Nerlens Noel Named To NBA's All-Rookie First Team
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Nerlens Noel earned the attention of the entire league in his rookie season and on Monday he was rewarded for his impressive campaign. Noel was named to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team.
Noel appeared in 75 games in his first NBA season after missing the entire year in what would have been his rookie season. Going into the year, everyone knew Noel could make an impact on the defensive end of the floor and the big man out of Kentucky did so in historic fashion.
He averaged 1.77 steals and 1.89 blocks per contest. It became common to see Noel swatting the shots of opponents at the rim and swiping the ball from guards much smaller than him. The only other rookie in NBA history to average at least 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks was David Robinson.
That's not bad company.
He was also the only player in the league to finish in the top ten in steals and blocks.
Noel also averaged 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 9.9 points.
His ability on the offensive end was a mystery coming into the season as it could only be described as raw. As the season went on, it became obvious that he became more comfortable scoring the basketball.
Following the trade of Michael Carter-Williams at the deadline in February, Noel knew he had to score for the Sixers to compete.
The following month, Noel averaged 14.3 points and 11.2 rebounds per game to fuel a late season run at Rookie of the Year. The award eventually went to Andrew Wiggins and Noel finished third in voting.
The other players named to the first-team were Wiggins, Nikola Mirotic, Elfrid Payton and Jordan Clarkson. Noel's teammates, JaKarr Sampson and Jerami Grant, both received votes for the second team.
