Joakim Noah, four years, $72 million, New York Knicks
https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/852004382522605570
In a summer of bloated contracts, Joakim Noah might be the worst and it might not be that close. He played just 46 games before being shut down with a torn left rotator cuff, in which he averaged 8.2 points and 14.2 rebounds per 36 minutes. Like Deng and Mozgov, the first year of Noah’s contract was supposed to be his best year of the contract.
Noah had a true shooting percentage of 49.5 percent, capping an all-around horrible season offensively. Defensively, where he should have been in his wheelhouse, Noah looked out of his element.
The Knicks — not a stalwart defensive team — were three points per 100 possessions better on the defensive end without Noah on the floor.
On the ever-growing list of Phil Jackson’s failures, Noah is at the top. The Knicks are stuck paying an injury-prone, aging center who’s always relied on his defensive game top dollar for the next three seasons. Defense is the first thing to decline with age, something we saw firsthand in each of the 46 games Noah played this season.
When next year starts, Noah will be 32, and coming off an injury. He’ll be playing in the toxic environment of Madison Square Garden, with God knows who around him. After Phil Jackson’s stunning presser and the fallout surrounding it, anything is in play. The only thing Knicks fans should hope for (other than a new president of basketball operations), is that the team finds a way to offload Noah’s deal.