He's like the best of both worlds: height and passing skills of Plumlee, defensive and rebounding skills of Davis.
Their front line is crowded as is. Kanter played less than 10 mins last night. Don't think Noah is quite ready for that big a decline in PT. Besides, they don't have the $ to get him, especially if he gets close to 10 mil as I expect.
Obviously his health is a concern. But even last year, his DRPM was good for 32nd out of all NBA players. Only Ed Davis was ahead of him among Portland players.
That looks more like a trend to me. Look how much it fell between last year and the year before that even.
Serious Question: If his game hasn't deteriorated, why was he coming off the bench? If it was because of injuries, why was he so pissed about it?
First, that's two questions. Second, he's coming off the bench because of the new coach Fred Hoiberg. Hoiberg made that decision before the season. Third, that's why he's pissed.
Third: so you're saying... Second: that Hoiberg thinks... First: he sucks. Zeroth: Hoiberg probably knows more than I do. Negative First: Denny Crane, what's the scoop?
Maybe he does, but that doesn't follow from what he did. He just has a different vision for the starting five. Noah was the key player for Bulls teams that focused on Defense above all. Y'know, the Bulls teams that were good. Noah is definitely a player who won't work with every system. If you want your center to be a scorer who goes one-on-one in the post then he's not your guy. But his passing skills would seem to make him a good fit with a Stotts system and a defensive upgrade. I think Ed Davis got fewer minutes than his productive play would seem to merit because of his offensive ineptitude (in contrast to Plumlee, who was inferior defensively). Boris Diaw and Draymond Green are recent examples of players who flourished in the right system but weren't the cup of tea of other coaches. Kevin Love too (apart from the past two games).
But the prior year it was very low as well, at 51%. His career numbers are not even good, perhaps he's on a downhill slope because of injury? It's frustrating to have a center that doesn't even finish inside well. I haven't haven't seen him play much, so not sure what his deal is, but the numbers do not look good.
The Bulls invested a lot of political capital smearing Thibs to excuse firing him. Under Thibs, Noah had a brilliant season and wasn't hurt. DPOY and 1st team All NBA. Management has routinely tried to limit Noah's minutes. Paxson was promoted out of the way after physical confrontation with Del Negro over Noah's minutes. Like the Warriors, resting guys in the regular season means healthy team for playoffs. Looks more like player injuries are random and resting in the regular season will lead to GSW not making the finals. Noah had knee surgery two summers ago. His play suffered last year from it. Maybe he's done. Maybe it takes more than a year to rehab fully (my guess). Hoiberg didn't play him because Thibs played him with Pau. Led to 50 wins, but Thibs has to be smeared. No doubt Noah would play if he was a stretch 4/5. Hoiball has been a miserable failure so far. Hoiberg went Thibs and rode the defense to wins. Noah got much bigger minutes for a few games before going down for the rest of the season. He played out of position at PF next to Pau. That clearly hurt his stats the last two years. No doubt that even hurting , he was the heart and soul of the team and anchored the D. The risk is he's done. I would make sure he can run and jump before making a big offer. If he pans out, I see no reason he can't play a few more years at a high level.
To go along with thread, I'd say... I'd be VERY interested in 2015 Noah for vet. min. 2019 Noah? I'd need to know more.
Id love a player that played with his passion. We really need someone like him, but I can't stand the dude when he opens his mouth. Reluctantly, I say go get him.