Philadelphia 76ers rookie Nerlens Noel is ready to go after sitting out all of last season recovering from knee surgery.
And Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo helped Noel get to that point.
In an interview with CBS Sports’ James Herbert, Noel discussed the importance of talking to other NBA players who suffered the same injury as a way to help himself through the recovery process. Noel said that Rondo — who tore his ACL during the 2012-13 season — offered more help than anyone else.
“With all the support and love, certain guys, especially Rajon Rondo — he was definitely the biggest helper through this whole process, he actually gave me his phone number and told me I could hit him up whenever about it,” Noel said. “Being from Boston, watching him growing up, and he went through it and he came back as strong as possible, actually before me, so it gave me a lot of confidence, having his good faith.”
Being a lifelong Celtics fan made that help even sweeter for Noel.
“That’s definitely what made it even more of a thrill,” Noel said. “Being able to interact with Rondo and get good advice from him, ’cause he’s more of a veteran point guard now in this league, gone through so much with the Big 3, he’s a world champion, he’s a player who’s very mature in this league now. So definitely, it was crazy. I took a lot from him.”
Photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
