Joakim Noah
There’s no better place to start than with New York’s $72 million center. Joakim Noah has been injury-prone, mediocre on defense, and offensively inept. Who saw that coming?!
No one expects Noah to put up big scoring numbers. He didn’t even do that in his prime. But when you’re forcing your team into a 4-on-5 situation on offense you need to be the best defensive player on the floor.
He always was in Chicago. The Knicks paid the former Defensive Player of the Year big money for great defense and great rebounding, and so far they haven’t gotten either one.
https://youtu.be/zk7vkZ3dEXQ
Noah’s averaging his lowest rebound total (8.1) since his second season in the NBA and he’s allowing opponents to shoot 58.3% while defending the rim.
The Knicks are 3-0 without Noah after Wednesday night’s win, and Jeff Hornacek has already shown a willingness to bench his starting center down the stretch. If Noah’s slump continues, he could be moved out of the starting lineup entirely.
