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Brookover: Noel's concerns not a big problem

Given a night to sleep on what he told the Inquirer on Sunday, Nerlens Noel arrived for media day Monday at the 76ers' sparkling and spacious new practice facility on the Camden waterfront. He was placed down in the order during a fascinating procession of podium interviews and he had no fear of either repeating or elaborating upon what he said the day before.

Given a night to sleep on what he told the Inquirer on Sunday, Nerlens Noel arrived for media day Monday at the 76ers' sparkling and spacious new practice facility on the Camden waterfront. He was placed down in the order during a fascinating procession of podium interviews and he had no fear of either repeating or elaborating upon what he said the day before.

In short, he does not think all the team's big men can successfully exist together.

"I don't see a way of it working," Noel said. "It's just a logjam."

The 76ers, of course, are quite aware that they have an abundance of talented young big men, but general manager Bryan Colangelo does not see it as a big problem. In fact, as the leadoff hitter on media day, the GM took the opportunity to point out that Noel left Richaun Holmes off his list when he recited the boatload of talent the 76ers have at center.

Holmes is a distant fourth to Noel, Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor on the depth chart and he's not going to be one of the players who grabs the attention of another team searching for a difference maker in trade discussions. That decision, if and when it's made, is going to come down to Noel or Okafor and it's obvious and understandable that Noel has grown weary of the waiting game.

This will be Noel's fourth season with the Sixers and even though he did not play the first year as he recovered from knee surgery, he has witnessed 199 losses and only 47 wins during his time here. Regardless of whether you think former GM Sam Hinkie's plan was right or wrong, it still creates mental scars for the men who have to endure so much losing in so short a time.

"I've gone through a whole lot, probably the most any player has ever gone through in the NBA, of just losing," Noel said. "It's a tough position to still be in and year by year it is getting more difficult to show your value. Year by year it has always been something. It really is at the point where it is a lot."

Beyond wanting to win, Noel has monetary motivation for showing his value by being the starting center on a successful team. This is the final year of his rookie contract and if he does not receive an extension offer from the Sixers by Oct. 31, he can become a restricted free agent after this season. That would leave the 76ers with the right to match any offer made by another team, which is something they could easily do given their team-friendly salary-cap situation.

Colangelo said he understands Noel's frustration over losing - "anybody who has been through the last three years deserves some sort of empathy," the GM said - but he is in no hurry to resolve the big-man issue.

"I don't know if I was affected at all by Nerlens' comments and I don't know if it affected the situation at all," Colangelo said. "I know that . . . we're trying to make the right decisions for the organization and the coaches are going to determine who deserves the minutes played."

Actually that's not entirely true. The 76ers' medical team will also have an impact and therein lies the problem for Noel as he tries to get a grip on how he fits into the team's plans this season and beyond.

As happy as the 76ers are about the imminent return of Embiid after he missed two seasons because of foot surgeries, they do not know right now if he's going to hold up over the course of a week, let alone a season. They want to see more and you can't blame them. They also plan to restrict Embiid's minutes and may possibly prevent him from playing on back-to-back nights. That impacts Noel. It impacts Okafor, too.

How Embiid and Okafor play together also will impact Noel. The consensus last season was that Noel and Okafor did not play well together.

"We're going to let some of this play out," Colangelo said. "These are all young players not in a position necessarily to dictate circumstances other than through hard work and effort and laying it all out there. We hope that everyone is in the same mind-set in terms of not only getting better as individual players but getting better as an organization."

Elton Brand, the 37-year-old center who is here as a mentor as much as a player, said he offered advice to Noel.

"We had a few talks kind of later in the summer," Brand said. "My opinion was to be around the group, develop with the group, because anything else is not going to bode well for him. He's not holding the best cards right now. You need to be part of the system, part of the group, give your best effort and let the chips fall."

Brand described the 76ers' center competition as a "bloodbath" among guys who "all have different skill sets, but are all good." He believes, however, that the center situation plays out that the 76ers and Noel will be just fine. That is 17 years of NBA wisdom speaking and Noel would do well to listen to it.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob