Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, who won the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year award, is reportedly available for trade. The question is, where should the All-NBA First Team honoree end up?
Under head coach Tom Thibodeau, the Chicago Bulls experienced their greatest success of the post-Michael Jordan era. Thibodeau won 64.7 percent of the regular season games he coached, reached the Eastern Conference Finals and made as many postseason appearances in five seasons—five—than Chicago had in the previous 12 before him.
In Chicago’s first season without Thibodeau, it’s 15-11 and searching for answers with clear and apparent chemistry issues.
In order to live up to their potential, the Bulls are exploring the market for potential options via a trade. The assets on the roster are vast, albeit with an uncertainty surrounding which players Gar Forman would actually trade.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Bulls are willing to trade former Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah.
"Executives around the league, and people have told me, that the Bulls are very determined to add a talented wing player..and I’ve been told that the Bulls are open to, whether it’s Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, maybe not both of them, but either of them, if there’s a deal out there that they can bring in the best possible wing player available, they’re open to it. That’s a direction they’re going to go in."
That’s a major development with the potential for landscape-altering repercussions.
Noah was named to the All-NBA First Team and won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2013-14. He’s a two-time All-Star and three-time All-Defensive Team honoree who provides a unique combination of defensive intensity, relentless as a rebounder, and skill as a facilitator from the center position.
In 2015-16, he’s averaging 4.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.9 offensive boards, 3.8 assists and 1.1 blocks in just 22.3 minutes of action. Before you overreact, understand that those numbers translate to per 36 averages of 7.3 points, 14.3 rebounds, 4.7 offensive rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 blocks.
The question is, where would be the best possible location for Noah to get closer to those per 36 statistics in his contract year?
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