Portland Trail Blazers: Three ideal big men to replace Hassan Whiteside

Portland Trail Blazers big man option #3 – Nerlens Noel

I’m not intentionally picking ex-76ers players from the process era, but Nerlens Noel could be the perfect defensive piece to back up Nurkic.

Noel is purely a rim runner on offense in the NBA, but as an athletic five-man, he can change the way the Blazers play on that end with his ability to catch lobs and roll hard to the rim. Nurkic is a tremendous offensive center, but Noel would be more of a lob threat with his great hands and athleticism. He is an excellent finisher at the rim because of this.

As a defender, Noel is one of very few big men who figure in the top 25 percent of his position for both steal and block percentage. His great hands combined with a monster seven-foot-four wingspan mean that he can get deflections or block shots around the rim.

Noel has come off two productive years for the Oklahoma City Thunder, playing around 1000 minutes each season.

Though he won’t stretch the floor on offense, Noel is different in a lot of ways to Nurkic, so could help the Blazers alter their approach on both ends when Nurkic is out of the game. A prime lob threat would help Damian Lillard in the pick and roll, opening up the floor for others.

Noel, like ex-teammate Okafor, would be signed on the minimum too. Again, another low-risk move that would only cost the Blazers around $2 million. Also, any player signed on the minimum would mean they didn’t have to spend any cap space. Minimum signings don’t fit within cap space or the midlevel exception.

These three signings would be significantly different from each other but would be low-risk moves on the margins that wouldn’t need much money invested in them.