Dallas Mavericks

Mavericks' Noel to face former team Sixers (Oct 28, 2017)

Published Oct. 28, 2017 1:10 a.m. ET

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks center Nerlens Noel will face his old team, the Philadelphia 76ers, on Saturday night and it's not unfair to ask what comes as more of a surprise eight months later: that his old club appears to be on the better trajectory, or that Noel hasn't made a lasting impact with his new club?

Both teams have just one win on the season entering Saturday night's game at the American Airlines Center, but Philadelphia (1-4) finally seems to be trending in the right direction with up-and-coming stars Joel Embiid and the exciting Ben Simmons.

The Sixers are a heartbreaking, buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Houston's Eric Gordon on Wednesday from coming into Dallas looking for a third consecutive win. Philadelphia led one of the Western Conference's top contenders for most of the game.

The Mavs (1-5), meanwhile, are at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They have been playing from behind most of the time. They're still searching for the combination of players to move beyond the aging Dirk Nowitzki, and hope young players like Harrison Barnes and rookie-of-the-year candidate Dennis Smith Jr., can lead the way.

They'd love for Noel to be a big part of moving forward. But so far it's been slow going for Dallas and Noel, who can't stick in the starting lineup -- he's started only half of the six games so far -- on a team that otherwise lacks a starting-caliber center.

When Noel isn't in the lineup, coach Rick Carlisle rolls with the 39-year-old Nowitzki in the middle. Carlisle would seemingly like to pair his legendary, slow-footed power forward next to Noel's slender, shot-blocking frame, but Noel's foul issues have mostly fouled up those plans.

Noel is averaging 8.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 19.0 minutes a game. His presence on the floor goes beyond stats, though. He's Dallas' top interior defender and one of the league's best rim protectors. But picking up fouls in bushels keeps him on the bench for long stretches.

"I love playing with him. We've just got to get him playing a little more," Nowitzki told the Dallas Morning News about Noel. "He can be a great, great factor for us."

Noel should feel motivated to stay on the court against Embiid and Simmons, the Sixers' two leading scorers. Embiid is averaging a double-double at 20.0 points and 10.5 rebounds, while the 6-foot-10 Simmons is putting up 16.4 points and 7.4 assists.

"It's going to be great to play against those guys that I was real close with -- Joel, Ben, the whole team really," Noel told the Philadelphia Inquirer following Dallas' loss Thursday at Memphis.

Meanwhile, the Sixers have something of their own center drama percolating, although it has nothing to do with the starting lineup. It does have to do with a player, like Noel, who expected to have more playing time, but Jahlil Okafor is going to continue to ride the pine behind backup center Amir Johnson, coach Brett Brown told reporters on Friday.

Unlike Noel, whose coach wants to play him more if he can limit his fouling, Okafor isn't exactly enticing Brown to sub him in.

"I'm playing Amir ahead of him and that's just the situation," Brown said, according to the Inquirer. "(Okafor) comes in and his head is good, his spirit is good and he and I talk all the time. But that is the bottom line: He is not in the rotation."