Nerlens Noel-for-Marcus Smart Trade Proposals Won't Go Away

Any logical person should understand that the trade rumors between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics were pretty far fetched, yet they refuse to die.

For those who may have missed it, right before the draft the Celtics apparently offered up this gem of a trade:

So Celtics trade offer was: Marcus Smart, Kelly Olynyk, No. 16, with no specific third player to Sixers for Nerlens Noel and No. 3.

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 24, 2015

But despite no deal ever being completed, TNT's David Aldridge just wants to continue to beat the hell out of this dead trade horse. He compiled a list of a dozen moves he feels are possible, and one of them is trading Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington for Marcus Smart and James Young.

More from Aldridge:

An easy, need-based deal for both teams, who doubled up on what they'd done in last year's Draft with this year's Draft picks. The Sixers went for Jahlil Okafor instead of Emmanuel Mudiay -- taking the biggest upside, as they do every time -- while the Celtics went for two more guards in Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter after taking Smart and Young in the first round last year.

Philly now has Okafor, Noel, Joel Embiid (admittedly, with seemingly serious foot issues) and Dario Saric (who will play one more year in Europe before coming over) in its frontcourt, but has a dearth of quality guards. Smart was up and down in his rookie season, but he'd immediately be the starter at the point in Philly, and Young would get minutes and an opportunity to show what he can do after being in the D League most of last season.

This stuff needs to end. Yes, the Sixers do need help at the guard position, but this trade is not even close to fair value. Noel is worth a lot more than Smart, and Covington should be valued higher than James Young.

Maybe the tanking stuff has hurt Noel's value around the league, but he put together a pretty groundbreaking season for a player of his position. Noel finished the season averaging a stat sheet stuffing 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.8 steals, and 1.7 assists per game. Had he averaged .1 block more a night, he would have joined David Robinson as the only rookies ever to average at least 2 blocks and 1.5 steals a game in their rookie season. By the end of the season, he also showed a lot of improvement on the offensive side of the ball.

Smart is a good defender as well, but outside of that, not a lot about his game entices me. He takes ill-advised shots (which probably contributes to his terrible numbers), and isn't much of a facilitator. For what Philadelphia is trying to do offensively -- feed the post, and surround Okafor with quality perimeter shooters -- Smart is towards the bottom of the list of guys I would like here.

Not to mention, if the Sixers really wanted Marcus Smart that badly, they could have taken him with the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, or traded down. They did neither of those things.

The talent disparity between Covington and Young isn't close either.

Young performed well during an extended stint in the D-League, but couldn't really hack it in 31 games with Boston. He is only 19 years old, but I personally wasn't fond of him coming out of Kentucky anyway. He's not a good perimeter shooter, and rarely attacked the basket, which is the double whammy of bad offensive basketball.

Covington on the other hand is an above average three point shooter, who can draw contact around the rim and make his free throws, while also defending his position well. He's also $3,275,106 cheaper than Young over the life of his contract, which ends in 2018, provided all club options are picked up.

If Boston wants Nerlens Noel, then my advice to them is find some assets that actually even up in value. In the mean time, please kill these fake deals.