Has Joakim Noah Peaked with the Chicago Bulls?
It's possible the Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah has hit his ceiling. But then again, there may be better days ahead for the 30-year-old center.
This season, Noah just hasn't been the same superstar type of player we all witnessed a year ago. His numbers are down across the board. Knee surgery, which he underwent last May, is clearly the main reason behind that. Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports' "Ball Don't Lie" wrote briefly about the subject:
"Noah has had his moments this season, to be sure, but he’s still at best a B-level version of the player that at times dominated for the Bulls on both ends of the court last season. This is clearly almost entirely due to that knee surgery, which hampered his super-slow start to the season, and has caused him to miss splotches of games here and there as Chicago’s tough 2014-15 has moved along.
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Producing outstanding numbers is pretty difficult when you're not at 100 percent. Noah has missed 13 games this season. So due to heath issues, it's a bit unfair to claim his career has peaked already.
And it doesn't help, either, that Noah's playing time is limited. Instructed by the Bulls front office, coach Tom Thibodeau is only allowed to play the big man 32 minutes a night.
Perhaps the Bulls would've won their March 15 meeting with the Oklahoma City Thunder if it wasn't for the minutes restriction. Noah wasn't able to play much down the stretch since he logged so many minutes over the first three quarters. Dwyer pointed this out:
"Joakim Noah had a chance to play down the stretch of that loss to the Thunder, a contest that saw the center/forward contribute 15 points and seven assists, even though Noah entered the fourth quarter having played over 25 and a half minutes over the first three quarters. Had Thibodeau shaved some of those minutes down, given a few token minutes to seven footers like Nazr Mohammad and Cameron Bairstow, and had he kept himself from playing Noah nearly the entire first half the fourth quarter, Noah would have been available for the final chunks of the game.
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A minutes restriction does make a ton of sense, though. The Bulls need to keep him fresh for the playoffs instead of running him into the ground during the regular season.
Noah isn't playing his best basketball this season. Let's take a look back at when he was.
Spotlighting Noah at His Best
After helping Florida win back-to-back national titles, Noah was drafted by the Bulls ninth overall in 2007. He would serve as a solid, high-energy role player during his first five years with the team. However, his career took off in 2012-13, as he made his first All-Star appearance.
Chicago really needed Noah to step up that season with Derrick Rose missing the entire year, recovering from an ACL tear. And that's exactly what he did, getting the job done on the defensive end and playing the rare "point center" role.
During the first round of the 2013 playoffs, the injury-riddled Bulls weren't expected to win their series against the Brooklyn Nets. Yet, Noah would put the team on his back and come up with a memorable Game 7 performance.
He recorded 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks, as the Bulls advanced to the next round. And he managed that while playing with plantar fasciitis, an extremely painful foot condition.
Last season, the Bulls looked like they were headed for the NBA draft lottery. Rose suffered a meniscus tear after just 10 games and Luol Deng was traded for next to nothing.
Then Noah emerged once again to have his best-ever campaign. Making his second straight All-Star appearance, he produced 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and a whopping 5.4 assists per game, the highest average for a center since Sam Lacey in 1979-80.
Noah took home the Defensive Player of the Year award and finished fourth in MVP voting behind Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Blake Griffin.
What Does the Future Hold?
It will be interesting to see how the rest of Noah's career plays out. Can he shake off the injury bug and return to his 2014 form? Every Bulls fan wants to know the answer to that question.
He has looked great at times this year. For example, Noah was instrumental in Chicago's recent win over the Toronto Raptors (March 20), tying a career high with 14 assists. His 18-point, 15-rebound, six-assist effort vs. the Golden State Warriors (January 27 victory) wasn't too bad either.
Noah has handed out at least five assists in his last 14 contests. Noah is on his way to becoming the first center to lead his team in assists for two straight seasons since Wilt Chamberlain did so from 1965-1968. When you're mentioned in the same sentence as Chamberlain, who's arguably the greatest center to ever play, you're doing something right.
While Noah is sure to be an important cog for the Bulls going forward, he may wind up being a supporting piece rather than one of the team's stars. And, of course, there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody can't be a star, and role players are valuable to any championship contender.
So has Noah peaked already? Well, once he returns to full health, anything can happen. Don't be surprised if he trumps his 2013-14 season at some point down the road. We'll be watching.
All stats are from Basketball-Reference.com and accurate as of March 28.
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