Not sure why everyone's overreacting, Noel's ACL tear doesn't seem like a chronic injury, at least he doesn't have a structural problem like having one leg shorter than the other or knee/ankle problems like Griffin, Bynum, Rose and Curry. The only way you can really botch an ACL tear is playing too early and aggravating the injury, and by sitting him out Philly's avoiding that altogether. And even if Noel turns out to be a bust, Philly still managed to gut their team to ensure a lower record AND they got a lottery pick for some scrub nobody will care about after this season. No matter what happens this won't be a disaster for Philly, quite the opposite actually.
I know Morey's been saying that, but looking at history there's never been a team that achieved success while having "crap management". Poorly managed teams like Raptors, Knicks and Kings have stayed bad while teams with good FOs like the Spurs and Lakers (pre younger Buss) have stayed relevant even without a pick. The closest anyone got to that "horrible FO, wins" situation was the Cavs with Lebron, and that only lasted for some time before they had to rebuild again. If you're a horribly managed team, then you'll stay bad no matter what your pick is. Minny had 4 or 5 top 5 picks in a row, and by the time Kahn was fired his best player was still a guy picked before he got the job.
Tank last year with Bynum, this season with Noel. They love hurt centers that can't play and give them better chance at higher picks. And the trade of Holliday for him, pure tank move.
Since this is a Rockets fan forum, you can't really criticize the Sixers for hanging onto injured centers. *cough*.
Noel playing/not playing has no influence on tanking chances. The sixers are going to struggle to get much past 10 wins regardless if Noel plays in January. This is a team that is relying on Royce White to be in the rotation. Consider that. Really it doesn't strike me as too much different than Rose taking the whole year off and playing it safe. Seems smart. Though if he gets a few token minutes in April as the Sixers try to stave off MJ Bobcats record futility I don't see the harm since he wouldn't be under as much pressure as Rose was to rush back and carry a team for 40 min
