Joakim Noah of Chicago Bulls happy with the extra minutes on court – NBA Update
With Derrick Rose out injured for nearly half of the season, it was always expected that the load will fall on the likes of Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. Now that we are nearly one quarter of the way inside the season, it has become a sort of custom. There have been many voices in Chicago silently criticizing the over use of these players, but coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t seems to be bothered about it. One, he has no choice but to rely on his dependable players and keep the record good and secondly the players in the discussion are super fit.
Noah is currently being afforded 40.1 minutes per game, second only to Deng on the Chicago roster. There hasn’t been a big except for San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan, who has ever averaged more minutes than Noah, currently 27. While many people can argue that playing your primary big man for so many minutes day in and day out can be risky, Coach Thibs believes that it depend on whom you are dealing with;
"Depends on who they are," Thibodeau said. "If you look at a guy like Duncan, he probably could've played the whole game. Wilt (Chamberlain) wasn't bad playing a lot of minutes. Depends on the body type. (Kevin) Garnett was a huge minute guy, and it never bothered him. (LaMarcus) Aldridge is playing big minutes. You have a lot of guys who can handle it. You look at the conditioning component, how guys are taking care of themselves year-round."
The player himself doesn’t seem bothered. In fact, he is enjoying the extra responsibility and has been a pivotal force behind the 12-9 record.
"I'm enjoying it," Noah said after practice Friday. "As a player, you want to be out there. You don't really ask to get subbed out."
And the player certainly has number to prove his statement. The fifth year centre has so far averaged 13.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.3 blocks – all well above his career figures. He has so far had 10 double-doubles, including a 30 point, 23 rebound, 6 assist career night against the Detroit Pistons on Dec.7
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