The Philadelphia 76ers have certainly played much better since they acquired Ish Smith in a trade last week, as they have won two of the three games he has played in. Despite their better play, Smith is not the type of player that is going to take them out of being the worst team in the league - other moves will be required to do that. The 76ers have a lot of assets to trade for a young talented player, and John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News thinks that Nerlens Noel should be used in a trade.
Even though the 76ers have won two of their last three they are still just 3-31, so they clearly have a long way to go. Smallwood points out that the 76ers have seven first round picks through 2019 and too many centers on the roster, so the time is now to swing a deal for a young player with major upside. The only untouchable assets to him are rookie center Jahlil Okafor and their 2016 first round pick which looks like a good bet to be in the top three.
Some of the players Smallwood would like to see the 76ers go after include Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, Dennis Schroder and Victor Oladipo. All of those players could potentially be available for different reasons, and if you consider what the 76ers will be able to offer in a deal it does seem like something could be worked out. The proposed deal by Smallwood is Noel and a future first round pick for LaVine, which seems to make sense for both sides. Kevin Garnett will be retiring soon, so Noel could replace him, and the 76ers would be getting their high-upside young player who has already shown flashes of brilliance.
With Okafor and Joel Embiid also on the roster, Noel is certainly expendable, and at just 21 years old he would draw a lot of interest. Noel has had hs best stretch of basketball since Smith came to the Sixers, which might give the 76ers some pause about trading him, but it also has shown the league how good he can be if he has a good point guard to play with, thus increasing his trade value.
At this point this is all just speculation, and there have been no reports of Noel being put on the trading block, but it makes a lot of sense for the 76ers to consider dealing him. It obviously wouldn't be wise for them to trade him if they weren't getting a player of LaVine's caliber in return, but if they can get a high-upside player for assets they have in excess, it would be foolish to not jump on that opportunity.
