Much has been made of how Joakim Noah and Fred Hoiberg have gotten along this year. Reports early on were that even though Noah would be coming off the bench, things were still cool. Now things appear to be coming into focus. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times had the quote:
“A source said on Tuesday morning that Noah remains unhappy with his current standing in the organization, and “still hasn’t moved past losing his starting job” late in training camp. The source went onto say that Noah “hasn’t been a distraction by any means, but isn’t the biggest [coach Fred] Hoiberg fan these days.”
This is not the first time that this has been brought up this season, with Noah feeling like he would be better served as a starter or at least on the court more often in crunch-time.
Privately, the Bulls have hoped that winning games would cure a lot of Noah’s woes, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case. It also didn’t help that the Bulls went 7-2 without Noah during a recent shoulder injury, and that he’s been the subject of trade talk.”
The trade would make sense. Noah showed how he can be a dynamic offensive player while the Bulls dealt with injuries last year, but under a new system, things haven’t been the same. If traded where would Noah land? Dallas is always a potential spot for big men, the Wizards could use someone like Noah on their team, and of course, the potential pairing with Anthony Davis.
The trade deadline is about a month away on February 18th.