Nine Reasons to Smile

As individual players are struggling to maintain a somewhat positive reputation, as teams are making last-minute adjustments to their rosters, and as players are stressing whether they'll make a team's roster by the time the season tips off, Joakim Noah has just become worry-free as of today. He is floating on cloud-nine for nine reasons:

1). During the first-round NBA playoffs last year, Noah made derogatory comments to the city of Cleveland. Not that he cares much for the city or anything that may hamper his reputation in general, but he has to be slightly relieved that LeBron James did such a horrible thing to that city this offseason that no one will remember Noah's comments. That was a close one.

2). Aside from the Miami Heat who had an incomparable offseason of any team in NBA history, Chicago made the best moves this offseason. Chicago is on its way up!

3). Last season, Chicago was a mediocre team at best, and in the NBA, mediocre teams don't rely too much on defense. It's the upper echelon teams, like the Lakers, Celtics, and Magic, that rely heavily on defense. As Chicago becomes one of the elite teams in the league, they'll have to focus more on their defense. In this way, more people will be taking notice of Noah, the anchor of Chicago's defense.

4). Similarly to number 3, as Noah's strengths in defense and rebounding shine, many people will forget his offensive inabilities because of newly acquired Carlos Boozer who will do most of the scoring in the paint. We'll soon forget that Noah can't hit a jumper to save his life or that he doesn't really have a post-move that he can recall, ever.

5). Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo Sports has Noah, who is entering only his fourth season in the NBA, as the 7th best center in the league. Quite an accomplishment for him who has been counted out as soon as he entered the league. According to this ranking, he's better than the top of his draft class, Greg Oden. I know that may not be much of an accomplishment given Oden hasn't done much with his short-lived career riddled with injuries, but still - that's something to tell your grandkids.

6). It's probably a good feeling when your team doesn't want to give you up, even for an All-Star caliber player in Carmelo Anthony.

7). This is a stretch. As Chicago starts to raise some eyebrows in the league this year, people will start to take a look at Chicago's 2010 team with Chicago's 1997 team. Of course 97 wins this match in a heartbeat. But just because they're all part of the same franchise, don't think the comparison position by position won't happen. And I can safely bet that Noah has the edge over Luc Longley.

8). The Bulls have lost Boozer for about two months with a broken hand from an at-home injury. More time for Noah to shine before having to share the low-post spotlight with Boozer come December.

9). He just signed a 5-year, $60 million contract with Chicago. I probably could have just written this as evidence that Noah was floating on cloud-9. But I just wanted to see if I could find nine points that were going Noah's way. I guess somehow I found a way.


- Leather Head