Brett Brown had Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel practice against each other throughout training camp and the preseason, but he had them play together ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers' final preseason game.
"It's coming along really good," Noel said. "I think we're meshing better and better. We had a great practice. We're finding each other even more than we have in games . . . We worked on the high-low a little bit. Me flashing up and 'Jah' flashing up. We worked a lot out of the post for the whole practice. Coach Brown made that emphasis. We're all just getting better and better and figuring out where the shooters are and the spacing we really need with posting up isolations. It's coming along."
Brown wants the 76ers to play as fast as possible, while Okafor's style works best in a slower environment.
"I thought the thing that came out most was that they can pass and they can really pass to each other," Brown said of the practice. "That big-big relationship is common in all big-big teams. It's a relationship on how you find each other and (how) they talk to each other. In a halfcourt game, how do they coexist? How do you space? Where does JaKarr (Sampson) go? He's more of a slasher. Where does (Robert) Covington go? He's more of a shooter. Fortunately, I've had a lot of experience on spacing behind Tim Duncan. I have to do a good job with these guys."