Here’s Nerlens Noel dunking ‘on’ a small child at a summer camp
After a frantic start to the NBA’s 2015 free agency period, you might need a bit of a breather — a bit of a palate cleanser, a little something to decompress as we want for the next round of big honkin’ deals to come down. To that end, allow me to present Philadelphia 76ers big man Nerlens Noel sending a child to the floor before dunking over and through his spirit:
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Noel’s “you reach, I’ll teach” moment came at Camp One, a youth basketball camp in Louisville, Ky., that features appearances from several former Kentucky standouts. All-Stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, ex-Wildcat Darius Miller were all scheduled to appear, as was Noel, who just finished up a successful rookie season for the Philadelphia 76ers that saw him average 9.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while finishing eighth in the NBA in blocks and 10th in steals and, most importantly, staying healthy after spending the entire 2013-14 campaign rehabilitating from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Noel’s offensive game still has a long way to go before he can develop into a top-flight two-way big man, but none of that matters in any way when presented with the challenge of taking it to the hole against a comparatively very small young person who may or may not have just been yelling, “DUNK ON ME!” before checking you the ball. Sometimes, all you have to do to make a kid’s day is use your God-given and hard-work-honed talents to torch, defeat, reject, lock down or posterize them. It’s an odd sort of kindness, perhaps, but the fact remains that Nerlens is killin’ em with it.
Hat-tip to Jordan Heck at The Sporting News.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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