For someone known for being one of the NBA’s most biggest free spirits, Joakim Noah always seems to find a way of becoming the heart and soul of every team he stars on.
Almost single-handedly, Noah saved the Bulls season last year after Derrick Rose went down with a second straight season-ending knee injury by becoming the most trailblazing center the league has seen since the days of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Bill Walton, the only other post men in Association history to average at least 12 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists in a season as he did in 2013-14.
Indeed, over his first seven seasons with the Bulls, Joakim Noah has proven every bit as versatile as he is adaptable, as compassionate as he is heartfelt. How else do you think it could be one could come to survive once uttering the words “I hate Michael Jordan” before a Chicago crowd to now essentially have the entire city eating out the palm of his hands?
Such is the wizardry of Noah, and his ability to seemingly incorporate a little bit of everything and everybody into his nonconformist nature. The 29-year-old, two-time All-Star and reigning Defensive Player of the Year grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between the gritty streets of New York City and pristine towers of Paris, from where his world famous French Open champion father, Yannick Noah, hails.
Noah also holds American, Swedish, and French citizenship, and as easily and fluently speaks those languages as he recites Shakespeare. In Chi-Town, he is almost as revered for the work he does in inner-city communities as for what he and Rose have teamed to achieve at the United Center.
“His direct involvement has been as impactful as anyone’s,” Father Michael Pflegger said of Noah’s work in running a Peace Tournament hoops league and regularly speaking and working with gang members about the desperate need to curb the city’s rampant gang problem and spiraling murder rate. During one recent tournament, Noah served as coach of one of the teams opposite the homegrown Rose, telling reporters of his motivation “I just want to do my best. I don’t know all the answers. I just want to go out there and help, because this is just as important to me as winning a championship.”
It’s that same supportive, never-say-die attitude Noah is known for championing among his teammates. Besides anchoring coach Tom Thibodeau’s notoriously stingy defense, he averaged nearly 1.5 more assists last year than at any other time in his career and capped off his fifth straight season of averaging double-digits rebounds with a career-high 12.6.
And still Thibodeau marvels “if you look at him statistically, there may not be a full appreciation for what he brings. Statistics are good, but it’s the body of work that he brings to the team. There’s a finesse part of his game that’s guard-like, where he can dribble and pass and make quick decisions off the dribble. To me, that’s what’s really helped us probably the most.”
Joakim Noah will tell you it all falls under the umbrella of being simply Joakim Noah.
“Even when you play in the park, you’ve got to know how to handle the ball,” he said. “If you can’t handle the ball, you can’t really play. Being from New York, everybody’s a point guard.”
And now, Chicago is more than happy to reap the rewards.
