Bulls draft Joakim Noooooooooo(ah)
The Chicago Bulls just drafted Joakim Noah. I do not like this pick. I do not like Noah. I am not happy.
Put aside Noah is the most annoying player to watch with his screaming on every play and his constant chest pounding.
Put aside that Noah’s numbers declined last year.
Put aside that he’s often compared to the world’s ugliest dog.
When it is all said and down, Joakim Noah will not match up with the picks that came before him in this class nor with a few that will go later. Not only that, the skills he does do well are not what the Bulls need right now.
He can’t create points. He can play the post with energy, but not much skill. He matches up too similarly with what the Bulls already have at the position – a defensive player with below average offensive ability. This was a safety pick for GM John Paxon and not a very good one for a team that lost in the playoffs because of an exploitation in their post play on the scoring side of the court.
The Bulls could have taken Spencer Hawes, although his age and athleticism might make him a bad choice at this point too.
The Bulls have two more picks left. Look for them to take a serious glance at DJ Strawberry.
Illini watch
Just kidding. No Illini are getting drafted. There hasn’t even been a press conference arranged for Warren Carter because the chance is so small. I think Carter can make an NBA roster down the road and should do well in the D-League next year.
But Deron Williams’ name was mentioned in comparison to Mike Conley Jr. Please. DW is 10 times the PG Junior will ever be.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I think Noah was a great pick and that the Bulls were lucky he was left on the board at No. 9. He is a 7-foot-0 freak of nature, and he has good O but it obviously needs to be improved. It will be improved. I wouldn’t have liked taking Spencer Hawes, who would have been the other option. I’ll take a a leaper, astounding blocker, great defender, and a hard worker over someone who doesn’t play great D, who doesn’t grab that many boards for his height, and who doesn’t have great footwork. And Noah was an integral part of two championship teams.
GM John Paxon’s “safety” picks have gotten the Bulls from darkness to being serious playoff contenders. Notice that he takes great players from great college programs. Noah was no exception.
Lastly, I believe it is way too early to say that Daron Williams is 10 times the PG that Conley Jr. will ever be. How can you know that, especially when Conley Jr. had such an amazing year of college basketball?
Allrighty, peace.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Brian,
I didn’t like Hawes either, but for someone to be a lottery pick, they need to be able to do more than just pump up their team and pound their chest. Sure Noah came from a great program, but that team was giants playing against children. How often do you see players of the caliber of Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Tauren Green sticking together for multiple seasons in today’s college basketball? The difficulty in repeating wasn’t because of the competition facing them, but instead a question of would they choke or not. They didn’t, and Noah shouldn’t be seen as a great player just because of that.
It takes more than safety picks to become a championship team. You can contend with the players the Bulls have, but they won’t win a championship unless Paxon sticks his neck out and takes chance on a free agent (Billups?) or a trade (Garnett?).
I won’t disagree that Noah’s a freak of nature though. Faces like that are one in a million.
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Haha. That last sentence made your response worth reading. I see and agree with a lot of what you just said (we need a good free agent to finish the puzzle), but I am holding out hope that Noah can be seen great in his own right and not because of the program he came from. Let’s hope he shows us some good stuff in the upcoming years.