sportsjabber.net

When my hometown Chicago Bulls drafted Joakim Noah ninth overall that summer night back in 2006, I yelled and cursed at the television. When Noah was a Florida Gator, he was one of my least favorite college basketball players of all time. And he did a lot of things that made a lot of people hate him.
And who could forget during his post national title game interviews; despite the fact that we all knew his French upbringing was as country club as possible. His mother was an international runway model/Miss Sweden 1978 and his father is Yannick Noah, legendary tennis player; and later a huge pop music star in France.

His first couple years in the league Noah was still a bit of a clown and some of his behavior only reaffirmed my initial disgust on Draft night. However, that has all completely changed this year. Not only has he become a star on the court, conditioning his body to add muscle weight, and augment his game in the post, but he’s matured a ton off the court. His game has improved so much that he’s currently one of the small percentage of NBA players who averaging a double double on the season. He’s 5th in the NBA in rebounding and 16th in blocks. His emergence in 2009-10 now makes him the Bulls’ second most valuable player after Derrick Rose.

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by Paul M. Banks