Yet Another Reason Nerlens Noel is Good at Defense

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Yesterday, Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus wrote an interesting piece on the relationship between blocks and offensive rebounds; I would highly encourage you to give it a read. Relevant to Sixers fans, Nerlens Noel was included as part of the list of top-10 shot blockers in the league, and more importantly, came out very favorably.

Noel was above league average in all 4 categories Partnow examined: defensive rebounding percentage, percentage of shots kept in-bounds, percentage of shots that get swatted directly out of bounds, and overall defensive recovery of blocks. The part the shot-blocker himself has the most control over is keeping his blocks in-bounds, hopefully preventing the opponent from continuing possession if his team is able to recover the loose ball. Impressively, Noel kept 82% of his blocks in-bounds last season, a number which only trailed Anthony Davis among the top-10 shot blockers (the Brow is a freak of nature in yet another area as he kept 88% of his shots in-bounds).

Why should we care? In what was technically his rookie season, Noel already has down a mental aspect of the game which a lot of guys take years to improve upon, if they ever do (for example, Dwight Howard only kept an atrocious 62.3% of his blocks in-bounds last season). Bill Russell, arguably the greatest ‘winner’ of all-time, was lauded for being outstanding not only at blocking shots, but also for keeping them in-bounds and giving his Celtics the chance to gain possession. During a season in which he was just 20 years, it bodes well for Noel and the Sixers’ future that he already possesses this quality of a champion.