The Joakim Noah signing was doomed from the start
Based on recent quotes from head coach Jeff Hornacek, Joakim Noah’s tenure with New York Knicks looks to be coming to an uneventful end.
Joakim Noah used to be one of the best players in the NBA. It seems like ancient history, but during the 2013-14 season—only four years ago—the two-time All-Star finished fourth in MVP voting after leading the Chicago Bulls to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Noah won Defensive Player of the Year and averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game.
The man was 100 percent heart and passion; a modern day Dennis Rodman, if you will. He was willing to dive into the stands if it meant he could get his team another possession. Fans across the league loved his intensity.
He’d go face to face with LeBron James and wouldn’t think twice about it.
And now, he has a $72 million dollar contract that no team wants. It’s sad, really.
No matter what Noah did, he was never going to live up to the massive contract that the Knicks inexplicably gave him.
The idea of bringing in Noah was that he would bring his trademark energy and intensity, and use it to improve a Knicks defense that ranked amongst the worst in the NBA in previous seasons.
Noah was going to change the culture.
It didn’t matter that he’d played in only 29 games the previous season due to various injuries, or that he’d played in over 70 games just three times in seven years in Chicago.
The Knicks felt that Noah was worth $72 million.
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No one can blame Noah for accepting the contract. What, is he going to beg them to sign him closer to his actual value, which, given his limited offensive game, was significantly lower? In any profession, you try to squeeze as much money out of your employer as possible, and Noah did just that.
But with that money came a lot of expectations.
It went from, “Let’s see what he can give us” to, “He better play like a Defensive Player of the Year.”
He had to play well. Otherwise, he’d get berated by both the fans and media. It got to a point where people didn’t even care if he played well; they just wanted him to play.
Noah appeared in only 46 games last season, again being hit by the injury bug, and was suspended for 20 games after violating the league’s drug policy.
It didn’t seem fair for the New York Knicks to put all these expectations on a guy whose body, after years of playing under Tom Thibodeau, was clearly giving up on him. But at the same time, that’s what happens when you sign a big contract.
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More money means more problems, which for Joakim Noah, meant higher expectations. And after years of playing with all-out hustle and intensity, it was something his body just wouldn’t let him do.