Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle says Nerlens Noel must earn his minutes

Nerlens Noel apparently isn’t doing much to endear himself to head coach Rick Carlisle.

Dallas Mavericks center Nerlens Noel has made some questionable decisions in the last year. He received a DNP in last night’s 111-104 loss due to coach Rick Carlisle’s decision, and the big man also shot down a four-year, $70 million contract over the summer.

Carlisle typically only plays one center at a time against floor-spacing teams like Cleveland, and Salah Mejri has been earning those in the coach’s estimation.

“Look, minutes have to be earned,” Carlisle said to ESPN. “At this point, if it’s between him and Salah, Salah has earned the minutes. There’s no doghouse here. There just isn’t. It’s pretty simple: You compete, and if you earn minutes, you get minutes. And you’ve got to compete to keep them, because it’s a competitive situation. Our guys have to have an edge. No one’s given anything.”

Noel has been ripped for lack of fire in the past, and it seems to be popping up again with Carlisle’s use of the word edge there. Noel is averaging 5.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 17.2 minutes per game this season. The number that sticks out is the lack of blocks. If that is your specialty as a player, then the statistics need to reflect it. Noel will probably never be an All-Star, because he is not that polished offensively. However, he does have the potential to become a quality defensive player, and that is where he should put his focus.

Mejri didn’t play in four of the Mavs’ first five games this season, and he put up a double-double (10 points and 12 rebounds) along with five blocks recently against the Washington Wizards. Those are the type of numbers Carlisle would love to see from Noel, but he has never been that consistent with his scoring and rebounding.

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