CLEVELAND It is the ultimate tribute to Joakim Noahand everything he represents that he has earned so much appreciation, so many accolades, even with all his awkwardness. There are plenty of good glue guys in the NBA, with Draymond Green and, to a lesser extent,DeMarre Carroll the latest to grab attention. But it's rather remarkable when someone with a gangly gait and a broken shot can go beyond capturing a blue-collar city's heart and a Defensive Player of the Year award to win over hard-edged sportswriters enough to finish fourth in MVP voting.
Yes, fourth.
That's where Noah placed for his relentless drive during the 2013-14 season, when he, at times single-handedly, willed the battered Bulls to 48 wins.
He finished behind only Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Blake Griffin in the voting and comfortably ahead of James Harden, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, who followed their fifth-, sixth- and seventh-place finishes in 2014 by placing second, first and sixth, respectively, this season.
This season, Noah wasn't anywhere near their company. Not only did he not receive a vote for MVP, but he received none for Defensive Player of the Year either. The odds are also against him receiving any All-NBA votes this season after he finished on the first team with 101 of 125 first-place votes last season. And he may get shut out of all three All-Defensive teams after being named the first-team center last year.
In this regular season, he was just a plus-1.9 per 100 possessions, behind six other Bulls regulars and little-used backup Nazr Mohammed, whereas last season, he was a plus-4.3 per 100 possessions, best among Bulls regulars.
He's a plus-4.8 per 100 possessionsin this brief postseason, but that still stands as sixth among regulars, well behind all four other startersas well as Nikola Mirotic, who is a plus-11.6 per 100 possessions in much more limited playing time. Only Taj Gibson's ongoing struggles (minus-10.5 per 100 possessions with the second unit) have cushioned Noah's plunge in the power rotation.
Eyesight supports statistics. In fact, if anything, Noah has looked more like a negative than the numbers suggest. That's the real story, as many get sidetracked by the master instigator's usual array of sideshows, whether it's his silly spat with Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jonesor his postgame altercationwith a fan as he headed through the tunnel, whichdepending on your anglemay or may not have included spittle from the fan and a walkaway slap from Noah.
This is a basketball problem.
And it's a tricky one for Noah's truest believer, Tom Thibodeau, as the Bulls attempt to take control of a series now tied at 1-1 as they head back to the United Center for Game 3 Friday night.
Simply, if Noah doesn't show something soon, Thibodeau needs to reduce his minutes and try someone else, maybe the more offensively able Mirotic, who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting but has been granted only nine minutes in the first two games.
That sounds crazy to say considering all Noah has meant in recent years to the franchise, to the city, to the coach trying to keep everyone together. But Noah is regularly the fifth-best Bull on the court.
He's made a few pinpoint passes and does have eight assists in 59 minutes. He has also collected 16 boards, seven of which have been contested, according to SportVU, in 25 rebound chances. But that's been outweighed by the fact that he strangles the Bulls' sets with his tentative play, eschewing some open looks on those rare occasions when he actually turned to glance at the basket.
While he's not counted upon to consistently score double digits, four points over two games won't cut it for any starting center, no matter how strong the supporting cast. He wasn't an especially frequent or proficient shooter from outside 10 feet in the regular season, making 29 of his 87 attempts in 67 games (two were half-court heaves). In eight playoff games, however, he's been even more timid, with justthree attempts outside 10 feet, all missed, one blocked.Those deficiencies on offense were especially debilitating in Game 2, even as he made half of his four field-goal attempts. (He made a tip, missed a tip, made a bank shot and missed a layup.)
He has become too easy to entirely ignore, forcing the Bulls to play four-on-five. Cleveland, which had inexplicably wasted LeBron James against him in Game 1, recognized there was little need to monitor him in Wednesday's rematch, especially after Timofey Mozgov drew the initial assignment, charged largely with keeping Noah off the offensive glass. As Game 2 continued, and even as the Cavaliers got progressively smaller, Noah's defender simply left him to help derail Derrick Rose in the lane or to bust up Rose's attempt to pick-and-pop with PauGasol.
So what's the issue?
Why the decline?
Noah seems to be battling some sort of injury every season, and in this one, his knees and ankles have given him persistent trouble. He is known for playing through pain, and Thibodeau and Rose have both alluded to some issues there. Tuesday, Rose said Noah was "giving us everything he has."
But what about Noah's mental state?
He simply doesn't look like himself, and he certainly doesn't seem sure of himself.
That's been especially evident at the free-throw line, where he has never been elite but has never been awful either. Even after a career-low 60.3 percent this season, his career number is still a respectable 71.6, not all that far from league average.
After missing both free-throw attempts Wednesday, he's now 1-of-14 from the line in the playoffs, making Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan look like Rick Barry and Calvin Murphy. Cavaliers coach David Blatt, for all his aversion to the so-called Hack-a-Shaqhe says it's deemed an "unsportmanslike" play in Europedid deploy it earlier this season against the Clippers and may be tempted to experiment again. And even if he doesn't, it does appear that Noah is falling prey to a common conundrum for poor free-throw shooters: He's avoiding putting himself in a position to get fouled.
Noah insisted that his confidence is "good." "I'm good," he said. "Overall, I just think that I could have played better [Wednesday] night. Just got to keep working and get ready for the next one."
What does Rose think?
"It's not even confidence," Rose said. "It's just being in the right spot. Sometimes, he's out of place and so far away from the basket, where he can't get there in time. We have to make sure he's in the right spot for our offense."
Rose added that the Bulls need "to put him in the right position so he can be successful and our team and our offense can run a little bit better."
They've got to pick him up like he picked them up in previous years.
Thibodeau, when asked if Noah appears to be doubting himself, especially on offense, deflected some but didn't dispute it, saying,"Players go through different things. There's ups and downs in a game. If he's not going well offensively, there's so many other things he does that do help us. That's what I want him to lock into. Find another way to help. Make great effort on defense. Don't allow the offense to impact your energy or your concentration on defense."
Opponents are shooting 43.9 percent with Noah defending this postseason, including 50.8 percent on two-pointers and 58.3 percent from inside 10 feet. That comes after they shot41.4 percentwith him defending during the season. Cleveland is at 50 percentoverallthrough the first two games and 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) inside 10 feet.
If that continues, there goes the best justification for Noah's preponderance of the playing time: that he's a superior defender to Mirotic and Gasol.
Thibodeau made it clear that his call for concentration, even amid offensive adversity, "goes for the entire team. Not just Jo. So if it's not going your way, those are the things you can control." The coach can control something too: which guys go in the game and to the bench. There can't be much more waiting for Noah to get it going.
EthanSkolnickcovers the NBA for Bleacher Report and is a co-host ofNBA Sunday Tip, 9-11 a.m. ET onSiriusXMBleacher Report Radio. Follow him on Twitter,@EthanJSkolnick.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2456994-the-chicago-bulls-cant-wait-too-long-to-fix-their-joakim-noah-problem
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