The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
by Yaron Weitzman / @YaronWeitzman
Joakim Noah’s teams have always exceeded expectations. The 2006 and 2007 champion Florida Gators. The 2009 Bulls that took the defending champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round of the Playoffs. Last year’s Bulls team that shocked everyone by winning 62 games, and making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Even international teams have reaped the benefits of having basketball’s Fabio on their side, with France, after having Noah join its national team this offseason, winning enough games to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2000. Over this time period a pattern has developed.
The question is how and why?
Why do Noah’s teams constantly get overlooked? Why are Noah’s teams always getting to points that no one thought they could?
The obvious answers here would include every basketball cliché. Noah is a hustler and a great role player. He brings intangibles to his teams that don’t get counted in box scores, and therefore, don’t get factored into projections. He’s a great defender, and defense wins Championships.
Each of these statements is true, and they all represent examples of what Noah is able to contribute to his teams. But they also just tap into the surface of Noah as a basketball player, and stopping at them would ignore the many unique and elite abilities that the Bulls center has.
Noah is not a great scorer. With a scoring average of 11.7 ppg, the second lowest ppg average of anyone this list—trailing only Rajon Rondo—you could say that he’s not even a good scorer. (Although I will remind you that in the 24 games he played last season before undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his right thumb, Noah was averaging 14 ppg.) But the list of things on a court that Noah doesn’t do well ends at scoring, and his deficiency in this area does not prevent him from making the Bulls a better offensive team.
How?
For starters, Noah is one of the best passing big men in the League, and does an excellent job of catching and distributing the ball from the high post and paint. This is an extremely dangerous weapon that can open up all sorts of possibilities for an offense, and is a skill that most big men don’t posses. Duncan, the Gasols, Dirk; I’m sure I’m forgetting a few names, but this list, which includes Noah, is certainly not a long one.
The other way Noah helps his team on offense is by rebounding. A lot. Not only does this give his team additional possessions, but it also forces opponents to alter their defensive schemes. And what Noah has, which almost every other great offensive rebounder doesn’t have, is the athleticism and speed to get back on defense after crashing the offensive glass. Teams are almost never good at both offense and defensive rebounding. Noah allows the Bulls to excel in both, and is one of the only players in the NBA who could have this effect.
The same thing can be said for what Noah’s does on the defensive end, where he plays the Kevin Garnett role in Tom Thibodeau defense. Like a younger Garnett, the 6-11 center has the quickness to switch on to guards, the athleticism to hedge and recover on picks, and the height and shot blocking ability to alter shots in the paint.
Proficiency in these areas is usually explained through words like “hustle” and “determination,” and with phrases like “Noah just wanted it more.” But just because a player is not a scorer, doesn’t mean everything he does can be chalked up to “hustle.” Just because a player helps a team in areas other than scoring doesn’t make that player a “role player.” Noah is not a “role player.” The things that he does—elite defense, rebounding, passing, the ability to help an offense without the ball—are influential skills that should be lauded.
The sooner we start recognizing these skills, the sooner we’ll stop being shocked by what Noah’s teams do on the court.
| SLAMonline Top 50 Players 2011 | ||||
| Rank | Player | Team | Position | Pos. Rank |
| 50 | Luol Deng | Bulls | SF | 8 |
| 49 | Andrew Bogut | Bucks | C | 7 |
| 48 | Ray Allen | Celtics | SG | 9 |
| 47 | Marc Gasol | Grizzlies | C | 6 |
| 46 | David West | Hornets | PF | 15 |
| 45 | Kevin Martin | Rockets | SG | 8 |
| 44 | Andrew Bynum | Lakers | C | 5 |
| 43 | Brandon Jennings | Bucks | PG | 11 |
| 42 | Lamar Odom | Lakers | PF | 14 |
| 41 | Gerald Wallace | Blazers | SF | 7 |
| 40 | Brook Lopez | Nets | C | 4 |
| 39 | Joakim Noah | Bulls | C | 3 |
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’11-12 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Maurice Bobb, Shannon Booher, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Jon Jaques, Eldon Khorshidi, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Quinn Peterson, Dave Schnur, Abe Schwadron, Dan Shapiro, Irv Soonachan, Todd Spehr, Tzvi Twersky, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Ben York.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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I thought this write-up did a good job of why Noah’s so valuable.
I’d also add he’s a pretty good shotblocker and an underrated ballhandler.
It’s not unusual to see Noah, after a defensive rebound, lead a fast break.
How many 6’11” cats can do that?
I do have gripes with him though. The last two seasons he would’ve been an all-star had it not been for his injuries.
You can’t really fault him for that though, I mean dude even played injured for about a month after messing up his thumb until the team made him get surgery.
Other players (*cough* Carlos Boozer *cough*) woulda just taken a month or two off right after hurting the thumb.
Of course he could be a better scorer. He may never be a great post scorer, but last year pre-injury he had some nice hook shots and a nice little ten-foot J (with that horrible jumpshot).
But my other gripe with him, and this is nitpicking at this point, is I just wish dude was tougher.
I mean, he’ll yell and scream after a big play and all that good stuff, but he lets himself, and his teammates, get punked and pushed around by other teams’ enforcers way too often.
It probably will never happen cause you are who you are, but I’d love to see Noah develop a mean streak. I’d love to see him go after dudes after they deliver a hard foul to Rose.
Get in their faces, push them, do something!
I realize in today’s NBA that’ll get you a tech or even ejected, but F it, it would be worth it.
Can’t believe he was the first center on this list!!
Slam must really expect him to decline this year, and everybody else to have good years.
I don’t see it. Dude is going to be a lot healthier. Last year I was down on the Bucks because of his injury, this year I think they will improve a LOT because he will feel a lot better, and Jennings should be finally understanding what he needs to do to get buckets. And they got rid of Salmons, who could not co-exist on a team with Maggette.
Basically, the Bucks sucked last year because their best player was hobbled, their second best player still doesn’t understand his role, and they had two bonafide gunners who play questionable defense.
Now that’s all improved. I expect them to be 6th or 7th.
They can theoretically start, Jennings, Stack Jack, Ersan, Luc, and Bogut.
That has the potential to be an awesome defensive team. Or they can start Larry Sanders at the four and bring Ersan off the bench.
Either way, they have four or five legit defenders on that team, and two of them can get buckets as well in Bogut and Jackson. They should move up to potentially the five spot with that lineup.
Really like that starting 5, gonna start an association with them in 2k12 lol.
Quietly, they have a very competitive team right now if it all comes together correctly. Missing a training camp is going to hurt them though.
And they sucked.
Sorry, that’s just the Bulls fan in me hating on a Central Division rival.
Carry on…
I don’t know if Noah is better than Bogut & Marc gasol at the moment, I think he isn’t, but he’s made a lot of improvement (FT, screens… I’m French and I liked what he did in these two compartiments in the Eurobasket) and he’s certainly one of the toughest centers behind Dwight (maybe Nene & Ibaka too) now. He struggles a lot offensively though.
His spot in the ranking seems quite good to me. But the spot of other centers isn’t.
You say Noah deserves to be ranked the second best center over Bogut, because Bogut has been injured too much?
You do realize Noah has been battling injuries as well, right?
Noah also has consistency issues. I’m a die hard Bulls fan. Ask any regular on here, they’ll tell you.
And despite my die-hard fanaticism dating back to before the Bulls ever won a title, it’s still unfathomable to me that anyone thinks Joakim Noah is the second best center in the NBA right now.
He certainly could be.
But despite Bogut’s injuries he has still performed either at the same or higher level both defensively, and definitely offensively than Noah has….
”kid”.
Noah, while he did suffer some injuries, isn’t really “injury prone.” They were more freak injuries than anything.
The Brook Lopez thing is still giggly though. 82 games of Lopez does not bring the impact that 60 games of Bynum and Bogut brings.
Monta will be on this list.
2 Dwight
3 Wade
4 Rose
5 Kobe
6 Durant
7 Paul
8 Melo
9 Deron
10 Dirk
11 Westbrook
12 Monta
13 Wall
14 Stoudemire
15 Griffin
16 Gasol
17 Aldridge
18 Rondo
19 Randolph
20 Love
21 Gordon
22 Curry
23 Tyreke
24 Nash
25 Manu
26 Joe
27 Rudy
28 Bosh
29 Pierce
30 Jefferson
31 Garnett
32 Scola
33 Josh
34 Granger
35 Tony
36 Lee
37 Felton
Word?
Check my link, kid. Click on my name. Look me up. Search the archives for “Enigmatic” and tell me I’m not a Bulls fan.
But what I am ALSO is a realist.
I love Noah, check my first comment on here for f*cks sake.
But I refuse to be that guy who thinks his teams’ players are the best and can do no wrong.
My loyalty is to the hometown team first and foremost, not the players (call me the anti-AllenP in that regard)
But Enig. not a true bulls fan ? GTFOH
& Reds argument is weak
only thing Noah has on Bogut is hustle & heart , thats it
dude trippin .. smh
So you’ll derail our Center who is an All-Star caliber to compliment a injury ridden Center who hasn’t performed consistently? Ok you’re a real “fan”. —————————————————- nbk Posted: Sep.27 at 4:19 pm
Bogut just led the league in blocks, played in 17 more games then Noah. Averaged more rebounds, the same amount of assits and more points. Red you need to know what your talking about before you comment
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