Nerlens Noel is hard at work rehabbing from the torn ACL he suffered in his last game as a Kentucky Wildcat and hopes to be able to make his NBA debut for Philadelphia by Christmas.
According to Philly.com, Noel spent much of his summer working out with Indiana Pacers All-Star center Roy Hibbert and is hoping he will be able to make an earlier than expected return.
"I feel great," he told the website. "I'm really starting to feel like my old self, being able to have my explosiveness. But I'm definitely being careful with it."
After trading away All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to obtain the draft night rights to the 19-year-old big man, the Sixers wouldn't have it any other way. For his part, Noel is doing all he can to stay upbeat about his longtime health, even though it's questions about it many feel that prevented him from being the top overall pick in the draft as he was once projected.
"I definitely feel the injury is a blessing in disguise, and I feel that Philly is perfect as to my style," Noel, who slipped to the No. 6 pick, told Philly.com. "I'm just always playing hard, working for everything and, of course, the city of Philadelphia itself having the die-hard fans they do and just being a blue-collar city."
Noel later added "in rehab, I would just think how bad I want to get on the court because of how much I want to prove to myself that I can get back and be the player I want to be. I want to be 100 percent confident not only physically, but mentally coming back from it."
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