Nerlens Noel Not Expected to Play for the Philadelphia 76ers this Season

When the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Kentucky stud Nerlens Noel (who was taken with the No. 6 pick in the draft by the New Orleans Pelicans) they knew what they were getting--an incredibly talented player that was recovering from a nasty season ending type of injury.

So the big question was this--when is he going to play? It appears we now know the answer.

@ESPNNBA/Twitter

According to a tweet by a CSN reporter in Philly it will not be this year:

Brett Brown"Nerlens we probably won't see on the court this year. On the right path progress is slow
— Dei Lynam (@dlynamCSN) October 21, 2013

The immediate question people are having is whether she is referring to the season or the calendar year.

Nerlens tore his ACL on February 12, 2013. Recovery can take as much as a year, and since Brown says that progress is slow it is safe to assume that it very well could take him a full year. Then it will take time for him to get in to playing shape and develop confidence in his reconstructed knee.

As we learned last season with Derrick Rose that can take awhile. If the 76ers are a really long shot to make the post season whenever the team thinks he might be ready it would be smart to hold the future star out until the following season.

No reason to risk further injury to the player the team hopes to build around.

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