This is interesting if true. If Noah brought his mind and A+ effort every game, he'd average 17 rebounds. Maybe he's like Rondo and becomes a different guy on national TV.
Noah is no doubt one of the top 5 centers in the NBA. But the best? Not by a long shot. He is the working mans center. The salt of the earth. He would benefit any team and Chicago will not let him go.
That old Noah - Horford gators frontcourt will troll opposing NBA frontcourts hard if they were ever to be reunited.
If you're just talking this season then I'd take Marc Gasol easily over Joakim Noah. If you're talking the past couple of years then DH obviously comes to mind, and if you're talking in the next 2-5 years then I'd say Drummond and Anthony Davis would like to have a word with you as well. I mean, Greg Monroe has been playing way better than him ever since he entered the league, and I think his production's comparable to Asik, it's just that he's playing in the LEASTern conference and Asik's matching wits with the best in the west.
Duncan still get matched up quite a bit against the opponents' power forwards, so I'll leave him out of the centers discussion. No center, this season have separated himself from the top heap which includes M Gasol, Dwight, Noah, and Horford (Varejao, before he got injured, was having a heckuva season and projected to be among this group). These guys have won around 60+% of their head to head match against other centers, followed by the likes of Chandler, Garnett, and Jefferson etc...
Heck, we've seen Omer Asik tear Noah up this season, last game they played Asik had 20 points and 18 rebounds to Noah's 8 points and 9 rebounds on Chicago's home court. Noah is pretty much a 10 and 10 guy (11 and 11 more accurately), not the best center in the NBA. Otherwise Asik is right there beneath him this season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
lol. This is one of those posters who didn't read the OP, and decided to just post out of his butt. What's Shaq got to do with this discussion, at all? And Noah is a good C, but unless an semblance of an offensive game develops, he won't be the best C in the league.
I'm not arguing that Noah is the best center, and the fact that Noah is int he discussion for the best center in the league itself just tells the sad state of center position in the league. However, I think your statement about Noah lacking "an resemblance of an offensive game" is just wrong. Noah is one of the better offensive centers in the league. He passes the ball extremely well and can even handle the ball a bit. He is an above average FT shooter for any position. Sure he doesn't have a great traditional back-to-the-basket game but that does not mean he is not a good offensive player.
I don't know about Gasol EASILY over Noah, I'm talking about just this year. No, Monroe is not a better center than Noah is and I doubt he ever even will be considering that he'll play PF for most of his career and is likely not going to ever have the defensive impact on a game that Noah has. I know we joke about the East but the truth is the 8th seed of the East and the 8th seed of the west are right by each other record wise. It's just that the bottom teams are really bad.
