TOO SOON TO JUST SAY NOAH
VERY now and again, it’s useful to mosey over to YouTube and remind yourself of the player Joakin Noah was, and not all that long ago. In fact if you type in “Noah” and “highlights” and “2014,” the first thing that comes up is some video from a game played on Jan. 15 of that year, Bulls at Magic.
The title is almost whimsical: “Joakim Noah: 26 points, 19 rebounds, six assists.” And the video itself is enough to make you downright wistful, because there, in vivid color, is the Noah so many of us remember: athletic, active, unselfish, remarkable nose for the ball, an instinct for maximizing his gifts under the basket, an efficient ferocity to go along with an ultraconfident gait that made him a firstrate defender. Watch 15 seconds and there’s a couple of things that strike you: 1) That is one hell of a good teammate. 2) That is a winning player. 3) How do I get THAT guy on my team? It was no mirage, either. At the end of that season — only three years ago, remember — here were the five members of the All-NBA first team: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, James Harden. And Joakim Noah. These, clearly, are the things that keep Jeff Hornacek stubbornly writing Noah’s name in his starting lineup every game, even as the minutes he hands him have shrunk. These, even more clearly, were the things that compelled Phil Jackson to sign Noah to the four-year, $72 million contract that, right now, beams like a neon albatross in the Knicks’ universe. Noah doesn’t turn 32 until February — and it ought to be a “young” 32; he played three years in college at Florida, so that’s at least a couple of extra years of NBA tread he was able to keep off his tires. He has been injury-plagued the last couple years, yes, but nothing that was deemed career-threatening.
Though the injuries have clearly been career-altering. Because Noah has struggled across 23 games as a Knick, struggled in just about any way you can imagine, struggled on offense (always a challenge) and on defense (far more alarming), struggled with his motor (perhaps still affected by a preseason hamstring injury) and, perhaps most inexplicably, this career 70 percent foul shooter is hovering at 30 percent this year.
As one NBA executive observed Monday: “He’s even struggling with things that you’d never think he’d ever struggle with. It’s more than adjusting to a new city or a new offense. It’s a completely different player.”
So you’re Hornacek. What do you do about this?
Here’s the thing: Right now, Noah’s prime backup, Kyle O’Quinn, has been playing the best ball of his career. He has been ferocious on the glass, he makes his foul shots, and while he has his limits on defense he certainly provides a proper amount of sweat equity every night. The other center on the roster, rookie Willy Hernangomez, has had some fine moments, too.
So we’ve seen the best of O’Quinn (to his credit almost every night). We’ve seen the best of Hernangomez (again, in spurts; he still has quite a climb on the NBA learning curve ahead of him).
We’ve yet to see the best of Joakim Noah. That’s the good news. And also the bad: because there is no guarantee we will
ever see the best of Joakim Noah ever again, if Noah is even capable of attaining that level regularly ever again or if the only way to access it is on a laptop, on YouTube, scrolling through his greatest hits.
It’s understandable why the Knicks would feel compelled to keep sending him out there, game after game, in the hope that one day something clicks, something snaps into place. One thing that’s clear about Noah: It’s killing him to be playing this way. His face hides very little, and so when he misses a layup during a game, when he’s beaten to a rebound, when he clangs a couple of foul shots, it’s all there, on his face, for the world to see.
The best of Joakim Noah is what the Knicks yearn for, and is so much of what they need to fully reach who they can become as a team. And until they’re convinced otherwise they have to know. O’Quinn has been terrific. Hernangomez is intriguing. Neither has ever been a quarter of the player Joakim Noah used to be.
But, then, neither has Joakim Noah in 23 games as a Knick.
Will he ever be? Maybe not. But the Knicks need to know for real, and for certain. Just about everything they want to be depends on the answer.