With so much of Sixers' news cycle surrounding Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel has been overlooked.  After missing the first several weeks of the 2016-2017 season after undergoing a Knee Procedure and since his return has appeared in 29 Games.  Despite only starting seven games, Noel has showed continued improvement as his Field Goal Shooting Percentage is up almost ten percent compared to last season (52.1 up to 61.1) and his Free Throw Shooting is also up by almost ten percent (59 up to 68.3).  Furthermore, Noel's Points Per 36 Minutes is up to 16.4 which is a major improvement for a player know more for his defensive prowess then offensive skills.

Hoops Hype NBA Insider Alex Kennedy joined Mike Gill on Friday to elaborate on how well Noel has played this season:

"He can be an elite defensive player; He leads the NBA right now in Steal Percentage, he is fifth in Defensive Blocks Plus-Minus, he has the sixth best Block Percentage in the NBA and sixth best Defensive Rating in the NBA. You know those are significant numbers those are numbers that teams know about and it shows that he has a huge impact when he’s on the floor defensively. And offensively he’s still making strides, his shooting percentage is at 61 percent this year so he has been efficient. And hes still working on the jumper and working on post moves, and he has been trying to get better"

Checkout what Kennedy learned about Noel from his one-on-one interview and hear Kennedy's analysis of Okafor trade potential:

More From 97.3 ESPN