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Hayes: Noel for Golden State's Shaun Livingston is a good trade

Upon still further review … Nerlens Noel would be a fair price. But nothing more.

When we proposed this transaction a day ago there seemed to be just a hint of distress from readers at the idea of losing Noel. When the possibility of adding a draft pick, up to and including the Lakers' protected draft pick, that hint of distress turned into a whiff of alarm.

So, to allay mass pocket-protector panic due to a completely hypothetical proposition, let's take the Lakers' pick off the table in this Livingston trade scenario.

Maybe we presume too much with Livingston. Maybe we've gone mad, starved for an actual NBA player to watch after two years of Tank-A-Thon. Perhaps the pick is too precious. After all, there's bound to be some 17-year-old Uzbek "stretch-four" the hoop nerds are already coveting. After four years of protein shakes and shin splints the kid will be ready. Guaranteed.

That's always been "The Plan," right? You know, "The Process" -- whose objectives conveniently shift to match any unfolding reality?

Remarkably, while the future remains in the forefront, there seems to be little concern for this moment. There are cornerstone players already on the roster. There might be another soon, since the Sixers apparently have entered the Harrison Barnes sweepstakes. Why not fortify Barnes with a player as suitable as Livingston?

When the Sixers drafted Ben Simmons first overall they added a fourth gilt-edged big man who needs to learn how to play NBA basketball. Livingston can help Simmons immediately.

None of the free agents the Sixers have any hope of acquiring have Livingston's combination of basketball acumen and personality to guide a young team for any period of time; not Matthew Dellevadova, not Jeremy Lin, not Rajon Rondo. Eric Bledsoe might be available via trade, but he is coming off a third knee injury and, unlike Livingston, he has won nothing. He'll make $70 million in his current deal, and he surely would resent being forced to waste two or three prime years' worth of knee erosion on the Sixers' salvage project.

Livingston will have made about $36 million by the end of the 2016-17 season. Sign him to a three-year extension worth as much or more when he passes his physical, if he will do it.

The Sixers need a veteran, selfless, patient, skilled, effective point guard more than anything else. It's all well and good to believe that someone from next year's bumper crop in the NBA draft will run your team for the next decade, but any point guard taken will be two or three years from competently running any NBA team. Point guard is a challenge to master, whether you're a one-and-done teenager or a four-year NCAA starter.

Enter Livingston.

He seems to have fully overcome a catastrophic knee injury suffered in 2007. If it still hinders him then his price won't be nearly as steep. He's still worth Noel.

His stats don't help the argument, but this is a leap of faith, an evaluation based on empirical evidence, not statistical proof. Also, consider that Livingston plays behind Steph Curry and alongside Klay Thompson, Barnes and Draymond Green. Not a lot of shots left for the backup point guard.

He showed, while playing in place of Curry that he has a measure of speed and explosiveness, but he is not dependent on it. He will be 31 this season, but as Livingston ages his natural advantages of height and arm length will not change. He's 6-7 and has a 6-11 wingspan.

One of the more compelling facets of Livingston's game is his judicious use of that length. It allows him to defend four positions on one end of the court and provides him vision and passing angles few point guards in history have enjoyed.

He also has an excellent grasp of offensive concepts the young Sixers will need to understand: floor spacing, using screens and motion to get open shots for the right players in the right places, delivering the ball on time and at the right level. He would be the first polished professional to play for the Sixers since Andre Iguodala, the Warriors' other X-factor player. Maybe that's part of his dizzying allure.

For the trade to make sense, you must agree with three evaluations.

First: How viable is Noel? A natural shot-blocker, he's still too light to be a real force on either end. Noel is a fine finisher, but Sixers coach Brett Brown has abandoned hope of Noel ever shooting efficiently. If you want to pay Noel $15 million a year to be a poor man's Marcus Camby, more power to you.

Second: Do you love Livingston's game? Can you appreciate him past the stat line? Can you inflate his worth because of your unique and dire need of what he brings? We can. We do.

Finally, you cannot worry, now or later, about how wonderfully Noel would fit in Golden State. He would maximize his potential there. So what?

Your job is to improve the team you have, not to impede another team's improvement. That team will be retooling by the time your team is a championship contender.

To that point, Livingston won't be around Philadelphia for the parade. Not unless he can accept a bench role again. You still need to draft that point guard of the future. Part of Livingston's job would be to help you develop the young guy, with the intention of stepping aside in about four years.

So, assuming you think even Noel alone is too much to give, can you stomach spending will spend too much on Livingston? Will you overpay to retain him?

You're going to overpay one way or another.

Why would it cost so much to pry Livingston away from Golden State? After all, Noel would be a sufficient replacement for Andrew Bogut after next season. However, the Warriors are in a sweet spot that won't last much past this season. Their roster is nicely balanced both in salary and personnel; balanced enough to make a third consecutive run to the NBA Finals, where they would be the favorite, assuming everyone is healthy. That roster relies on its bench -- especially Livingston and Iguodala -- to dominate other benches, which minimizes the use of players like Curry and Thompson because so many games turn into blowouts.

Curry also has a history of ankle injuries and is coming off a knee injury. Livingston is incredibly cheap insurance.

Jerry and Brian Colangelo seemed willing to trade Noel to move up in the 2016 draft to snag a big, talented point guard, but any rookie would lack the full set of skills Livingston already has. They refused to sweeten the deal with another of their picks, avoiding the madness we've seen before. They knew Noel should be enough; and, even that, too much.

Unfortunately for everything Sixer, that would probably be the price for Livingston. It would take courage to make such a deal - a lot more courage than it takes to lose on purpose and buy draft picks.