When my hometown Chicago Bulls drafted Joakim Noah ninth overall that summer night back in 2006, I yelled and cursed at the television. When Noah was a Florida Gator, he was one of my least favorite college basketball players of all time. And he did a lot of things that made a lot of people hate him.
Including this. And who could forget his attempt to sound “street” during his post national title game interviews; despite the fact that we all knew his French upbringing was as country club as possible. His mother was an international runway model/Miss Sweden 1978 and his father is Yannick Noah, legendary tennis player; and later a huge pop music star in France.
His first couple years in the league Noah was still a bit of a clown and some of his behavior only reaffirmed my initial disgust on Draft night. However, that has all completely changed this year. Not only has he become a star on the court, conditioning his body to add muscle weight, and augment his game in the post, but he’s matured a ton off the court. His game has improved so much that he’s currently one of the small percentage of NBA players who averaging a double double on the season. He’s 5th in the NBA in rebounding and 16th in blocks. His emergence in 2009-10 now makes him the Bulls’ second most valuable player after Derrick Rose.
In addition to the fundamental differences, his attitude about basketball has grown up so much that even called out Lebron for dancing. There’s a common misperception out there that many NBA players are like Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady- not always giving 110% night in, night out. But you won’t get any ammunition for your argument by studying Noah. It is an absolute crime that his plantar fasciitis is keeping him off the court. When talking to him you see HOW MUCH he is dying to be out there as much as possible.
“I’m just trying to be in the moment of the game. Obviously, I don’t want to come out, I want to play. I think I have to be really smart about when I can and can’t. It just hurts, and the only thing you can do is rest it. It’s very painful, no joke,” Noah said after the Bulls 115-111 OT win over Portland, a game in which he played a few more minutes than was expected.
His coach Vinny Del Negro knows he overplayed Noah too. “We probably got a little greedy, but I asked him he how felt and he said he felt good, but I could see he got a little fatigued…his injury is going to bother him for awhile whether we play him 10 minutes or 20 minutes,” the overuse
“He could be out a while,” Del Negro said after Monday’s practice. “A week, two weeks, a month. I don’t know yet. It’s going to be how his foot reacts. When you get him back, his conditioning and his minutes (are also factors to think about). It’s not the perfect scenario.”
Exactly! Noah’s conditioning when he does return is a huge factor into how much he can contribute down the stretch as the Bulls fight for playoff positioning.
“The biking, the water cardio…for me the only thing that keeps me in shape is basketball. So there’s that aspect of it too. If it was October I could sit out for 6 weeks, but we don’t have 6 weeks. There’s not a lot of time left until the playoffs,” Noah said Friday night
So did Vinny play him too much Friday night and screw up Noah’s convalescence timetable? Who knows? I don’t have M.D. after my name so I can’t say, and Noah doesn’t seem to think that his more-than-expected playing time was a mistake.
“Everyone has an opinion on whether I should or shouldn’t play, but there’s no right or wrong answer,” Noah stated.
However, there is right answer to this question: Does Noah have as much heart and desire to play hard as ANYONE in the NBA? Resounding yes!
No comments:
Post a Comment