DIME Magazine grades Nerlens Noel, says he lacks heart?
In an article over at DIME Magazine this afternoon, a staff writer — whose Twitter bio reads “Nerlens Noel’s hairdresser” — graded the former Kentucky big man as he gets ready for the NBA draft and compared him to Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders. While the Sanders comparison makes sense, I disagree with the first sentence of the “Intangibles” section of Noel’s DIME report card.
INTANGIBLES: 7.5
Noel doesn’t really bring noticeable heart or intensity to the floor as soon as he steps on the court. But after an exciting block or an emphatic stuff, it does make his teammates more willing to step up in their respective roles. Depending on the game and how much he plays, it’s always hit or miss.
To say Nerlens Noel doesn’t bring noticeable heart is no different than saying Nerlens Noel can’t defend the basket. Nerlens is all heart and it was on display time and time again throughout last season. Most of the scouting report is very accurate, well done, but I wonder what games the author was watching to question Noel’s heart and intensity.
Still a good read, though.
[NERLENS NOEL’S TOP 5 HIGHLIGHTS & WHY HE’S THE NEXT LARRY SANDERS]
30 Comments for DIME Magazine grades Nerlens Noel, says he lacks heart?
After seeing a team this year that noticeably lacked heart and intensity from some of its players, I can say emphatically that Noel goes at %100 all the time. This man is a fool.
The guy tore his ACL after running the length of the court for a block, while the rest of the team watched; yet he lacks heart and intensity?! What a joke.
Heart isn’t measure by screaming or showing the other team up. It’s shown by effort and never taking a play off. Nerlens is all heart. This bozo completely discredited himself with that statement. His heart and intensity are what caused him to tear his ACL He could’ve given up on that play after the lazy pass by a teammate that led to a turnover, but instead he hustled back for an incredible block and an awkward landing.
2. Great minds
Anybody who saw the last 10 minutes of the Ole Miss game on the road last year knows better.
Dude clearly didn’t watch a UK game with Nerlens playing all season to make that comment about lacking heart and intensity. I won’t bother reading the rest of it, I’ll just assume it’s all as stupid as that part.
That has to be the most inaccurate, inane assessment you could possibly make of Nerlens’ game.
He showed more heart, on and off the floor, than any player on our team last year.
His injury occurred on a play where his heart and hustle was on display for all to see.
His weakness, an area in which he demonstrated significant improvement throughout the year, is his offensive game.
I’d hope Dime magazine could make a better asseent than this; lazy, ignorant, or both…
“Dimebag” magazine, it should be called. They’re smoking something!
They must have watched one of the games after he ingured. Hard to show heart and intensity when he’s eating popcorn on the sideline.
Wow. Guess I’ll never read DIME magazine again, they obviously know nothing about basketball.
Nerlens “doesn’t bring noticable heart or intensity.” Congratulations Dime–you win the award for least accurrate evaluation ever made of a UK player.
10, I hear ya and that settles that. Idiots.
dude is clearly trying to get clicks on his post. there is no way he can be that wrong about a player. its supposed to be his profession but he seems not to be very good at it, or is he gotcha to click a link didnt he. and this is the second time drew has brought a bogus post to our attention. shame on the author and shame on drew this article is completely bogus. and was written to draw BBN to click a link
The guy with 12 blocks in a game, 5 after he had his 4th foul, lacks heart and intensity?
There were several guys on that team you could say lacked heart. Noel was the opposite.
DIME magazine would be overpriced at a nickel. Nerlens is all heart.
Don’t see a lot of great shot blockers that don’t have heart. There might be a few, but Noel isn’t one of them.
However, they compare him to Larry Sanders, and I think that is a fair comparison.
#13 KSR in no different. All they care about are CLICK$. It’s been obvious to me for sometime that KSR has got too big and sold out!! From all the post about UL, IU, the Wiggins twitter incident by Drew Franklin, along with pics of Matt & Drew throwing ‘L’ signs!! My advice, sign up on twitter and drop these SELL OUTS!
i nerlens didnt have heart he wouldnt have got hurt against florida!! smh. these damn uk/cal haters have to stop. cleveland is going to get get a great kid and a great competitor w/more than enough heart to be atleast a strong force in the league
WTF?!?!? Guy obviously didn’t watch the kid play.
Pure ignorance!! Unbelievable. This guy should be banned for displaying such grand ignorance!
Yeah, this is nuts. Nerlen’s heart was always bursting through his jersey. That heart caused him to leap for the ball, an action that ultimately caused his injury.
Are you kidding me. He was the only guy on the team that dove for every loose ball. And Cal never had to tell him to do it.
This is so far from the truth, it’s almost not even worth recognizing with more than a “SMH”.
I’d go so far as to say Nerlens showed more heart on a nightly basis than any Cat in history…MKG , and anyone from the Unforgettables included.
Chris from Richmond has no heart!
In the great words of Iron Mike Tyson, that is ludicrous! That’s so foolish I’m not gonna waste my time reading the rest of that.
Did the ass clown who wrote this article even watch any of Kentucky’s games this past season? Apparently not. The Flat Top Fella had more heart than the rest of the team combined. Smh.
#2 You beat me to it. 🙂 Noel was all heart.
Jerr Magwire, did you sau NO HEART?!!! NO HEART?!!! I AM ALL HEART, MOTHER F****R!!!
Say what? It just goes to show what little some sportswriters actually know about their subject matter. If this guy would have watched UK play this year, this statement would never have been made. What a joke!