Here's a status report on Joakim Noah's shoulder from the Tribune:



So he won't be fully healthy all season? What was the point of rejecting surgery as an option, then? Isn't it likely he's going to have to have surgery at some point? I find the thought process on Noah's shoulder confusing and frustrating, to say the least.

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Hes not helping us win a championship this year, and isnt he supposed to be the long term replacement for Ben Wallace? I think they should do the surgery, whatever needed to get him 100% healthy for the long term future.

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It is good to know that we have the undersized post player without the ability to score on anything but hustle plays locked down for the next 5 years. Look out Western Conference, you no longer are the dominant side of the NBA.

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Im not crazy about the pick but Paxson is a pretty good drafter and if he can have even close to the career Wallace has had it would be a great pick. I didnt really like too many of the guys still on the board at the time anyway.

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Noah was the third best player on Florida last year. He is an energy guy and nothing more and will be nothing more than a role player. If you surround him with superstars like Wallace had in Detroit then he is serviceable but I would have rather taken the chance that Spencer Hawes ends up being a post player that you can dump the ball into and he can score rather then Joakim Noah who had one good run in the NCAA tournament and would have been the number one pick.

His draft stock dropped heavily for a reason. Oden and Durant would obviously have knocked him to third but there is a reason that he fell from there.

There was no pick, but potentially Hawes could have been a difference maker for the Bulls and give them something they don't currently have. Noah gives us double of something that you only need one of.

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I really didnt want Spencer Hawes, I dont see him being a major contributor to any team at any point, but obviously thats just my opinion, many disagree. I just dont think you can definitively say Noah wont be any better than a role player. I see why you would think that, and you may very possibly be right, but I think paxson overall knows what he is doing and we should wait and see. I dont buy the whole "draft stock plummeting" argument for the simple reason that moreso than any other sport, NBA GM's are really stupid. Gilbert Arenas was drafted in the second round, he turned out alright.

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Joakim Noah was a role player at Florida. He got a lot of minutes and was an important part of the team as many role players are.

I don't see what he has ever done to show that he is anything more than a role player, besides possibly his play during Florida's first championship which was admittedly very impressive.

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John paxson has a history of not drafting individual stars, but of drafting players from Kansas, Duke, UConn, all the really big time successful college programs. The players he likes to draft from those really successful schools are players that play well in a system, work harder than most others at their position, play good defense, dont have an ego, and moreso than anything else want to win. Ben Gordon doesnt play great defense yet, but hes improving and he displays the other qualities. Noah fits every single category and I think he will be much better than you are even allowing he possibly could be. I doubt he will ever make an All Star team, maybe 1 or 2 if that, but I dont know if looking back 3 years from now we will regret the pick, which you are implying we will. Moreso than anything else I am banking on the fact that alot of NBA GM's are idiots, Paxson seems to be one of the top 5 or 6 GM's in the NBA, so I think we should just wait and see what happens.

Noah wasnt a superstar, but saying he was a role player at Florida is a big understatement.

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Hustle, rebounding, defense and energy are the hallmarks of a big man role player. He was definately the third best player on the team and there is an argument hat he was actually the fourth best.

Having a player like that is not a bad thing when you don't already have the exact same player signed for the next four years. Either the Ben Wallace signing was a bad move or this draft pick was a bad move since one of them can't play big minutes. I am scared to see what a team would do to a lineup of Ben Wallace and Joakim Noah.

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OK So Ben Wallace was a role player in the Pistons win over the Lakers?

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I love you more than words can tell
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Ben Wallace is a great player to have and can turn a very good team to great but he wasn't the best player on his team in that series, and may not have been the second best. If you put him on a team with three other all star caliber players then he becomes an incredibly valuable commodity but you can't build your team around him or count on him to win games for you.

Ben Wallace was great for Detroit and was able to move from role player to important player in Detroit but I wouldn't hold my breath that any player currently in the league will find himself in the perfect situation with the perfect skills to do that.

Ben Wallace wasn't a role player in that series, but he was the exception and not the rule.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!