<div class="quote_poster">Blur Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/noah_070608.html Noah pretty much said all the right things, what i liked most about his interview is that he sounds like he has his priorities straight. Its all about winning a championship. Thats it...</div> Noah is a very well spoken guy. That's one of the reasons why the media loves him so much. He will never BS you what so ever. He will say what's on his mind, but honestly the only 2 things he cares about is a) winning and his teammates. He WILL back his teammates with everything. <div class="quote_poster">TheFreshPrince Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">But that evidence is viewed as someone's opinion. I could infer that Al Horford is the leader in the locker room by the way everyone seems to respond to his level of play despite him being very quiet. That to me looks like his team mates respect him a lot because he is their leader. Do you see what i'm saying? So it may be true but it is still based on an opinion not a fact.</div> Anyone that has paid any attention to the Gator teams of the last 2 years outside of the tournament would tell you that Noah was the heart and soul of that team. The players said it, the coaches said it, and just by watching you could tell that he was the guy that lifted the teams spirits. When he would make a nice play it seemed like a domino effect on the others. I don't think any of you guys realize what Noah had to go through this season(I sure as hell don't). He dealt with so much abuse from the fans of other teams. Way more than any other player in college basketball. Add that with the fact that he had mono for a couple of weeks during the season and the fact that he has been playing with a slight tear of his rotator cuff and you realize why he struggled. Al Horford and Corey Brewer both said that Joakim Noah took so much pressure off of them and neither were sure that they could take the same abuse of what Noah had to overcome. <div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">If you take Noah off of that roster, then Chris Richard would have been given a lot more playing a lot more time and they probably would have been better off. Like I've said hundreds of times before, he's horrible offensively, lacking any go-to moves or footwork whatsoever in the post, and defensively, he was just valuable last season as a shot-blocker from the weakside who benefited by playing in an up-tempo leaguew with short big men. If you put anyone with any sort of skill or size on him, he's completely taken out of the equation defensively (see: Greg Oden, Glen Davis, etc.). I agree with everything AKIRA said, but although Hawes would be the best possible pick, I don't think he'll be around at #9.</div> There is absolutely no way in hell that the Gators would have won either championship without Joakim Noah. Just like there is no way in hell the Gators would have won a championship without Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Taureen Green, Lee Humphrey, Walter Hodgeand Chris Richard. They all had their role and they all filled it and if we didn't have a player of their caliber in each role, we wouldn't have won. Take any of those top 7 players off our team and I don't think we would have won. I know you absolutely hate Noah, but come on man that statement that we would be better off without Noah is ridiculous. I trust Billy D more than I trust you. If Billy D thought we'd be better off with Richard, don't you think he would have started the guy with more experience over Noah? NOAH WILL NOT HAVE TO GUARD GREG ODEN. THE BULLS HAVE SOMEONE NAMED BEN WALLACE WHO WOULD GUARD GREG ODEN. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that you expect toothpick Noah to be able to guard guys that are 70+ lbs heavier then he is. Not everyone in the NBA will be 70+ lbs heavier then him. He will be playing PF, not C. Please name 1 PF that has the size and strength of a Greg Oden. That's like saying that you are shocked that Jason Kidd can't guard Tmac. He will be fine defensively, especially if the Bulls draft him. Who better to learn from then Ben Wallace? He has defensive talent. Your hatred for Noah is making you lose credibility man. ---------- Now about the topic at hand. I think you have to take Hawes over Noah if he is still left, but you won't go wrong with Noah. Everyone is hating on him and he enjoys it. There will be guys drafted after him that has bigger impacts statistically in their careers, but Noah is the type of player that is invaluable to a locker room and is the type of player that will pour his guts out on the floor and will work his ass off during the offseason. He will quickly become a fan favorite of whatever team drafts him. btw, that Mark Madsen comparison is one of the worst comparisons I've ever seen for him. I absolutely despise the Anderson Varejeao comparisons, yet I like them better than this Mark Madsen one. My comparison is a poors man Boris Diaw. He has the potential to be a playmaker like Boris Diaw is(but to a lesser extent) and probably should be used in a similar role. He will be a better defender then Diaw, but won't have as good of a shot or playmaking ability.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">There is absolutely no way in hell that the Gators would have won either championship without Joakim Noah. Just like there is no way in hell the Gators would have won a championship without Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Taureen Green, Lee Humphrey, Walter Hodgeand Chris Richard. They all had their role and they all filled it and if we didn't have a player of their caliber in each role, we wouldn't have won. Take any of those top 7 players off our team and I don't think we would have won. I know you absolutely hate Noah, but come on man that statement that we would be better off without Noah is ridiculous. I trust Billy D more than I trust you. If Billy D thought we'd be better off with Richard, don't you think he would have started the guy with more experience over Noah? NOAH WILL NOT HAVE TO GUARD GREG ODEN. THE BULLS HAVE SOMEONE NAMED BEN WALLACE WHO WOULD GUARD GREG ODEN. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that you expect toothpick Noah to be able to guard guys that are 70+ lbs heavier then he is. Not everyone in the NBA will be 70+ lbs heavier then him. He will be playing PF, not C. Please name 1 PF that has the size and strength of a Greg Oden. That's like saying that you are shocked that Jason Kidd can't guard Tmac. He will be fine defensively, especially if the Bulls draft him. Who better to learn from then Ben Wallace? He has defensive talent. Your hatred for Noah is making you lose credibility man.</div> Out of all people, I figured you would have known how good the post players on the Gators' bench were. If you took Corey Brewer off the court, who was going to come in and fill that void defensively, Dan Werner? If you take Joakim Noah off the floor though, you have guys like Chris Richard and Marreese Speights who could step right in and fill his void. Hell, Speights was extremely efficient for the playing time he got last season. On most teams in the NCAA, he would have been starting last season. As for Greg Oden, he's got long term potential, but at this point, he's still very raw offensively. If Noah was so good defensively, he should have been able to hold his own against him, like a lot of the Big 10 defenders were able to do. You have to remember how in the title game, Ohio State kept running screens to switch Oden off onto Noah. That's no coincidence. Horford was keeping him in check, yet every time he got switched off onto Noah, he'd score at will. And forget about Oden; what about a guys like Carl Landry? His deficiencies were not a lack of size but rather a lack of fundamental talent. He got his blocks because of his length and the tempo, not because of his instincts. Likewise, offensively, he stagnates in a half-court setting and lacks any post-up moves. He's a great ball handler for his size, but he's got a horrible jumper, so he's not going to play out on the wing. So what do you do with a player like him offensively in a half-court offense? You bench him and play someone who can contribute.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Out of all people, I figured you would have known how good the post players on the Gators' bench were. If you took Corey Brewer off the court, who was going to come in and fill that void defensively, Dan Werner? If you take Joakim Noah off the floor though, you have guys like Chris Richard and Marreese Speights who could step right in and fill his void. Hell, Speights was extremely efficient for the playing time he got last season. On most teams in the NCAA, he would have been starting last season.</div> Your boy Brandon Powell would have filled in defensively for Brewer. Chris Richard might have a better post game, but he is so one dimensional it's not even funny. You talk about Noah fitting the system, Richard was definitely more the system then Noah. As much as I love C Rich, he was certainly best suited coming off the bench behind Noah/Horford. He probably could have started on at least half of the tournament teams and likely would have been a legit player for NBA teams to draft if he was able to develop with quality playing time/touches, but no way was he close to Noah. You know how much I love Speights. I think he's going to be a helluva player, but he was only a freshman who had played basketball something like 3 years. He's still extremely raw(much like Noah was as a freshman) and I don't think giving him big PT would not have been that great. I still can't believe your hate for Noah goes that far to saying that the Gators would have been better without him. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As for Greg Oden, he's got long term potential, but at this point, he's still very raw offensively. If Noah was so good defensively, he should have been able to hold his own against him, like a lot of the Big 10 defenders were able to do. You have to remember how in the title game, Ohio State kept running screens to switch Oden off onto Noah. That's no coincidence. </div> Your next sentence "Horford was keeping him in check." Basically explains why they kept switching off with Noah. Why would you want to have Oden go head to head with Horford when you can go with Noah. Hell Richard didn't even play Oden that great. Also the refs let Oden play that game as opposed to all the other games. He got away with a lot. I don't understand why you are so adament about the championship game with Oden going head to head with Noah on occasions. Noah will not be guarding Oden in the pros and almost everyone struggled with Oden this season. Not to mention he was playing with a slightly torn rotator cuff. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">And forget about Oden; what about a guys like Carl Landry?</div> Horford was on him. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">His deficiencies were not a lack of size but rather a lack of fundamental talent. He got his blocks because of his length and the tempo, not because of his instincts.</div> I don't think you can hold a NCAA tournament record for total blocks in a tournament and not have defensive instincts. Most of his blocks were because of his length, but he got more blocks then Horford did on one on one and he didn't bite on the pump fake as much as Al did. His biggest strength is that he is a very smart defensive player. He typically won't fall for pump fakes and he's rarely out of position in zones. He also rarely gets beat off the dribble. Most of Noah's blocks were in the half court in man to man defense. The players that he was guarding and blocked were typically shorter than him like you said, but that doesn't negate the fact that he still had the defensive instincts to be able to block the shot. Richard was absolutely HORRIBLE at blocking shots, so it does take some skill to block shots and not just a big wingspan. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Likewise, offensively, he stagnates in a half-court setting and lacks any post-up moves. He's a great ball handler for his size, but he's got a horrible jumper, so he's not going to play out on the wing. So what do you do with a player like him offensively in a half-court offense? You bench him and play someone who can contribute.</div> Offensively is where the big question marks lie with Noah. He would be much better suited for a team that gets out on the break to utilize his greatest strength which is his speed and ability to finish. Half court he likely won't be that big of a factor, but he will be able to crash the glass and get some put backs and being able to use his speed to get around some of the bigger guys(occasionally, not consistently). Honestly his shot is one of the ugliest shots I have ever seen, but it actually isn't that bad. He can't consistently take and make that mid range jumper to spread a defense, but he can occasionally hit it. His mid range shot improved throughout the season and he was showing more and more confidence shooting it later in the season. Supposedly he's been working extremely hard on his jump shot ever since the season has ended. If he can get a somewhat consistent mid range shot, he will be a solid player on the offensive end.
Here is what i think will happen one draft night Portland-Oden Seattle-Durant Atlanta-Yi Memphis-Horford Boston-Hawes Milwaukee-B. Wright Minnesota-J. Green Charlotte-Noah Chicago-....... i really believe that we wont be able to get a guy we would like. Anyways, Thomas is better than Noah and its dumb imo to draft 2 similiar players back to back to only take minutes from a player that is better which would be Thomas. Collison imo is better than Hawes. In this, Paxson should really look to get him. #9 and Duhon for Collison and cash? Do u really expect a rookie post-player to perform well in the playoffs and especially if that same guy is not really sure hes NBA ready? Collison hasnt been in the playoffs if im not mistaken but atleast we know what to expect from him if we trade for him. We would need some bench scoring so i wouldnt mind signing Wells. PG-Hinrich/Gordon SG-Gordon/Thabo/Wells SF-Deng/Nocioni/Griffin PF-Collison/Thomas C-Wallace/Brown What team in the east is better with all our guys improving etc? *???-Maybe a guy like Ely hes not getting much playing time with the Spurs or if Brown decides to give us one more season.
<div class="quote_poster">taurus515th Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Here is what i think will happen one draft night Portland-Oden Seattle-Durant Atlanta-Yi Memphis-Horford Boston-Hawes Milwaukee-B. Wright Minnesota-J. Green Charlotte-Noah Chicago-....... i really believe that we wont be able to get a guy we would like. Anyways, Thomas is better than Noah and its dumb imo to draft 2 similiar players back to back to only take minutes from a player that is better which would be Thomas. Collison imo is better than Hawes. In this, Paxson should really look to get him. #9 and some others for Collison and cash? Id really try and keep Duhon because u never know wut u might get for him near the trade deadline since he is expiring. Do u really expect a rookie post-player to perform well in the playoffs and especially if that same guy is not really sure hes NBA ready? Collison hasnt been in the playoffs if im not mistaken but atleast we know what to expect from him if we trade for him. We would need some bench scoring so i wouldnt mind signing Wells. PG-Hinrich/Duhon SG-Gordon/Thabo/Wells SF-Deng/Nocioni/Griffin PF-Collison/Thomas/ C-Wallace/??? What team in the east is better with all our guys improving etc? *???-Maybe a guy like Ely hes not getting much playing time with the Spurs or if Brown decides to give us one more season.</div> Bobcats would take Corey Brewer if he's available, so that would push back Noah for you guys. I think Brewer goes early enough though to push one of the PF's/C's back to you guys(more than likely Noah, but it could be any of them).
