnes, Bagley, Metu
C: Noel, Bagley
Straw men in a drought? Dangerous!
Are you suggesting that after using an asset to acquire Davis, that McNair should let him do the dreaded “walk for nothing?” Because there are people around here who really hate that concept.
Holmes’ and Davis’ situations are unrelated. The Kings are limited as to what they can offer Holmes, and are under no obligation to offer a contract to Davis at his preferred salary. I think Davis can, and should be retained at a max of $5-6 million per year. And we probably ought to accept that Holmes is extremely unlikely to be playing in Sacramento next season, mainly due to the monetary disadvantage they are strapped with because of his Early Bird Rights.
A sign & trade is the best likely outcome, but Sacramento has almost no leverage to push another team toward helping the situation.
I am not for letting TD wald for nothing, especially after tradeing for him and giving up a 2nd round pick. That being said, I think it would be foolish to overpay TD to return to Sac if all of Fox, Hali, Buddy and Wright are on the payroll.
I’m more upset with the notion that Holmes will likely walk for nothing. That is inexcusable.
If Holmes walks, TD is retained on a fair deal and McNair is able to move Buddy or Wright for good compensation and get a solid big out of it, I can wrap my head around it. Right now, however, that narrow path seems like a pipedream.
In all reality, it looks like the Kings may let both TD and Holmes walk for nothing. If things turn out that way, it’s pretty damn close to a fireable offense committed by McNair.
Especially when they knew at the time acquiring Wright’s salary meant Holmes was likely gone, and they chose to do nothing. We’ll see how it shakes out. It’s not impossible that McNair works his way out of this, but they refused to tank, so this team needs to be better next season, and not waste what few assets they have.
As much as I’m losing faith in monte by the day. Also since the ATL GM eschewed all semblance of professional courtesy and basically called McNair a chump with the Bogi deal. That being said¦.
The flip late last year from classily tanking to holy shit all hands on deck for the #10 seed. Reeks of ð¤ð¼-con. Which means those win now moves were probably the best he could do without just walking into his office and ðð¼.
But does that make it worse or better that he went along with it?
Love to see where Travis Schlenk said what he said.
You mean the KNBR interview you can listen to and Carmichael Dave even pinned on his Twitter. June 23rd was the date.
Ah. Thanks. I spend almost no time on Twitter these days.
That’s a top team right there!
We’re still talking draft right?
Bagley should not be included in any lineup that has to do with the Kings. If he doesn’t want to be here then fuck it. Get his ass outta here.
We could use more of this:
More meaningless after-the-buzzer away-from-the-play nonsense that achieves nothing in a losing effort? No thanks. I’ll take players focused on winning rather than performative bullshit.
TBF the vast majority of Kings games over the last 15 years have been composed primarily of performative bullshit.
I don’t think one player on the Kings would have the stones to give the opposing team’s best player a body bump.
It’s nothing but smiles, laughs and high fives from what I’ve seen of our players.
Stones might not have to be that big to give an “arm bump” to the opposing best player when they are 10 inches and 50 lbs lighter than you…but that’s just me.
I mean this took more stones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0M4t5piNrw
Somehow it didn’t light a fire under the Kings to a playoff run. Surprising
Nothing in that scene took any stones. Least of all Noel’s role in it. All he did was admit that they couldn’t compete with Trae on the court. That’s not stones, that’s a tantrum.
We are a team built on being nice guys and every team
knows it.
My goodness, THAT clip is supposed to show toughness? That was silliness.
It isn’t new, but I think we’ve seen even more examples lately that a good chunk of people out there mistakenly conflate belligerence and toughness.
“We should just let Holmes go and sign Noel instead! He was the 6th pick in the draft, and Holmes was drafted 37th. Noel is clearly the better player.”
-Vlade, probably
Remember when Nerlins Noel was the top prospect going into the 2013 draft? He fell to #6 and was picked right before the Kings drafted Ben McLemore at #7. Alex Len was picked #5.
Giannis was #15 & Gobert was #27 in that draft.
Also, Jru Holliday was traded by the Process Leader to get Noel !
I mean….he’s OK. Wouldn’t hate or love it.
I can’t comment on Noel specifically, but I do like that this new front office is looking for value buys.
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