Nerlens Noel has torn left ACL, out for the season

WOW!! This is just sad. For him and the team. What does he do about the draft? Is it another Jonas thing? sit him out for the season and go off potential. hes still top 10. If a team like Toronto or Charlotte get top 10, they can stash him for a year

Most likely the #1 or #2 pick before, will this effect his draft stock at all?

I doubt any team in the top will touch him now. He is a raw 7ft player with a major knee injury already it ain't happening.

Could be a blessing in disguise, now he can focus on lifting weights and getting stronger while rehabbing and working on his post moves and skills, guys only 18 so it shouldn't hamper him for a long time, he's still a lotto pick

Most of the draft pundits (and I agree) are saying this doesn't affect his draft position. He was a top 3 pick before the injury and still is now. This isn't like tearing your acl in 1983 guys. Its 2013, Timetable is 6-8 months which puts him back at the beggining of next season.

I'm not sure if this injury drops Noel out of the lottery.

When rookies are 100% healthy, they struggle their first year. Its said to take 12 (optimistically) to 18 months to fully recover to pre-injury form... and some guys are never the same. So you have to think that with no predraft workouts and the knowledge that teams will basically have to carry Noel on their roster for a full year before he can make a real impact... he's going to slide on draft day. How far?

With that said there are others like Adrian Peterson who kill rehab and make it back under 12 months in dominant form. Peterson is an exceptionally rare case though.

Is he expected to be ready in June? I really don't know if teams have to much faith in him if he can't work out for them and I really don't see him playing another year. No way he want's to compete with all the talent next year for a top 5 spot coming back from a torn ACL.

So I think he will declare this year no matter what but he will slip big time cause many gms won't gamble on him. If he slips out of the top 8 what is a real possibility, he could end up on a team like Okc, Dallas or even the Celtics what could be a blessing in disguise imo.

In the end really a sad story and hopefully he will regain his explosiveness coming back stronger! Get well soon young fella!

This is a killer for UK, they were on the rise too. Willie Cauley-Stein has a really nice chance to up his stock now.

My heart goes out to this guy, he's exactly the type of guy you want on your team...unselfish, hardworking, and extremely competitive. I think he'll still be a lottery pick next year and possibly still a top 3 pick...Too much talent and determination..

He tweeted this: "A minor setback for a MAJOR comeback!..."

I read online moments ago,becuz this injury might mean the end of Nerlens's career..A talented kid that had so much promise...That they should allow players to come straight out of high school...

I think its B Mac and Zeller and Bennett then everyone else now. So this means if a team wants to stash him until January or a year (depending on his rehab), he could go 4-10 range.. this is a WEAK draft

I feel for him, but I'm being realistic. If a GM picks a player knowing he is a 7fter and broken goods, then he is making that pick to get fired.

I can see Phoenix drafting and stashing him. Esp if he falls enough to grab him with their lower pick from LA.

I'd draft him without thinking twice. Outstanding shot ocker rebounder and defender. I would just set him up with whatever trainer Blake griffin had I'm his year off. The guy was supposed to be super raw but to be super raw and put up 10ppg 9rpg and 4.5bpg and 2spg the skys the limit.

Even the Cameraman FELT the Pain!!!

Buzz kill, he was starting to win me over, his weight still concerned me but he displayed great defensive potential. Agree with Y2G, Cauley-Stein has a great opportunity to take advantage of Noel's absence, now we'll know for sure whether or not Cauley-Stein is the real deal.

The only way I see him being considered a top pick again is coming back to school and proving he will be ok. The only thing is he'll be up against a stacked up coming class. Hey, regardless if he proves it he'll be in the lottery that isn't so bad.

He could do what Brandon Rush did and go back to school. KU won the title in 08 when Rush came back, and UK would undoubtedly be the favorite to win the championship next year if Noel came back.

Doesn't change his stock to me. If I'm drafting in the top 3 this yr I'm not expecting to make the playoffs that year anyways, plus you draft him for what he will do in 3-5 years not his rookie year.

I can't see Noel falling out of the top 7. ACLs are far from the big deal, and are NOTHING like a Microfracture surgery that Oden went through. Oden's knees were arthritic and had very little cartilage, and was already showing chronic soreness. This was a nasty injury. He'll focus on rehabbing his legs and strengthening the muscles around the knee, and he will probably end up stronger long term for it. The rehab process and how much strength his knees build is what will determine his chance of re-injury.

Pick him in the Top 5. Stash him. Suck again. Get Andrew Wiggins. Boom.

Modern medicine has improve to a point that an ACL injury is no longer career ending, but there's still the chance you might not be the same athlete you were before. We always hear about the success stories, but not the unsuccessful stories.

I think he's still worth taking in the first round... Maybe even in the lottery, but I don't think he's a lock for the top pick or even the top five anymore if he goes pro.

This is his first major injury and it's a tough one. Physically and most importantly mentally. How's his work ethic? I mean, you just never know how he's going to come back and how long it's going to take him. This is a two year injury before you're back to normal really. Throw in the fact he's very raw.

http://nbadrafttiers.blogspot.com/ NBA prospect broken down into realistic potential groups: franchise, allstar, glue, and bench players.

Sad to see Nerlens go down, and I wish the best for his recovery. I still would take him in the top 5, because I think this was just a freak accident, and he doesn't have a history of bad knees or anything. He's one of the few guys in this years draft that I can see be as a franchise player. I feel bad for the guy, he was the only UK player that hustled back on D and he even blocked the shot on the play he went down.

IF he comes back next year though...Kentucky will be a really good team.

I am a diehard Suns fan. I hope he slides to the 14th spot which is where I see the Lakers Draft pick that the Suns will get if they miss the playoffs. The Suns are in a dead heat with the likes of the Bobcats, Wizards, Magic and the Cavs for the #1 pick all of which have 36 losses so far. I think that they should pick the best talent available Smart or Mclemore and snag Noel if he slides which is a possiblity. He wont be looked at as the savior of the team and can heal and develop into the huge stopper that Phoenix needs.

First off God bless Noel. I'm a Kansas fan and was upset with us losing to big blue in the chip last year but yet and still I would never wish this on anyone. With that being said I think Noel will still be at least a top 8 pick. I don't see anyone letting him slide past mid Lotto. Hopefully he can have at least a Brandon Dawson come back. If you guys don't remember Brandon Dawson from Michigan state tore his ACL last year and it was later in the season but he came back so fast and is still the same bouncy fast twitch athlete. Wish the best recovery possible for Noel.

First of all I hope that Noel makes a full recovery, it is still 8 months over till the start of the next regular season so he could be drafted and recover. But he could miss some pre-season and would be behind the other guys fitness wise which could set him back. Also if he does declare, I think his draft stock will fall but maybe only out of the top 5, and the one scenario that comes to mind is could he fall to someone like the Thunder with the pick via Toronto and Houston.

OKC would have the depth where he could be brought along slowly and he'd thus get more time to recover.

Also as a Phoenix fan, our medical staff might be ideal for him but could a struggling team gamble a high pick on him.

We assume that Willie C-S will now declare so Noel could return to UK and give himself another season to re-establish his draft stock on a loaded team next year.

His stock has to fall. He was a top 3 pick before hand, i think he drops a few positions.

Neg me all you want but if I am a GM i don't touch him till at least 8th. What was his strength ? Shot blocking where you need all your explosion to jump.

Torn ACL. I am not going to google everyone to see what specific injury but i will give you a list of names of players with knee injuries and how they declined after they came back from injury.

Grant Hill, Arenas, Amare, C-Webb. Can also throw in Oden and Jonathon Bender. As i said before this is just knee probs, not all had a torn ACL.

I personally have done my knee and even after 3 years I am still only about 80% on it now...

What you guys fail to comprehend is that this was a freak accident. This doesn't mean he is injury prone at all. Pretty much all those guys you listed didn't tear an acl but did much worse like a torn meniscus which required microfracture surgery.

Just a quick list I came up with off the top of my head of guys with ACL injuries who came back just as strong or stronger:

Big Al
Baron Davis (in collge)
Jamal Crawford
Corey Brewer
Perkins
Kyle Lowry (college)