The Chicago Bulls will almost certainly be forging ahead without center Joakim Noah for the 2016-17 season and beyond, based on comments he made to teammates, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
“According to a Bulls player, Noah has been telling teammates the last few weeks that he was done with the organization once free agency begins, and ‘has no trust in the front office getting this in the right direction.’
This isn’t good news for Chicago, or its fans.
Not only would the franchise miss Noah’s energy and production, but what’s being exposed here goes far deeper than what Noah himself feels about the organization.
“…there seems to be a complete mistrust that multiple players have toward general manager Gar Forman, with Noah leading the way,” Cowley writes. “According to the player, former coach Tom Thibodeau was always able to shield the players from the front office, having them buy into the idea that it was “us against them.'”
Noah is an unrestricted free agent and should be one of the guys to land a new job in the week following the first free-agent frenzy as teams try and land the top guys like Kevin Durant, Hassan Whiteside and Dwight Howard.
He’s 31 and is coming off his worst statistical season as a pro — one that was cut well short due to injury.
This stance by Noah to abandon ship is a new one. It wasn’t long ago that he said he wanted to come back to the Bulls as a free agent.
One wonders what’s happened between now and then to change his mind so drastically. Whatever it was, Noah doesn’t appear to be coming back, and it might just be one of those “good riddance” decisions, based on this new information.