With injuries, a drug suspension, and ineffective play, it’s safe to say that Joakim Noah’s first season with the New York Knicks did not go according to plan. Noah iss all too aware of that. Speaking on “The Truth Barrel” podcast, Noah also expressed regret that his poor play helped get Phil Jackson fired.
“It’s tough, man, because I got a lot of love and respect for Phil,’’ Noah said on the podcast, per Marc Berman, of the New York Post. “He gave me an opportunity to play back home. Somebody I read all his books as a kid. I was just a big fan and still am. I have a lot of respect for him. It didn’t work out. That sucks. It’s something I have to live with. He believed in me, and I kind of let him down. That’s frustrating. He got a lot of blame that it was his fault. But we didn’t lose all those games because of Phil Jackson.’’
Support for Jackson isn’t something that we’ve heard a lot of. His tenure as New York’s president was widely criticized, and aside from Tyson Chandler, essentially all of the talk since his dismissal has been negative.
Really, the fact that Noah was brought in and expected to play a big role (he started in all 46 games that he played) helps spotlight Jackson’s failure.
Noah was a player whose career was obviously in decline. The tape showed that. The numbers showed that. It was apparent. In order for his signing to be worthwhile as a starter, he would have had to have found the fountain of youth and gone back at least three years.
Obviously that didn’t happen. The suspension and injuries only exacerbated the situation.
Though, Noah is right, to a degree. Jackson wasn’t on the court. He wasn’t missing shots or failing to grab rebounds.
But he put brought the team together that did. Noah can blame himself for the suspension. But in reality, his decline is just something that happens to every athlete. Jackson should have done a better job realizing that Noah wasn’t the player that he once was and brought him in for a different role, or not at all. The only man who deserves blame for that is Jackson.