Towering tipoff: Okafor, Noel look good together
GALLOWAY TWP, N.J. - The 76ers post players worked on post moves to the Drake song Back to Back in the Stockton University Sports Center as the media filed in Tuesday afternoon.
GALLOWAY TWP, N.J. - The 76ers post players worked on post moves to the Drake song Back to Back in the Stockton University Sports Center as the media filed in Tuesday afternoon.
A variation of shooting drills took up the media's allotted window to watch the first training camp practice. But in that short span, Jahlil Okafor's prized footwork and Nerlens Noel's improved shooting touch were on full display.
So obviously, one of the first post-practice questions was how did the two 6-foot-11 traditional back-to-basket post players looked in their first practice together?
"They looked good," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of the overall practice that was mostly closed to the media. "You can tell there's an excitement on maybe what can happen growing this.
"It's unusual. It would be an outlier almost in the NBA to roll out two bigs like that."
But the Sixers are committed to making this pairing work, with Okafor playing center and Noel sliding to power forward.
"It was a lot fun," Okafor said. "We had a lot of sections, a lot of groupings, he was in my group often. It was a lot of fun learning from him . . . It seems like they tried to pair us up today to make us better."
According to shooting guard Nik Stauskas, the most noticeable thing was "just how active they are."
He pointed out that Noel is a little bit more active on the glass and little bit more of a defensive player.
"But I feel like they complement each other pretty well," Stauskas said. "And they both did a really good job of running the floor today."
Said Noel: "We will do some more stuff tomorrow and get a better feel for [playing together]. But today was great."
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