Joakim Noah a Pleasant Surprise

Through all of the fun-bad basketball moments the Chicago Bulls have had this season, there has been at least one pleasant surprise, Joakim Noah.

Indeed, through all of the opponent shoe-tying, the timeout dancing, the fizzling of 30-point leads, the losses to dreadful teams at home,the lack of development of superstar-in-training Derrick Rose and, really, all the other (and there are plenty more, to be sure) basketball atrocities committed by and on the Vinny Del Negro-led Bulls, Joakim Noah has been a refreshing story in the Madhouse on Madison.

Keep in mind though, this praise is coming from someone that is decidedly not a basketball "guy". I mean, I know enough to know that Vinny Del Negro's offense is a complete joke to the rest of the NBA and the fact that Derrick Rose has yet to definitively put his team on his back and drop 40 on an opponent (in his second year in the NBA) is frightening for a player held in such high regard.

I know enough to laugh at Vinny and the crew when they do something laughable on the court, and that the answer to the Bulls' problems is not any combination of Jannero Pargo and Tyrus Thomas.

Though on the other hand, I had to have my co-host Rich explain to me why the Bulls' constant use of the high pick-and-roll was not necessary with Rose on the floor; so take my basketball comments for whatever you deem them to be worth.

And with Joakim Noah, I have been pleasantly proven wrong once again (Our bad, Matt Ryan).

Shortly after the 2007 NBA Draft (where Noah was taken ninth overall by the Bulls), 643 Sports started up, and I can easily recall going over the draft with Rich during one of our earlier episodes bemoaning the drafting of Noah.

We chastised GM John Paxson for another squandered first round, and while we conceded that the 2007 draft miscues by Pax were not nearly as bad as the ones in 2006 (where the rights of LaMarcus Aldridge were traded for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Krhyapa), we knew that 2007 wasn't much better.

To me, Joakim was a high-floor/low-ceiling type of player that wouldn't be much of anything in the NBA. He would get his minutes off the bench, get some rebounds (you can't argue that much against a 6'11" frame), but would otherwise be another first-round bench filler that, again, would not do much in the NBA.

That is, were it not for John Paxson forgetting the draft was approaching and only getting to see Noah screaming on the floor during the Florida Gators' national championship run that year, thus immediately making him Pax's first-round pick that year.

We made fun of his shot, his hair, and his lineage (his dad is a tennis pro and his mom is a model, how does that make an NBA big-man?), but now in his third year in the NBA, Joakim Noah is proving me wrong.

Some would like to think that Noah's maturation started during the seven game shootout with the Celtics in the first round of last year's NBA playoffs (a series—remember this, Bulls fans—the Bulls lost in seven games to a team without one of their best players who happened to be one of the best big men in the NBA at that time), but for me, this season was the true start of Noah's surprising run.

Noah has seemed to fill out nicely, finally adding bulk to the aforementioned 6'11" frame, and that added bulk has allowed him to play better on the glass, where he is nabbing a career-high 12.2 rebounds per game (13.2 per 36 minutes).

Noah's free-throw percentage has vastly improved from past years (74 percent, up from an unimpressive 68 percent last season), along with his per-game points (11) and attempted free-throw totals.

It may not be the flashiest averaging of a double-double in NBA history, but when the list of recent Bulls centers includes Aaron "White Panther" Gray, Tyson Chandler, and an aged and bad Ben Wallace, Noah's meager double-double average is more than welcome.

Now, this is not to say that the Bulls have found their answer at the four-five spot in Noah. Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh would be welcomed with open arms in Chicago next season and would (rightly so) promptly be given the chance to towel-whip everyone on the roster not named Derrick Rose.

However, in a season where many, including us at 643 Sports, were waiting for Noah to prove his mettle, Joakim has shown that he can do better than just show he belongs on the court, and has certainly impressed thus far.

-Jonathan Platek