With Joakim Noah’s health in question for the season opener in Miami on October 29, the question poses itself whether or not he should play. Here’s my opinion, he should sit until his groin his 100%. After playing against the Pistons last Wednesday, Noah has been shut down for a week. I believed that playing Noah in the preseason with a nagging groin injury was a bad idea to begin with. He’s a veteran player who has a big contract. It’s important for him to play later in the season where the games actually mean something. We know who Noah is as a player at this point, a few preseason games wasn’t going to change who he is as a player, nor were the preseason games going to make him into a significantly better player.
It’s important for Noah to not only be healthy now, but its more imperative that he’s healthy in March and April when the Bulls are primed to make their playoff run. The Bulls have been conditioned to play each game like its game 7 of the NBA Finals, which is fine, but playing that recklessly throughout the past 3 regular seasons has left the Bulls battered and bruised the last three seasons in the playoffs. Luol Deng being sent to the hospital during the Miami series last year with a spinal tap had to upset management more than Derrick Rose sidelining himself with his torn ACL.
This is where prehaps the rift between management and Bulls coach Thibodeau comes into play. Gar Forman signed Luol Deng to a 6 year contract worth 84 million dollars, yet he’s in the hospital for the biggest games of the year. Forman signs Joakim Noah to a 5 year, 60 million dollar contract, and hasn’t been a model of durability during his time in Chicago, yet Tom Thibodeau is insistent upon playing him with a sore groin in the preseason?
It’s time for Noah to speak up and understand that its more important to save himself for the playoffs and help the Bulls in giving the Miami Heat their best shot then, not necessarily now to begin the season.
This is a personal column on my opinion what the Bulls should do, this doesn’t represent Chicitysports.com as a whole, its owners or posters as a whole. This column just represents my opinion.
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