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| Joakim Noah on draft day |
Coming into the league their was question marks about Noah's maturity, his offensive abilities and if he could ever develop into a serviceable Center and carry a team. Now mid way through his fourth NBA season Noah has elevated his game to the point where he is the second best Center in the NBA.
Its safe to say that Noah's first two seasons in the league were pedestrian at best. In his rookie season he averaged 7 points and 6 rebounds and in year two he averaged 7 points 8 rebounds. Year three is where we saw his scoring rise from 7 points to 11. I understand 11 points is far from great but improvement had been made. This year however is the year Joakim Coming Out Party. In his JCOP, he is averaging 14 points and 12 rebounds while also blocking 2 shots a game.
Noah's 11.7 rebounds have him tied for second with Andrew Bogut for rebounds by a center. So its understandable why all 6 of Andrew Bogut's fans think he is as good as Noah, after all the mighty aussy averages just as many boards as Noah and this is JCOP.
I totally forgot Andrew Bogut is greater than Joakim Noah in every facet of the game...NOT!!! Just because Bougt has the same amount of rebounds does not mean he could hold Noah's tennis racket. Bogut is a solid center, slightly above average due to the fact that there is a lack of good centers in today's NBA. So lets dive deeper in the debate of the Center. And fyi we have already agreed that Dwight Howard is the best, this is just for who can hold his jock when he needs a breather.Record: The teams record is very important when debating these two. The Bulls are currently in second place in the East with a record of 33-14, while the Bucks are 9th with a record of 19-26. Now yes Noah has only played in 24 games due to an injury, but in those 24 games the Bulls were 17-7. Also in those 24 games with Noah the Bulls held their opponents to under 93 points 12 times.
Cast: There is no question that Noah has the better supporting cast. Rose is walking away with the MVP at this point and Carlos Boozer is a 20-10 guy. So figuring that into the equation i would expect Bogut to be scoring more than Noah due to the fact that the Bucks have no real weapons besides Brandon Jennings, who has been hurt all year. But wait NOPE, Bogut averages 13.3 points to Noah's 14. Yea I know that's basically identical but nonetheless Noah is averaging .7 more on a team with more weapons. Rebounds, yea what about them? They both average 11.7, so how can I say that Noah is better? Well look at who Bogut has to contend with for rebounds, Drew Gooden (6.5), Ersan Illyasova (5.9) and thats it. It's real EASY grabbing 12 rebounds a game when no one else on your team is doing much. I mean Bougt is basically playing with post-mortum Heath Ledger's for christ sake.
Your crazy intangibles like "fire" are abstract bullshit concepts without any statistical backing. Joakim Noah has benefited from having one of the best floor generals in basketball and an exceptional rookie head coach who both know how to get him the ball. Bogut has a more versatile offensive game. However, unlike Noah Bogut lacks a suitable set up man to give him the ball and has a sub-par coach who isn't looking for ways to feed his best player. He is severely underused, which explains the fraction of a difference in the ppg average.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of defense. Bogut and Noah are tied for 5th in rebounding so that's a wash. Bogut is also leading the league in blocks with nearly 3 a game (2.8) while Noah ranks 20th in blocks per game with an unimpressive 1.6. So Bogut has to get the slight edge in post defense for his superior ability to block shots.
Honestly I think this is a stupid debate, it's totally uninteresting and there is no definitive way to tell who is better than who because their stats are fairly similar and they have yet to go head-to-head.
Also, it's not just Bogut, Joakim Noah is considered above average because the center position is pretty much dead. Neither of these centers could have been considered elite in the 90s and early 2000s with players like Shaq, Robinson, Olajuwon ect. In fact, If I was starting a franchise and was picking a center and Howard wasn't available I would first look to power forwards like Pau, Love, Stoudemire, and Zach Randolph before I would be either of these players.
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