Joakim Noah really never has done what he was supposed to do, or at least what we think a person in his position or like him would or should do. Which is also why Noah Sunday will make his second straight All-Star appearance for the Eastern Conference team in the annual NBA All-Star game. Suddenly, Noah, the man in the unconventional suit at draft day, is a veteran star with just five of the 12 Eastern Conference All-Stars having been in more All-Star games than Noah. The iconoclast goes mainstream? Well, at least on paper. People cant put me in category, says Noah, the insouciant free spirit who is more thinker and intellectual than youd imagine, the rebel who delights in order and discipline. I love the fact my image as a person is the way I feel about things. Its been a spirited and surprising NBA trip for Noah from the free thinking collegiate humanist and NCAA champion to the too skinny, too unskilled, too brazen kid who was so defiant he was suspended by his own teammates. The famously outgoing free spirit brooded and hid from the public and media. Eventually Noah would emerge from his angry shell to be a contributing, if imperfect, part of a developing Bulls team behind Derrick Rose and Luol Deng. But with both now gone, Rose again to injury and Deng traded, Noah has emerged not only as the unquestioned leader of the Bulls, but as a true star, one of five players in franchise history to record at least four triple-doubles and tied for third most in the NBA the last three years. Noah is one of just 10 NBA players who average a double-double, the leagues best passing center and the heart and soul of a Bulls team that again despite the odds is making a strong playoff run. Theres little doubt anywhere and from anyone that Joakim Noah is a true and deserving All-Star. But that Noah may be the most unlikely of all veteran All-Stars seems certain as well. No one perhaps in the entire NBA had star written on him less than Joakim Noah. Sure, many others grew up amongst grinding hardships that extended the odds against any sort of success. Noah hardly did, the son of famous and wealthy parents, a professional tennis grand slam winner and an international beauty queen. But when Dwight Howard first encountered Noah they were both at the famed Adidas ABCD basketball camp, Howard a star and Noah handing out towels. Noah only got to attend because his coach and mentor, Tyrone Green, was a security guard at the camp. Noah slept on the floor in his room. And while Noahs mother and sister spent the summers in Paris, Noah stayed on Greens couch so he could play around the New York City summer leagues and AAU team, where he mostly was 12th man on teams with playground legends like Lenny Cooke. You have DJ Kool, rappers coming to your games. His girlfriend is Foxy Brown. This is crazy, laughs Noah about those days. Hes in music videos and hes in high school. Im in eighth grade. At ABCD hes MVP. Everyones saying hes going to the NBA, hes got shoe contracts. I wanted to be Lenny. Everybody did. But he really messed up, got caught up with (bad) agents and people trying to get to him. I was able to see that. To this day, says Noah, who remains close with Cooke and was executive producer on the new documentary about Cooke and his struggles. I have that and see not only the good things but the bad. So you think about the criticisms and the hype and how he failed. For me it was huge. I always give Lenny credit in a way because if not for seeing how he messed up I dont think Id be where am today. Its also why no one should ever try to change Noahs shot, his side spinning tornado. I always shot that way, says Noah. Everybody always tried to change it. Im very stubborn. That same recalcitrance clearly kept Noah from quitting or trying something else when everyone laughed and ignored him and pretty much humored Frenchie, as they called the skinny kid with the cute accent who often sat and watched from the stands. Its the same headstrong determination that made Noah an NBA All-Star, less for how he looks when he plays than what he does when he plays, like the triple doubles from this season, the amazing triple double last season with 11 blocks and practically carrying the Bulls to victory in the thrilling seventh game against the Nets last April, stealing the ball from Paul Pierce and going full court for a dunk to wrap up the memorable triple overtime game in the 2009 playoffs and for the defiance against the best, challenging LeBron James behavior in Cleveland, calling out his former hero, Kevin Garnett, when others would not. Hes a rich kid who refused to be spoiled, a rebellious kid who sought order. What you see is what you get, but hardly what you know. Hes a contradiction in appearance more than reality. He has the strong values of work, concern and commitment that perhaps as much as any define his Bulls team. Hell never be the star that was Michael Jordan. But he is one of the classic elements for the origin of a great basketball team. You need the gold of the Jordan and perhaps the iron of a Pippen. But theres a need for the oxygen that helps enable it to function, the substance in Noahs game from his rebounding and passing to his energy and effort, this remarkable alchemy that can produce that wonderful result. You may not come to watch Noah, but you leave talking about him. You may not wish for Noah to represent your team, though you love that he would define it. You may not have sought out Noah, but you have to be glad the Bulls found him. What Im most proud of is I never was a top recruit, says Noah. I feel like a lot of these kids are pampered by the process. So much is given to them at an early age in their growing years when your mind and your body are at different levels. All of this is given to you, you are pampered and they all think there will be money along the way. It messes with your mind, makes you softer. I never had that. To me, I always wanted to show that even though I came from a place where a lot was given to me I wouldnt let that dictate who I was as a player and a person. No shortcuts, says Noah. Its a philosophy that led to being an NBA All-Star, but has made him a much better person. Noah was born in New York City, the son of something of an international royal couple, father Yannick a French hero for his French Open win and leading their Davis Cup team and his mother, Cecilia Rodhe, Miss Sweden. His parents divorced when he was three. But his mother moved the kids-Noahs sister, Yelena, is a top fashion model-to France so they could be close to their father as well. Joakim began playing basketball when he was eight years old, more a passion and escape than a calling. Its tough being the son of the countrys most famous sports star. And then the countrys most famous singer. Jo wanted no part of it. I actually was pretty small, Noah says. I just loved the game. I never played tennis. My father always wanted me to do something, but he never pushed me into anything. For some reason, every time I picked up a racquet I didnt like the feel, the vibe, people comparing me to my father, people watching all the time, the comments. I didnt feel comfortable. So I picked up basketball. Its easy enough to figure the reason without psychology classes. If not seeming destined for athletics, Noah was intent on independence, being a figure and not a shadow. You could always tell he danced to the sound of his own music without any headphones. And while life can be more comfortable being the offspring of a sporting star, the inevitable comparisons are generally not kind. Greatness generally skips more than one generation. But Noah found his passion in basketball. He didnt excel. He merely enjoyed. His allegiance was to his native Knicks and he was up at 4 a.m. in France to watch the Knicks in the Finals in 1994. When he was 13, his mother moved Noah and his sister back to New York. They settled in the upper West Side Hells Kitchen neighborhood, which sounds worse than it was. Its the area west of the Broadway theaters toward the Hudson River, indeed grimy and a touch of earthiness, which Noah embraced. He still went to good schools with his fathers wealth, and had some connections. His father and Patrick Ewing were represented by the same agent and he attended summer basketball camps with the younger Ewing. Jo was a scrawny point guard shooting threes. I could do it all a little bit but was always frail, Noah recalls. I felt I was pretty skilled. I always had that weird jumper. People were always talking about it. I shot a lot of threes. Jo said he believed he was doing OK in France, and then he got to New York. The kids were just too good. But Jo just loved to play, every day at the local Police Athletic League. The housing projects were close and the competition was fierce. Noah was befriended by the director, whom he still calls Mr. (Tyrone) Green, and who saw something in the awkward French kid. Jo was in eighth grade, not even six foot and 150 pounds. But the coach and playground director liked the way the French kid played. No dunking or great shooting or passing, but that relentless drive, perhaps as much a crusade to show he wasnt just the rich kid. Everyone knew who his dad was. He liked the way I competed, always working hard, recalled Noah. Harder than everyone else. It came from Yannick, Pops, as Jo calls him, and Yannicks father, a pro soccer player in Cameroon who was a factory worker by day. I saw how my father worked as a professional athlete, says Noah. He didnt have a great backhand, not a great forehand. He played with a lot of fire. Unorthodox, and people say the same thing about me. Im proud of that. He was a worker. I dont think I had choice, said Jo. He was always jogging and finishing his jogs with hard sprints, always getting into the red, practicing tired to go that extra mile. In his generation, he was one of the first to lift weights. So these things came normal to me. But I did always want to show people even though, yeah, I came from a great background and yeah, I was never hungry, never poor, I always wanted to make my family proud. There was always that blue collar background in my family. Even my name, Noahbikie, in Cameroon means Man of Iron. So school would end and off his mom and sister would go to Paris and travel and Mr. Green told Jo: You want to be something in basketball, youve got to spend the summers in New York going to the big tournaments. So Jo went to Queens, slept on the couch, and they traveled the city, where nothing was promised but competition. I played in every tournament, worked on my game, recalls Noah. Green worked security at the big summer ABCD camp, so Jo got in. Not to play, but basically as a ball boy. He never talked about it, in part because it seemed so outlandish. But he felt he could be an NBA player. It was my dream, Noah admits. People tell you they have a Plan B. Dont believe it. No one does. Everything I did was so I could play basketball. Though it seemed farther and farther away. After all, Jo still liked to have fun. He went to the best schools still, and got kicked out of them, too. He got thrown out of the United Nations high school as a sophomore. Hanging out with the wrong people, he agrees. Rarely going to school. Its why I give my mother a lot of credit. I know what I put her through when I was 15, 16, a single mother living in New York. Noah got left back and moved on to Poly Prep in Brooklyn. Its when things changed for me, recalls Noah. I felt like I got a second chance, Noah says. Not a lot of people get second chances. I went to three high schools. But I always say Poly Prep when Im asked (Noah has endowed scholarships at Poly Prep and funds for PAL programs). The principal (Bud Cox) there showed me love, tough love, said Noah. Every day he was on me, always talking to me, showing a special interest. It gave me confidence. The coach, Billy McNally, was very much like Thibs, so into it. Even if I had 20 minutes between classes hed have me doing drills instead of chasing girls. When he got me on the court he knew I was going to give 150 percent. Jo was a center, maybe 6-8 and 150, still shooting some threes, spinning the ball up there. But chasing down everything. He wore a Penny Hardaway jersey; he loved watching and imitating Kevin Garnett. He was fascinated by Vlade Divac. Jo couldnt get on the big AAU team, the Jaguars, so he was with the Panthers. Though hed eventually find the great Cooke, by some rating services the top prep player in the nation at the time. They were close, but Jo would play the garbage minutes. I aspired to be Lenny, Noah said. Id be going in the game, but hed always be waving me back to the bench. Playing on the B team, they dont drive you home, Jo offered with a laugh, Theyd drop you off at the Queens subway station. But Jo began to get in the games and he was holding his own against the kids with the scholarships, the kids going to Syracuse and Connecticut and St. Johns. Noah got a scholarship to Florida, and it started all over again as he barely played as a freshman. But he worked. Then came a championship as a sophomore and everyone saying Noah should go to the NBA. But he loved college too much and stayed. Im so proud of that, he says. I had a blast. I learned so much about myself, with expectations, to deal with criticism, what people say about you as a person and a player and its what you want out of it. Its always that. People cant put me in a category. I did it my way. And then Chicago wasnt so friendly. Being booed by fans, suspended by teammates, again not ready to matriculate, frustrations boiling over that eventually came flowing out in that memorable overtime filled playoff series against the Celtics. Noah says he still gets goose bumps thinking and talking about. And you get goose bumps listening to Noah, his soliloquy after Deng was traded on why he plays and who he plays for, the guy selling the newspapers, the fans in the upper deck, was one of the most heartfelt and poignant ever articulated by a Chicago athlete. Really most any athlete. I love its never, ever been easy, said Noah about not only his Bulls career but his basketball life. Im feeling hungrier than ever and just really enjoying it. It means a lot to be an All-Star. I appreciate all the Bulls fans coming to support us, coming to games. I want to go out there and represent all you guys. Chicago cant be prouder.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 21:00:04 +0000
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