Joakim Noah

Sam Smith

It's officially over for Joakim Noah now, but it's also just the beginning.

"My days are great," Joakim Noah was saying before Thursday night's game with the New York Knicks. "A lot less anxiety. I sleep a lot better. I'm getting married this summer; I'm really excited about that. I take my kids to school. It's a slower pace. But I love it. I have a lot of things, I have a lot of purpose. I work with my foundation. I'm really excited to be able to come back to Chicago and do some things to help here. Work with the Bulls on some initiatives to do well here. Do some things for the kids. I'm working closely with NBA Africa as well, watching the development of basketball over on the continent, working with Luol (Deng). And that's something I'm really proud of as well. So I feel like basketball, especially the Bulls, have given me an unbelievable platform, and now I'm able to move to the next step."

And knowing Joakim Noah you know he's going to do it with pride, passion and purpose.

The one time Defensive Player of the Year and multiple Bulls All-Star who played nine seasons with the Bulls was welcomed back Thursday for an unofficial retirement ceremony, Noah a Bull-for-a-day to retire as a Bull and named an ambassador for the team.

The Bulls played tributes to Noah during the game, invited in former teammates and made sure the game was against the Knicks, featuring former coach Tom Thibodeau and teammates Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson.

Thabo Sefolosha came from Switzerland and Noah's dad from Africa. Other former Bulls who came to support and honor Noah included Deng, Carlos Boozer, Brad Miller, Kirk Hinrich, Keith Bogans, Rick Brunson, Aaron Gray, Nazr Mohammed, Ed Pinckney, Kurt Thomas, Ben Gordon, Mike Dunleavy, Brian Scalabrine, Omer Asik, Bobby Portis, Randy Brown, Pete Myers, Cliff Levingston and Artis Gilmore.

"It's very special to be able to share this with my old teammates and my family and have some closure and just appreciate the great memories," Noah said. "It's just a great feeling just to see my dad with a smile on his face, my mom with a smile on her face and my kids. My kids didn't get to see me play here, and these were really special times, so I'm just really happy (to have) a moment."

The Bulls had a dinner for Noah, friends and family Wednesday and celebration with some 20,000 Thursday.

Joakim Noah was honored for his retirement at the United Center on Thursday night against the Knicks.

The often insouciant Noah met with reporters before the game wearing a rainbow bucket hat and purple shirt. Still modest compared to his draft day seersucker tuxedo outfit. But nothing about Noah's memories are routine.

"Obviously, I miss the competition and I miss the locker room," said Noah. "But when your body tells you it's time to go, it's time to go. So you have to be honest with yourself. I shot every bullet in my gun and I have no regrets. I gave it everything I got. And you know what, yesterday it felt great to just spend some time with teammates I hadn't seen in a long time, and I feel like that is what it's all about. Being able to talk about the memories and the good times, the hard times.

"I look at Kirk Hinrich's face and right away I was thinking about Game 2 in the Celtics series," Noah recalled about the classic seven gamer in 2009. "I messed up an assignment on a switch and Ray Allen hit the three, and we talked about it (Wednesday) and I swear I had tears in my eyes just talking to him about it because that's how much I cared about him. You know, I was like, 'Damn, I let Cap down.' So many guys I just think about moments like that where you have so much respect for somebody that, you're teammates, and it was just like I just didn't want to let him down. I haven't spoke to Cap in a long time and it was just like so many really dope moments."

Kirk Hinrich and Joakim Noah together at an alumni event the night before Chicago's game against the Knicks.

Like in the second quarter Thursday when Noah was introduced to a standing ovation, Rose and Gibson on the floor with a gestures of admiration and respect.

"It's great, man, coming back," Rose said earlier in the day after Knicks practice. "Me and Joakim's relationship has always been pretty tight, pretty close. To see him get celebrated tonight, that's huge. A lot of my friends, I wasn't their favorite player when we played. It was Joakim. For him, everything that he gave to this franchise, the way that he gave his all to the game, it means a lot. I'm happy to be here tonight to celebrate it. Knowing that it's deeper than basketball. Our families are pretty close. My mom and his mom. Even in New York, everything that I do is based around like his friends helping out, his family helping out, his best friend Matt is always around. My daughter and his daughter are best friends now. It came full circle. It's crazy that I'm in New York now where he grew up. It's perfect."

Not that Noah is going to remain idle, but he's not coming back to the sidelines.

"I don't mess with coaches," said Noah, who wasn't always the easiest to coach, if also always a favorite for the way he competed. "Coach (Billy) Donovan is like a father figure to me. To be a coach you have to be a little bit sick. When you're not feeling it you have to motivate a group of men to go out there and get the job done, and that's a tough job. It's never something I was attracted to. I was more interested with working with kids and things of that nature. At the pro level, it's too hard, because the business, there's too much other things going on that I'm not really interested in. "Thibs?" Noah responded to a question with a laugh. "Yeah, he's sick for sure. But I love him. I love him and it's great to be here today for this game because Thibs and Coach Donovan are two father figures to me, two guys I learned a lot from. Thibs would always tell me, ‘You have your house in order?' When Thibs became the head coach, I was probably the guy who spent the most time with him. We worked out every day and those workouts were probably the hardest workouts of my life. I've never been so prepared and he'd always ask me, ‘Do you have your house in order?' I didn't know what that meant at the time, and now that I'm done, I understand what that means now. It's something that resonates to me every day. Do you have your house in order? I think about my wife, about my kids, about what I can do for them. There are a lot of life lessons in basketball. Coach Donovan would always tell me live in the moment, live in the moment, next play, next play. It's just another life lesson I carry in my life. A lot of lessons. When things were great, just never get too high, never get too low and that was always my problem. My problem is always like I couldn't sleep after wins, I was always too excited. And when we lost I would get depressed. I was an emotional roller coaster. I have a little more stability now with that part of my life. But emotionally, it was a lot. Especially today, I'm seeing a lot of familiar faces, people that I shared a lot of special times with. Stay in the moment, don't get caught up in what's going to happen next. Those are two messages I carry from my coaches."

Tom Thibodeau and Joakim Noah as members of the Chicago Bulls.

Having seen Noah play you know he left everything on the court.

"I'm somebody who had some really good moments in the NBA; I'm also someone who had some really low moments in the NBA," Noah acknowledged. "I've been really happy, I've been very embarrassed. I felt a lot of emotions in this game."

Though there is a bit of a void, that elusive championship he came closest to with Rose in his prime.

"I really wanted to win a championship," said Noah. "That's why I played the game. I think that I realized later on I was chasing something that it didn't make sense anymore, the sacrifice that goes into being a champion. I didn't feel it the same. It was harder when my daughter was born (five years ago) and when my son was born. I wasn't ready to make those sacrifices anymore the same way that I was when I was playing with the Bulls. When that happened, when I felt that way, then I knew it was time to get away and that (2020 season) bubble, too; that bubble sucked. You guys can have that."

"The energy of this place (United Center) brought out a crazy side of me," Noah admitted. "There were times in this building where I didn't feel my legs when I was running up and down the court. That's how hype I was, and you can't replicate those feelings in anything else in life. That kind of of adrenaline. Even just driving on Ogden right now and making that left turn, I was, ‘Oh my god.' These feelings they are hard to describe. I feel like it was really a blessing to be able to have that for eight, nine years, was really special. It was strong. I'm somebody who has a lot of experience and hopefully I can share that with the younger generation and just be at peace, just be at peace."

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Joakim Noah is at peace with walking away from the game

When I was working with Derrick Rose on his autobiography, I asked him questions and he reminisced. When I asked about a favorite teammate, he mentioned his best friend Randall Hampton from high school and Joakim Noah.

Rose said he hoped his son would grow up to be like Noah, "a free spirit, a loving guy... great role model" with a special story. Rose said he loved that Noah, though the son of famous tennis star Yannick Noah, chose to make it on his own and prove himself to the point Noah literally was the equipment kid giving towels to players like Dwight Howard in order just to attend the famous summer basketball camps. He was never the top recruit, never went to the special schools; earned it for himself.

"That's what I love about Jo," Rose explained. "How he created something on his own. To be this silver-spoon kid, his dad a big star, rich and famous, and he don't want nothing to do with that. Like, ‘Nah, I'm doing my own thing.' Gets multiple contracts by himself when he easily could have lived off his pops forever. He's got his own individuality. I want that for my son."

Many of Noah's former teammates and coaches came to Chicago this week for Noah's celebration. Here are some of their recollections:

Ron Adams: "My first thought that would come to mind is free spirit. Also a guy who really cares about the people around him. Just a good ol' Joe in that regard. Also the fact of his work ethic and the hustle part of it. As far as projecting (All-Star status), that would have been a reach. I always told him he needed to develop a 15-foot jump shot if he was going get paid. And he did get better, but that wasn't the reason he got paid."

Kirk Hinrich: "It wasn't easy for him to start. There was an initial hurdle seeing him where he needed to be when he needed to be there. But, gosh, it came back to his energy. And his competitiveness was going to make him find a career in the league. It turned out to be a dang good one. It was his energy. You almost figure this guy is going be a great defender, but once he got to the point where he knew what he needed to do and when he needed to do it he just took off. You put the guy in the game and he's not playing much minutes, he plays 15 minutes and we go plus-15 or something like that. Just because of sheer energy. Ultimately, it became, ‘This guy has to be on the floor, has to learn on the fly so he can pick this up.' And once he did he was an elite defender, rebounder, energy guy; one of the better ones in the league. Unbelievably great teammate. As loyal as there could be, but he was honest, too. He was one of those guys who if he felt you were not bringing it, he'd tell you about it. Most teams need that kind of guy; you appreciate it and respect him for it. I know that's why Chicago loves him and myself and all his former teammate love him. I can't be happier with the career he had and it's so cool he gets to retire as a Bull."

Brian Scalabrine: "All the wildness, the looks at him in his draft picture; what gets lost in how much he cared about his teammates and how much he cared about winning. No matter what even if it were practice, he cared passionately about teammates. Highly, highly competitive and would do whatever it takes to win. When I first got there and Thibs first got there, you've got to buy into his way; that's not an easy way. Those guys grew together. You can see why he became the player he grew into. He was not a big time low post scorer, but Jo's passing was next level and always has been. So many are trained to be something they are not in this world and basketball. Jo embraced what he was. He knew what he was and coaches and teammates did. Who didn't love to have Joakim Noah screen for you? Phenomenal hands. Things not considered skills like shooting and dribbling, vision, heart, hands, toughness, competitiveness. That's skill, too."

Doug McDermott: "When I got drafted by the Bulls, I remember coming in being around a bunch of vets who had been there a while and kind of intimidated and he was one of the first guys I met. He couldn't have been any cooler. Took me under his wing from Day 1 and always was there for me. Rookie year he always had my back. He was the guy always texting me. He'd be the first one to text me when I didn't get in except garbage time, was frustrated. He could tell. I'd look at my phone and he'd be the first one to reach out to me. It was pretty remarkable his willingness to pass; he was so unselfish, a guy who really got me going because he's such a good passer. Would throw me back door passes, set screens and did all that dirty work, all the things that don't show up on the stat sheets and how loud he is on the floor. In an 82-game season, he gets you going; so much fun to play with. Off the floor, too, there was his presence as leader and friend. He'd always organize stuff, ‘Come over my house.' On the road, he'd organize stuff, get everyone together. I remember he took me to the South Side of Chicago for his foundation. That helped me become accustomed to the city of Chicago. The first thing he said to me, ‘I'm taking you to the South Side.' We'd go and everyone loved Joakim no matter what part of the city you were in."

Mike Dunleavy Jr: "Love the guy; he's unique. First of all, he's all about winning. That's what you want as a teammate; that's where it starts. The NBA is about winning and sharing the ball and playing together as a team. And so add that in with his personality and spirit and he was off the court a camaraderie guy and just a great teammate despite the fact he didn't own an alarm clock. One year All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year. His passing, obviously, his defensive was so good to protect the rim and switch. It was so unique. I kind of knew he was a good passer, but then each and every night we basically played though him as a point center and that stood out; made him unique and special. To be first team all-NBA and not a great shooter or finisher is a narrow path to accomplish. That goes back to incredible heart and guts, a really smart player on both ends. Mix with that motor it was the recipe for him to be an all-NBA player."

Carlos Boozer: "He was spectacular not only as a teammate on the floor, but as a human being. He had that ‘60s kind of laid back, free spirit kind of mentality that was the element we needed on that team. He was one of those guys during the season with the ups and downs, highs and lows, winning and losing streaks, lineup changes, he was the cool guy. Jo was the rock, great sense humor, one those guys who could laugh at himself because he didn't have an ego. You love those guys. I'll tell you a story. He even started HOLDAT. We were playing Boston in Boston, the same game I put that stupid hair dye in my hair and had shoe polish everywhere. A close game to the wire and Jo is having his own battle out there with KG. There was a real rivalry with those two guys. Going back and forth. D-Rose is driving and sucks in the defense and they won't help off me and they won't help off Luol, so they help off Jo. Jo winds up and takes that side spinning 15 footer right in KG's face, one of the best defenders in history, in my opinion, and he's screaming. So we're back on the bus and I ask Jo what he's screaming at KG. He says, ‘HOLDAT.' And that's how it was born and I took it from there."

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Reflections from Joakim Noah's teammates

Bulls.com

Today the Chicago Bulls named Joakim Noah a new Bulls Ambassador, and tonight the team will bring together many of his former teammates, friends and family members to celebrate his incredible playing career. The heart of the Bulls for all nine of his 13 NBA seasons spent in Chicago, Noah will be honored with a series of tributes throughout tonight's game against the New York Knicks on Joakim Noah Night, presented by NBC Sports Chicago.

Noah was selected by Chicago with the ninth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. While with the Bulls, he was a two-time NBA All-Star (2013, 2014) and a three-time All-Defensive team selection (First Team in 2013 and 2014; Second Team in 2011). The Bulls big man was also named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year en route to claiming All-NBA First Team honors in 2014. During his time with Chicago, Noah appeared in 572 regular-season contests (465 starts) and averaged 9.3 points, 9.4 rebounds (3.3 offensive), 3.0 assists, 1.41 blocks and 0.84 steals in 29.5 minutes per game. He helped guide Chicago to the postseason seven times, where he appeared in 60 playoff games with the team and averaged 9.7 points, 11.0 rebounds (4.0 offensive), 2.8 assists, 1.77 blocks and 0.97 steals in 35.0 minutes per game. In Bulls annals, Noah ranks first in offensive rebounds (1,910), third in blocked shots (803), fourth in total rebounds (5,387) and defensive rebounds (3,477), and ninth in games played (572), minutes played (16,848) and steals (481). He also holds the franchise record for blocks in a game with 11 against Philadelphia on Feb. 28, 2013. Known for his many efforts in the community, he received the prestigious J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award from the NBA in 2015.

"I'm truly humbled to be honored by both the team and city that I have always loved and respected," said Noah. "Even more so to be able to celebrate tonight with family, friends, former players and coaches, and most of all – the Bulls fans who helped drive my energy throughout my years in a Bulls uniform at the United Center. It means so much to me that I'm now a Bull for life. I love you all and am thrilled tonight to solidify my continued connection with the Bulls and the city of Chicago, in this new chapter of my life."

"When Joakim played for the Bulls, you could see how much he cared about the kids and everything that's going on in the city," said Michael Reinsdorf, Bulls President and COO. "He still comes into town, and he still cares so much. People in Chicago realize that he was more than just a basketball player, he was someone who cared about the community, someone who was going to do his best to make a difference in this world and he has. Joakim embodies every quality you'd want in a team ambassador. This is a natural next step for a former player with such strong history of giving back to Chicago."

As an ambassador, Noah will work with the organization to build relationships with people throughout Chicago and across Bulls Nation. As part of the team's commitment to Noah and his work in the community, the Bulls will make an annual donation to his charity, the Noah's Arc Foundation.

As part of the celebration, the team produced an original video highlighting Noah's time in Chicago through interviews with him and some of the people who have known him best, including (in order of appearance) Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Tom Thibodeau, John Paxson, Cecilia Rodhe, Michael Reinsdorf, K.C. Johnson, Kirk Hinrich, Billy Donovan, Bill Wennington, Chuck Swirsky and Sam Smith. The video was released on Bulls social channels and the team website, and can be found here.

bulls-celebrate-joakim-noahs-career-name-him-bulls-ambassador

Bulls celebrate Joakim Noah's career - name him Bulls Ambassador

It was the Bulls in what we most remember as the Derrick Rose era, the best in franchise history without a championship. The Bulls in consecutive seasons led the NBA in wins with the youngest Most Valuable Player in league history in Rose, the Coach of the Year in Tom Thibodeau, Jimmy Butler eventually becoming Most Improved Player, Luol Deng a multiple All-Star and Joakim Noah, the Defensive Player of the Year, All-Star and first team all-NBA center.

Though perhaps overused in sports literature, it became a tale of triumph and tragedy, at least from a sporting sense, the best of times with the Bulls emergence into the 2012 playoffs and the worst of times of what wasn't as the team carried on for a few more seasons with earned and earnest rewards, if not ultimate success, because of Rose's catastrophic knee injury in those playoffs.

Rose was the face of that team's rise, but Noah was the beating heart and soul of what made that team, the spirit and resolve, the determination to continue to endure through defeat and doubt to produce some of the best and proudest moments in franchise history.

Because of that Thursday when the Bulls host the New York Knicks in a welcome early season matchup of the two longtime rivals worthy of big game status for the first time in perhaps decades, the Bulls will honor the one time gangly kid who is solidly a franchise legend.

Many of his former teammates will be in attendance, including with the Knicks Thibodeau, Rose and Taj Gibson.

Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich, and Derrick Rose in 2010.

The contrasts as once expressed in the famous opening of the Dickens novel are apparent, the foolishness, the belief, the incredulity, the light, darkness and hope. The Bulls in that era were all of that with Rose's brilliance, but perhaps as much because of Noah's multiple pillars of strength, resilience and desire.

Though Rose's dunks and dramatics stunned and excited NBA's nation, it was Noah's arc from that steal against Paul Pierce to wrap up the famous triple overtime Game 6 of the 2009 playoffs through Noah's pugnacious insistence in Game 7 of the 2013 playoffs in Brooklyn that the trade winds of injury and doubt would not send his Bulls off course.

"Taj and Derrick and Joakim were like brothers," Thibodeau said this week. "I'm thrilled the Bulls are honoring Joakim because he really connected with that city. He's a special person. That team played with so much heart every night, and when you play like that you are going to connect with the fans. He's a special guy, had an incredible career. That team was special. Unfortunately, Derrick got injured. But that team fought. They gave you everything they had. They fought through a lot of adversity and Jo was the heart and soul of that team. The beauty of his game was his effort, his heart."

Everyone could laugh about Noah's horizontally oscillating jump shot, which media labeled the tornado and often would send Benny the Bull flying with its twirling velocity. You knew David Stern was thinking "What am I doing in this picture?" trying to quickly end the hand shake with Noah in his pale seersucker tuxedo and bow tie and Bozo haircut on 2007 draft night. Teammates might joke about his tendency to regard punctuality, as with wardrobe, with a practiced casualness.

"It was hard to get Jo to places on time," Kirk Hinrich recalled with a laugh.

But when it came to winning, there was no joking around.

"There's nothing like winning a basketball game," was Noah's most familiar comment.

"You knew he was an energetic player," said Hinrich. "What was evident very soon was how important winning was to him. And how he just isn't going to accept losing. That's always a big adjustment for any successful college basketball player. You play 82 games, you're going to lose a lot more. But the guy was born to win, period. Jo, his energy when he walks in game day, rubbed off on everybody and it brings out the best in everybody. You play all these games and whether you're feeling great, not feeling great, watching him prepare game day the energy you see he is going to bring it. It just rubs off on you and you can't help but try to bring that same level of energy or you're going to be embarrassed. He's that type of guy who just plays that hard all the time."

It compensated for less than a classic athlete's figure and facility. But that also helped explain the appeal of those Bulls teams. Sure, there was Rose, who might have been—and still may be considered—one of the all-time greats. But otherwise there were a lot of good utility players, a guy who rarely shot as the "shooting" guard, not exactly the most athletic small forward at the most athletic of positions, the guy who most considered the consolation prize at power forward. A patchwork that Noah's designs helped stitch together into a work of art.

"I had played against Jo and knew how passionate a player he was," said Carlos Boozer. "But one of his talents that a lot of these kids take for granted is a talent Joakim thrived in, and it's giving everything you've got. The thing about Joakim was no matter what the situation was or no matter who the opponent was, no matter even who his teammates were, he gave 110 percent no matter what it was. If we had practice, if we had shootaround games, Joakim one those guys to maximize his potential and got everything out of it because he gave everything to it.

"That's one of the main reasons why I came to Chicago," admitted Boozer, recruited by the Nets and Clippers at the time. "I knew what I was getting. Rose was special, but one of the main things we were lacking in Utah when I was there we didn't really have a center. Because Jo was there I knew I was going to be playing with a phenomenal center."

Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer crash the glass for the rebound in a game at the United Center during the 2011-2012 season.

It hardly seemed so even for a franchise not particularly known for its interior apex. Sure, there was ABA expatriate Artis Gilmore in the late 1970s for a brief time with average Bulls teams. But when the Bulls had a chance with stars of their own in the early 1970s, they couldn't match Wilt and Kareem. And then though they created a dynasty in the 1990s, it was with Bill Cartwright and later Luc Longley heading a three-headed monster platoon. And then Curry and Chandler and hope. Until this kid with the big hair dropped in the 2007 draft because he couldn't shoot and wasn't particularly strong and didn't seem like he could rebound in the NBA and, by the way, how did they win those two collegiate championships under coach Billy Donovan?

The 6-11 Noah didn't persuade anyone otherwise at first, though he was planting his flag.

Perhaps the biggest early signal was his rookie season when he wasn't playing much, coming off the bench sporadically and averaging about six points. So after a double digit loss in Orlando when Noah saw the likes of Ben Wallace, Tyrus Thomas and Drew Gooden yukking it up on and off the floor, Noah lit into the big guys for their lack of concern and effort. They didn't like it - "Who was thus guy not even playing?" As they also didn't a few days before when Noah had gotten into a verbal confrontation with assistant Ron Adams in practice. Then interim coach Jim Boylan (the other one) suspended Noah a game. His teammates demanded it be increased to two games. Who was this kid, after all, telling them how to play?

It turned out he was the guy who would help remodel that team with his rhetoric and resolve. Not their way.

"He was a free spirit, but he had a really great work ethic and real desire to succeed and have his team succeed," said Adams, who remains a staffer for the Golden State Warriors. "Even as a young player he was top drawer in that regard. You don't see too many people like him.

I think it was probably surprising given the fact he was not a highly skilled guy. You'd look at his skills and if we're talking offense, he was never a particularly highly skilled person. But he did have a defensive acumen and a great feel for rebounding the ball and running the court. His aggressiveness and desire to succeed really showed itself on the defense and rebounding end of it."

"We were doing some drill and I was discussing something with him" recalled Adams. "Aaron Gray comes over and gets in the conversation for some reason and it exacerbated it and Jo got excited and I got excited and we did some fuss. And it was over. Jo and I talked. He was a good personal friend; we didn't think much of it. But the team took it out of our hands and penalized him. I actually can't recall what it was about. I felt bad for Jo when they suspended him and told him so; it was nothing. Back then we had some things going on that were less than kosher on the floor, things like hustle and, as he saw it, commitment. And in the locker room he went after the veterans and what he said was right; he had that ability to speak his mind."

Rose as he said in his book, "I'll Show You" that I worked on with him, preferred to let his play do his talking. Noah needed to do his own talking. Rose always spoke about loving all teammates, but especially Noah. And Rose says he has to laugh about those confrontations Noah had with Thibodeau at the beginning.

"He'd be on Jo like, ‘What the F are you doing?'" Rose recalled. "Jo would be like, ‘F you.' And Thibs would be like, ‘No, F you.' They used to argue like that."

Thibodeau could only laugh this week when recalling those days.

"He was an emotional guy," Thibodeau admitted. "I loved him, I fought with him, I loved him, I fought with him. He's a dear friend now."

But that fury and fire was also a big part of the ingredients that enabled the rise.

Former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and Joakim Noah.

It perhaps began in Cleveland, famously one of Jo's least favorite leisure places, when LeBron James began dancing after a basket with the Bulls trailing big and all the staters out of the game early in Noah's career. Noah from the bench called out James for his puerile behavior. Though this wasn't completely new as Noah already had made the acquaintance of Kevin Garnett, who liked to bully smaller guards. Noah had called out Garnett as a dirty player and said he should pick on someone his own size. Garnett trash talked later with Noah, but little else.

James and some Cavs players that night began to come toward the bench when James Johnson stood up and then James and the Cavs players quickly retreated. Johnson was a noted martial arts champion, but the point was made thanks to Noah: We had each other's backs and weren't backing down.

And so came the playoffs in that 2009-10 season when Noah verbally countered LeBron when asked what was so great about Cleveland. After all, it's not like anyone vacationed there.

"I loved that," recalled Boozer. "I remember me and Deron Williams, Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer watching that, taking the jab at Cavs and LeBron battling in a series. I'm thinking, ‘That's a guy you want to play with. Because you know when you are on the court he's a guy who'll have your back, will run through a wall for his teammates.' Jo's personality off the court was special and ferocious on the court."

It perhaps began in the 2009 playoffs—sure Rose shocked Boston with that 36-point Game 1 record performance in what would become the Greatest First Round Playoff Series Ever with seven overtime periods over four different games—with Noah's exclamation point with the steal and full court running basket to win the triple overtime Game 6.

Joakim Noah steals the ball and sprints down the court to eventually dunk on Boston's Paul Pierce.

Though the Bulls didn't acquire James and Dwyane Wade in the famous 2010 free agency, they built a team that swept Miami in that regular season, Heat coach Eric Spoelstra admitting after the third loss at home Heat players were crying in the locker room. Those Bulls won 62 games and not quite knowing how to win yet lost in the conference finals to the Noah-named "Hollywood as hell" Heat.

But those Bulls were back the next season with once again the league's best record. Until Rose's injury in Game 1, Noah out in Game 3 as Philadelphia fans cheered his serious ankle injury. Noah would not forget as he delivered one of the great games ever for a center, and against Wilt's former team in 2013 with 23 points, 21 rebounds and 11 blocks.

That was the season with Rose out and soon Hinrich and Deng to join him, Noah, himself injured, delivered one of the great performances in franchise history to carry the Bulls to a Game 7 road victory in Brooklyn and then a first game upset in Miami less than 48 hours later before even he succumbed.

"Joakim did not give a crap if he had (24) points (14 rebounds and six blocks) like against Brooklyn in that Game 7 when he took over the series or he had no points," said Boozer. "Joakim did not care about his name in the paper. He was all about the team; that's why we loved him so much."

Irwin Mandel, the longest ever serving Bulls executive who worked for the team for more than 40 years, kept replica trophies of the Bulls six titles in his office. And one other memento, a water bottle from that Game 7.

"I added that seventh memento, my water bottle from the game, to show when the Bulls won Game 7 in Brooklyn," Mandel said. "Before the game I thought on paper that was a team that would have lost by 20 points with so many of our best players out. It was an unbelievable victory, one of my favorites. I was so proud of those Bulls. I absolutely wanted to save that water bottle."

The end perhaps began in 2014 when teammate and "brother" Deng was traded and Noah couldn't get himself to even discuss it for a week. When he finally did, his soliloquy encapsulated a player's relationship with his community better than probably any athlete ever has.

"I feel when I come to the game and see the guys selling newspapers on the street and it's cold outside, he sees me driving and he's excited," said Noah. "He's like, ‘Let's go Bulls. Get it done tonight.' I feel I play for that guy. I look in the arena when the team calls a timeout and see this guy who looks this big (fingers slightly apart) jumping up and down (in the upper deck). That's the guy I play for. To me, that's what this city represents, a lot of hardship, adversity. I feel like when I play basketball, I want people to be part of their team."

Joakim Noah celebrates with the United Center crowd after defeating the Atlanta Hawks in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

Noah saw everyone on his side as a teammate, often evidenced by community work in which he went to the aggrieved neighborhoods.

Though always carried by his emotions, perhaps Noah finally could see the close with that Deng trade. He'd been carrying a streak of 18 games recording double digit rebounds in a classic Noah scene when in a frenzy of frustration pointed to the officials in a game in Sacramento to eject them. He made you smile for a variety of reasons.

And then he went to the All-Star game and played defense, East coach Frank Vogel sitting his own team center to play Noah the entire fourth quarter to get a win.

Rose had finally returned, but he had to work himself back amidst Noah's body starting to strain against the effects of the longtime quest for the NBA's golden fleece.

Noah, today 36, had shoulder surgery after being injured during the 2015-16 season and then with the Bulls in transition with a new coach and Rose traded, Noah signed with the Knicks. There were more injuries and brief stints with Memphis and the Clippers before last playing at the end of the 2019-20 season.

"He'd make two, three four, five efforts on a play," Thibodeau recalled with an I-wish-everyone-was-like-that smile. "That's special. And then his passing was incredible. I always feel the way a player passes tells you how he sees the game. If you cut and you were open you got the ball. When Derrick went out we ran our offense through him. He was special. And he got the absolute most out of his ability."

No one more so who averaged 8.8 points and nine rebounds in his career.

And the the Bulls and their fans were beneficiaries for a special five years. Joakim Noah defined one of the greatest eras for Bulls basketball.

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"The guy was born to win": Joakim Noah defined one of the greatest Bulls basketball eras

Basketball for Joakim Noah long was a dream, the gangly French kid trying to assimilate in a strange society, and become familiar with the United States as well. Basketball was a New York City religion that viewed a kid like Noah as an apostate, for he was. But he played the game the right way on and off the court and he became a star, a celebrity, an iconoclast, and then, as it often happens, his dream became a nightmare of failure, uncertainty, rejection and anguish. The darkness for one of the most famous and infamous players in Bulls history finally seems to have receded after almost four years. It's almost as if Joakim Noah awakened and asked, "Is this heaven?"

"I lost my confidence," admits Noah, whose Memphis Grizzlies are in the United Center Wednesday for the final game before All-Star break. "Now I am starting to get my swagger back on the court. Memphis gave me an opportunity; that was the only team that called. I am starting to feel better and better every time I step on the court because I am playing consistently and I am healthy for the first time in a long time, knock on wood."

A successful life requires a lot of luck. And a lot of work. The Spurs' organization has polarized the stonecutter's credo actually made famous in New York by 19th Century social reformer Jacob Riis. Keep hammering until the stone breaks. Joakim Noah's basketball career, indeed, encompassed some knocking on wood and breaking into the seemingly impervious rock of professional basketball.

"Everything with the Bulls, it was so early on, the best times," reminisces Noah about that nine-year run in Chicago in which a 6-11, mop topped, hippie bohemian was perhaps as much everyman as any who have been through the city's sporting landscape. "The Boston (2009 playoff) series was so much fun, Brooklyn (in 2013). Winning and losing is important, but it is also appreciating what you are doing; we were living a dream even though we didn't know it.

"I think if this would have happened to me in Chicago, losing the way we are losing, losing like this, blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter (against Denver in January), losing streaks, the cooler would be destroyed and the heads would be off the showers and those bottles would be all over the place," Noah said with a smile, pointing toward a row of energy drinks as we sat in the Grizzlies locker room after a recent game. "I don't think I could have handled it. I couldn't sleep. I would just be an ass to everyone around me. Like now, I can appreciate just being in the locker room, to experience life playing with some hungry young guys who are fighting for their lives, guys who are working hard, things we all can work on, but keep on improving.

"Losing," Noah acknowledged, "obviously is frustrating. But you have to learn from it, use this time to keep building because with losing comes frustration and frustration can take away what's important. So we've got to keep a mindset on what's important and be ready. I feel pretty good. I haven't played in a while, three years, honestly, since I've gotten consistent minutes. It was tough, injuries and suspension and a lot of factors. So I'm just cherishing my opportunity and just trying to do my best. I'm not about trying to be my old self; it's about being happy on the court and competing and I feel I am starting to get to a level where I am enjoying myself.

"This is my 12th season," Noah noted, and he seemed as surprised as I was. "I've been through a lot of ups and downs. There were times with the Knicks I thought it was over. But right now as much as we are losing, it's like I'm the happiest I've been in my life. I've got my daughter, who is a beautiful daughter, Leia; she's two. My son Emaan. My beautiful girlfriend (Lais Ribeiro) is awesome; I love her to death. I am at peace in my life."

You just have to feel good and smile for Joakim Noah, and not just because of that season high 19 points and 14 rebounds earlier this week in the Grizzlies win over New Orleans. Noah added a typical eight points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in the Grizzlies Tuesday one-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He doesn't play every game, always off the bench and often fewer than 20 minutes with the Grizzles going through their own doubts. But you can still find him at the high post searching out those lob dunk passes and back door cuts, with that high dribble out of the backcourt you're wincing about until it turns into a layup. Bearded with his hair in a bun in that most unconventional of NBA looks and his arms always outstretched ready for the pass, Noah seems to be welcoming the present as a gift. He still isn't looking for the shot much. But he's rolling hard off those screens and dunking with not so peaceful intentions. Noah has two double/doubles in his last four games and is averaging 11 points and 8.7 rebounds in 23 minutes per game this month.

But like Noah says, being back is both not everything about the games, but so much about the game.

The camaraderie of the locker room, the exotic aromas of deodorants, lotions and old socks, the expanding cacophony while running out of the tunnel and onto the court, the feel of the rough leather of the ball, the lights and noise and then the moment tracing the arc of the ball to find position, the ensuing wrestling match, the chance to do something for your guys.

"After that first year in New York, I had just got my drug suspension, I had my shoulder surgery and a knee surgery at the same time; I was just emotionally drained," Noah admitted about his bitter free agency. "I didn't even want to play anymore. The injuries were piling up so much I didn't feel I could physically do it anymore. But I was blessed to be around some good people. I got in a real healthy environment and I'm starting to feel…. It's taken a long time to get that feeling back. I haven't felt this good in four years."

Never much the classic athlete with those long strides and almost military style arm movements running, Noah was hardly the recruiting poster for NBA achievement. Which perhaps is one reason why he related so well. His famous soliloquy about why he plays, for the guy freezing outside selling newspapers, the guy at the top of the arena cheering like crazy, the people whom the game means so much and to whom he wants to take pride in their team. It may have been the most genuine and revealing explanation of the game and what drives fans' passions.

Noah had that funky, sideways spinning shot and looked the least like a world class athlete. He was bursting with the intangibles most so cherish but cannot scout. He led his U. of Florida team to a pair of NCAA championships, wasn't a top five draft pick, arrived at the NBA draft in an outfit better suited for Ringling Brothers and a body looking like the recipient of beach sand.

But before he was done in Chicago he became all-NBA first team, a Defensive Player of the Year, probably the greatest center in franchise history and the star of two of the greatest games in franchise history. Neither won a title, so they aren't quite as celebrated. But there was Noah with the winning play against Paul Pierce to wrap up the triple overtime win over the defending champion Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the 2009 first round series. The Bulls would lose Game 7. Then there was a double/double in Nate Robinson's crazy triple overtime win in the first round of the 2013 playoffs, though the highlight really was Noah's seventh game domination without injured Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich to defeat the Nets in Brooklyn even on foot injuries so bad he wasn't supposed to play.

Joakim Noah gave his body for the game and the fans and it eventually couldn't couldn't sustain.

The Bulls understood it was going bad in the 2015-16 season, and so was the team as it would be the last for Rose and Noah in Chicago. That great group, so beloved and so close, was at its end.

"Even coming off the bench (behind Pau Gasol), so many things I look back on my time in Chicago and I don't want to think of the bad things because the great times outweigh that so much," Noah said. "I'm not afraid to talk about the good and bad. I just saw Luol, Taj (Gibson) at dinner. You don't even have to say anything being with those guys now. It's just about the vibe of being around, how much respect there is there because of what we went through. Now that I've been around I realize and found out that it's rare. But you don't know it then.

"Because it's genuine what we went through, some wars and we wanted to win so bad and we fought so hard every night," Noah recalled. "I'm so (darned) proud of that to this day. That's what will be the highlight of my career.

"That Boston series, but I also look back on so many little things like being in the locker room with Derrick. With Lu and Taj, we were talking about this the other day. A little thing," Noah says. "We are playing Phoenix with Vinny (Del Negro) as coach. Kirk was our best pick and roll defender and so Vinny goes, ‘Kirk, you got Steve Nash.' And D-Rose is a rookie and goes, "Nah, I got Steve Nash. I'm not running from no matchup.' And Vinny goes, ‘But Kirk is our best pick and roll defender, you got Barbosa.' He goes, ‘Nah, I got Steve Nash.' And so we're like. ‘Oh crap, the rookie's talking like that?' Then in the game you see D-Rose standing next to Steve Nash. ‘I got him! I got him!' Things like that, stuff we'd laugh at being on the plane, rolling dice with Drew Gooden; it was always more than just the basketball.

"We didn't win it," Noah notes. "But the energy and the hope of having the chance, and we had a chance. And that's almost just as big. You realize after. Do you have a chance to win it? Maybe one, two times in your career if you are lucky. The year D-Rose got hurt and the year before there was a chance. That was special."

When it's going good it's normal and natural not only to believe it will continue, but get even better. So it seemed for Noah, a big, four-year contract to play back home in New York and for Phil Jackson, whom Noah long idolized, in front of his old crowd who laughed at the clumsy and spindly kid who got to the good basketball camps by agreeing to help pick up towels. In the world's greatest arena for his team growing up, introduced from his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood just west of the arena. How great was this going to be?

"I don't even know what happened in Chicago," Noah admits about that awkward final season in 2015-16 with a new coach, on the bench, lots of unpleasantness. "I didn't want to shoot. By the end of the Chicago thing, I wasn't loving it; it was starting to become a job. There were so many things going on I was starting to lose my love for the game. But it's like I wish what I went through in New York earlier I would have realized how good I had it in Chicago. I am not pointing fingers at anyone; it's just what happened. It sucks because I think just not being right mentally and physically at that time, it cost us."

Noah had shoulder surgery following that final Bulls season, but he seemed recovered enough for that contract. His highlight may have been that first game in Chicago early in the season, 16 points and nine rebounds in an easy Knicks win. His last double digit scoring game as a Knick was in January of that season, 12 points and 16 rebounds, and again against the Bulls in a win. But he wasn't producing enough in a dysfunctional New York environment, exacerbated by the demands of being back home. It's much more difficult to go home in the NBA that in life.

"It's tough to play at home," Noah concedes. "Even tougher with success with someone like Derrick. Something people don't realize is being young and that successful and having to deal with home. People can't relate. I remember my first game in New York against Memphis. I played well, the whole Garden was chanting my name, I was in tears and it was crazy. I had like 50 people in my apartment after the game and my father was looking at me shaking his head like, ‘This is a going to be a long year for you.' I was like, ‘I got this.' But I wasn't ready. I thought I was ready and I was not ready."

Noah had a 20-game drug suspension at the end of that season into the 2017-18 season, and his Knicks contract was already being condemned and mocked. He became the face of Jackson's failure. He played briefly, played a game in the G-league, got into a verbal exchange on the bench with coach Jeff Hornacek and basically was banished. He was released before the start of this season owed the last two years of his contract. He played in 53 games over two years in New York and averaged about five points and eight rebounds.

"Failing at home on a real public level was very humbling," Noah admitted. "We had a lot of success in Chicago, but what happened in New York also made me grow as a person and focus on what was important because a lot was thrown at me in New York in a really short time. In Chicago, everything was about winning and losing basketball games, and I realize now that I can compete and also have a life, a balance.

"It was not good, but now I can go back and say I wouldn't trade it because it makes me cherish even more what I have," Noah says. "It's tough because I'll look back and say I wish I played well at home, I wish I didn't let Phil down. It took me a long time to even digest that. I used to think I was playing for people's respect, almost like people looking at me like I was a joke. Even in New York, it was, ‘He's a clown, doesn't take the game serious.' So after my first year in New York, I wanted to come out and prove to everybody I could help the team and be a player and help the team compete and I never really got that opportunity.

"I'm sitting on the side of the bench in Madison Square Garden, not even on the bench, behind the bench, healthy. I had to deal with that for months," Noah lamented about his exile. "That was one of the toughest things I ever had to deal with, getting killed in your home town and not being able to do anything about it. I felt management and the coach at the time, they didn't show me any respect for what I was going through. There were times they could have given me opportunities and didn't.

"At the point I got kicked off the team, I was really angry and pissed off," Noah admitted. "I was partying and getting paid a lot of money and had no direction; that was tough. You don't realize with basketball and the NBA and high school and college, it's your routine and you are so locked in you take it for granted until you don't have it anymore. So it became, ‘If you really want to keep playing basketball, it's not a situation you can wait the way I was living my life.' If I kept doing what I was doing it's over."

The life vest was Noah's surfing friends Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece. They took him into their home and their intense training, the healthy environment and food, the lifestyle. He finally was ready, but the NBA wasn't. Not for the flake. Finally, the Grizzlies called and it became Christmas morning again. Life was great; now it could be even better at 34 later this month.

We talked for a long time after that game in Charlotte. The Bulls were in town waiting to play the Hornets. The Grizzlies were staying over that night, and Noah was going to meet up with some of the old Bulls support staff. That's right, the workers. The Grizzlies' security said the team bus was leaving. Typical of Noah, he said he'd walk back to the hotel. NBA players do not do this anymore. With Noah wrapped up in a hooded sweatshirt, I asked him as we walked if he would consider returning to the Bulls to finish his career, even for a day in one of those one-day contracts players sometimes sign. The Bulls talk a lot about spirit, heart and soul, Joakim Noah's daily companions.

"I'm a live in the moment type person," the 6-11 maverick said with a smile. "So I'm not there. I just want to finish this year off strong and be healthy and grow from there."

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Through all of the ups and downs, Joakim Noah is the happiest he has ever been

They were great days, great days with great guys, great experiences, and just a lot of fun. That’s how Joakim Noah says he remembers those nine years in Chicago, growing up in the NBA, but never really losing the little kid in him. The wine in the sauna, the late nights in the city, shoulder to shoulder with the fans he loved, whose disappointments he understood as they were his own, whose elation he cherished.

“I really don’t know what to expect (about his first return to Chicago as a New York Knick),” Noah said earlier this week after Knicks practice. “I just want to compete and have fun; the UC will always be special to me; the Bulls always will be special to me.

“I always felt there was a special relationship; I always have love for Chicago,” said Noah. “Even though I didn’t grow up there, I feel like Chicago is always going to be a part of me. I’m not the type of guy to talk (about the end); it’s not my style. But it’s the truth: At the end of the day I have no regrets. I gave everything on the court, the city showed me a lot of love and I tried to give the same.

“What stands out to be honest is the locker room,” said Noah. “The years in the sauna with my teammates after big games, drinking wine, on the plane with my teammates. Going out after big wins. I’ll never forget some of those nights with my teammates. To me that’s how you’re in the community, in the streets. We were young and wild and free and played hard and celebrated. My teammates know what I’m talking about. We had great guys and we had a great time together.

We had a great time on and off the court; we played hard and we celebrated.”

That’s life to Joakim Noah, a life of giving all he has everywhere he goes.

Though last season ended ruefully for that team, even more so for Noah after playing just 29 games and his season ending with shoulder surgery, Noah says he has nothing but wonderful memories of the birth and maturation of his pro career. Don’t believe what you hear in some places, he says. It was a terrific group that did a lot and grew up together.

They had brilliant highs, leading the NBA in wins consecutive seasons, a run to the Eastern Conference finals, a 2011-12 season when they thought it was theirs and not only was Derrick Rose injured, but Noah shortly thereafter. It’s mostly forgotten, but Noah’s absence was as critical. He was the guy who thumbed his nose at LeBron James and the supposed elite, who backed it up with a Defensive Player of the Year award, a top five place in MVP voting, a seventh game win so brilliant in 2013 many in the organization from the championship years consider it one of the greatest individual performances in franchise history.

There was Noah’s heartfelt overture to fans after Luol Deng was traded and what the meaning of the relationship was, his historic assist and energy games that defied conventional basketball knowledge. The wild haired kid in the white seersucker suit on draft day evolved into a community treasure with a giving foundation and personal appeals to end violence.

His personal highlights were many, and most remember his coming out party with the steal from Paul Pierce in the 2009 triple overtime first round playoff game, the decisive flush of exultation. The Bulls would lose that seventh game, but begin a run that endeared that bunch of kids to the community.

“That Boston series really set the tone,” said Noah. “Not even just that play with me. You see some of these young guys (on that team). They haven’t played in the playoffs and you don’t understand what it’s about until you feel that intensity, feel that type of energy. That series not only was it fun and special to be a part of, but set the tone for his (Derrick Rose’s) career and my career as well.”

Those careers are in New York now. Rose’s and Noah’s Knicks visit the Bulls Friday. And Noah sounds much like Dwyane Wade does with the Bulls now, grateful for everything he accomplished and enjoyed before with his draft team, but thrilled to live out his childhood fantasy, wear the jersey he imagined himself in during all those games growing up.

“It’s a blessing for me to be able to play for your childhood dream team,” said Noah. “It always was my childhood dream since I was six years old to wear this uniform; to finally wear it is special. I never took playing in Madison Square Garden for granted and now to be playing in that building is special for me.”

Noah is introduced in New York as being from “Hell’s Kitchen,” the West Side neighborhood near Madison Square Garden where he was raised. He now lives west of the Garden near the Hudson River and walks to games, likely the only NBA player who does so. But Joakim Noah often was the only NBA player who looked like he did, did what he did and said what he did.

He understood last season it was time, and so it was no real shock he was moving on when Rose was traded and the Bulls got Robin Lopez in the trade. That it would be to the Knicks was a dream.

“When Robin got traded for Derrick I knew there was an opening for a job,” Noah said.

He’s actually cultivated a relationship with Phil Jackson, though never believing it would come to working together in New York. Always the adventurer and the traveling truth seeker, Noah during the 2011-12 lockout asked Jackson if he could visit him in Montana and absorb some of that championship wisdom. The Bulls had just lost in the conference finals and Noah felt they were on the verge even after losing in five games to Miami. Seek out the Zen Master. It even was in the mountains.

“I think it happened to me years ago when I went to visit Phil in Montana,” said Noah. “He wasn’t with the Knicks yet. I went to go visit him. I got to spend time with him and four years later here we are. My father used to make me read his books when I was a kid. I always was a big fan and was blessed enough to build a small relationship. When we played the Lakers I would go and pay my respects.

“I was excited (last summer) because I knew at that point it was going to be a new chapter in my life,” Noah said. “The way the year went down and the year before (with the coaching change), I think everybody knew it was time for change. I think everybody had a year to digest that. Then I was injured. Nobody knows what would have happened if I wasn’t injured; it’s easy to speculate now. Overall, it’s unbelievable how important chemistry is. I’m happy here. I know we have a lot of work to do. This is a healthy group and from what I’m seeing with the Bulls they seem to be a happy and healthy group, too, so I’m happy for them.”

Joakim Noah is returning for a visit, but he’ll always have a place to stay in the hearts of the city.

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Joakim Noah returns to Chicago for the first time

Tyson Chandler was supposed to represent the Bulls of the 2000s, the presumptive second coming of another great era, though the 2.0 version. Taller and quick, adept and athletic. The Bulls cashed in their post-championship era bounty, the No .1 overall draft pick in 1999, Elton Brand, for the right to draft Chandler and pair him with fellow teenaged seven footer Eddy Curry to form what they hoped and believed could be the foundation of a structure that would overshadow the NBA once again for years to come.

Instead, as we know, it came to encapsulate the misery that befell the franchise for the first years of the new millennium, a historic losing period that both humbled and heartened the franchise to move forward and again over the last seven years to become among the league's elite contenders.

But the Bulls would have to endure the humiliation and hardship first, and unfairly it initially fell upon Chandler, a sensitive kid whose growing pains mirrored that of a franchise attempting to be reborn.

"I didn't have a clue (of what was coming)," said Chandler, who grew into an NBA All-Star, champion Olympian and Defensive Player of the Year and now is in his 15th season with his sixth team. "I was 18 years old, coming in not knowing what to expect from the NBA, the Bulls; just trying to find my way.

"I think what happened, now for me being 15 years in the league, they weren't ready for that at that time," Chandler said in a recent interview. "It wouldn't be too much to ask if it would have been the correct transition. It (drafting straight from high school) was new to the league in general, taking guys that young. The league is now more prepared to help groom young players and help them grow and develop.

"It was a tough growing period, a tough time, also for the organization," said the 7-1 Chandler. "We went through three head coaches and two interims. Three heads coaches and a couple of interims meant there was change in management with Jerry Krause to John Paxson. There was so much going on. Different players every single year. We'd have four new players at a time. I think the organization was trying to find themselves clearly after the Jordan era, the Scottie Pippen era. They were trying to figure it out and I think the worst thing to do was bring two 18-year-olds to the organization and try to figure it out that way."

If anything, the Bulls of that time provided a blueprint for the rest of the NBA for what not to do.

Not that then general manager Jerry Krause's plan was wrong. It wasn't.

While a team built around Brand, Ron Artest, Jamal Crawford, Marcus Fizer and free agents like Ron Mercer and Brad Miller may have eventually been competitive—as the team of 2000-01—it didn't have a high ceiling for success.

Krause's dream had been to rebuild a team from the base through the draft and scouting expertise after inheriting Jordan when he became general manager in 1985. So after the lockout 1998-99 season when Jordan retired and Pippen was accommodated with a sign and trade to Houston and Toni Kukoc was later traded to Philadelphia, Krause accumulated draft picks similar to the model used lately by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Krause decided to cash them in for the 2000 draft, using three firsts and three seconds in what turned out to be an overall weak draft.

"It was a great fan base," said Crawford, who remains a Sixth Man of the Year candidate again with the contending Clippers. "They still gave us great support from the championship years and were patient. It's just that we were so young. There were just too many young guys. Even if we had done what the Lakers are doing now with two young guys it would have been better. You needed some stability, but I will say there were some interesting practices."

Krause hired college coach Tim Floyd with the idea—again, worse in practice than in philosophy like with drafting of Curry and Chandler—that a college coach would relate better to young players. But Floyd came in blinded by the NBA glamour and immediately wanted veterans to compete now instead of grooming kids.

It only made a bad situation worse, and especially for Chandler in trying to grow. Bill Cartwright replaced Floyd, Paxson replaced Krause and then Scott Skiles replaced Cartwright all within about two years as the team would miss the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and in that span have the poorest overall record in NBA history. The victims were players as much as fans.

These days from the crow's nest of his ship that has sailed to an NBA championship when he was with the Dallas Mavericks, Chandler can look back with the wisdom of experience.

"It was pressure," he agrees. "Just because I had expectations for myself as well. The biggest thing was trying to come in and find my way and try to help turn the franchise around. I'd won my entire life to that point and just wanted to win. I didn't understand how the league was. I wasn't expecting to walk into what I walked into, to be honest.

"It was so tough," Chandler recalls. "I remember where I just felt like I was going to have a breakdown. I'd go home crying. We lost, I can't remember how many games, my rookie year (61, which was better than that previous two). I remember in Orlando, I was so angry and frustrated and not playing much at that time and I had tears in my eyes and it was frustration and I remember Tim Floyd said ‘What's wrong with you?' I was like, ‘I'm sick of losing, I hate this.' He goes, ‘Kid, you have a long way to go.' We broke the huddle, but I'll never learn to get used to the losing stuff. It was part of my personality not to accept losing like that.

"I had a lot of those moments," Tyson reveals. "Eventually, the team started to get better. But at the same time, for me, it felt like my place there started to be in question, whether I would be a part of the future and I ended up being traded. I felt like I had a lot of talent and a lot of ability to really produce and affect the game, which ended up happening once I left."

Chandler was traded by the Bulls after the 2005-06 season for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith, the latter quickly moved on to Denver for second round picks.

The Bulls had begun the turnaround under Skiles with the millennium version of the Baby Bulls with the drafting of Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. The Bulls went on to win 47 games and then were 41-41 and scared eventual champion Miami in a tough six-game playoffs in 2006.

Curry was traded to the Knicks with Antonio Davis for Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney and a first round pick that became the Tyrus Thomas pick when the Bulls swapped the rights to the LaMarcus Aldridge pick. But the Bulls had included a right to swap future picks that enabled the Bulls to draft Joakim Noah. The Knicks selected Wilson Chandler with the pick the Bulls had.

And thus the core was almost in place for what looked like a championship run after the Bulls swept the defending champion Miami Heat in the first round of the 2007 playoffs, but then fell back the following season and Skiles was fired. The Bulls went on to miss the playoffs in 2008, but the shocking consolation was the lottery luck to the No. 1 pick and Derrick Rose.

The Bulls went to the conference finals in 2011 as Rose grew to be the league's MVP and one of the most dynamic players in NBA history. Who knows how far it would have gone as they won the most games in the regular season in 2011-12 for the second straight year under coach Tom Thibodeau. Rose suffered the catastrophic ACL injury in Game 1 of the 2012 playoffs with the Bulls the favorites among many to knock off the Heat and LeBron James. Rose went on to have two more knee surgeries and now is working his way back with a Bulls team fighting to make the playoffs this season.

But there were some brilliant and exciting times even with Rose in and out of the lineup over three years.

Like the Greatest First Round Series Ever Played, the seven overtimes seven gamer between the Bulls and Boston Celtics in 2009. It was Rose's welcome to stardom.

Rose shocked the defending champion Celtics and tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's rookie record for points in a first playoff game. The Bulls with Rose's 36 points beat the Celtics in overtime to turn the series on its head. Tyrus Thomas actually saved the game in overtime after Rose fouled out. Kevin Garnett was out injured for the Celtics, but the Bulls' opening win after a 41-41 season would kick off one of the wildest playoff series in NBA history.

Boston's Ray Allen would score 30 points and his team the win in the Game 2 shootout with Ben Gordon, who scored 42 points. Allen made the winner in what was being called the best game of the season. Until the next few.

Gordon hit a late bank shot in regulation and the Bulls went on to win Game 4 in two overtimes. Game 5 went to the Celtics at home but not before what should have been a flagrant foul on Rajon Rondo on Brad Miller at the end of regulation with Miller bleeding and trying to make free throws. The Bulls lost 106-104 in overtime to set up a triple overtime spectacular Game 6 with Ray Allen's 51 points not enough in the United Center. The image of that series and the triple overtime Bulls win—seven overtime periods in the series and six in three games—was Noah taking the ball from Pierce and running down to slam to close out the third overtime. The Bulls didn't have much left for Game 7 and lost in Boston despite 33 from Gordon.

Then there was 2013 and an ailing and broken down Bulls team with Rose and Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng going out as the series progressed and turning to Nate Robinson and then Noah for the upset.

The Nets won the first game, but the Bulls stole home court advantage with a win in the second and then took a 2-1 lead back home. Then came the amazing Game 4, yet another triple overtime fest in which Robinson off the bench scored 34 points in just under 29 minutes. Robinson had a personal 12-0 run as part of 23 fourth quarter points after the Bulls trailed by 14 in one of the biggest scoring quarters in franchise history to get the Bulls to overtime. Finally, in the third overtime, Nazr Mohammed's four points were enough to carry the Bulls to victory and a 3-1 series lead. After playing 60 minutes in that game, Hinrich was done for the playoffs. Similarly, after the next game, which the Nets won back home, Deng was done for the series with an illness scare and hospitalization.

That left the Bulls facing a Game 7 back in Brooklyn after losing Game 6 at home without Hinrich and Deng and looking like no Joakim Noah in Game 7 with serious foot problems. But Noah came out with all the grit he had. The Nets were done. The Bulls spurted to a 17-point halftime lead over the stunned Nets as Noah played 41 minutes on his foot injury. He accumulated 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in rallying a team starting Robinson and the bench basically consisting of Mohammed, Marquis Teague and Daequan Cook. Jimmy Butler played all 48 minutes for the second straight game and would play all 48 minutes in three of the five games in the next round, which would start after one day off, in a five-game loss to the Miami Heat and LeBron James.

There were so many almosts and could have beens, and it started with what may have been. Krause had the right plan with a post up seven footer in Curry and what he projected as a perimeter seven footer in Chandler, though Chandler would evolve into the natural center. It just was the wrong guys given their ages. And at the wrong time with the wrong mix.

"I don't have any ill feelings toward the organization," says Chandler. "I still show John Paxson all the love in the world. I still respected him even when he traded me. It was a respectful situation and how he dealt with it and me. I feel like all of that had to happen. It was an organization in transition, and a young player trying to learn and find his way. If I could change anything it would have been for the organization to be more where they are now, seven or eight years down the road from me being drafted. That wasn't the case. I understand now looking back what I was walking into, but then I hadn't a clue."

"It was part of my growing up that made me respect the league that much more, respect winning that much more, made me respect the game that much more because I had been through those tough times in Chicago," says Chandler. "I understand the good from the bad, what you are supposed to do as a player and what you are not supposed to do as a player, a good coach and a bad coach, and I learned all those things and how to decipher those things and I learned a lot about myself in those times with the Bulls. I think it made me the player I became and I appreciate everything I went through when I was there.

"I never considered myself to be a victim," says Chandler. "I felt I was blessed to be in the league and playing the game I love. If you look at it now and I'm a GM, it's a learning curve. Now I see if you are going to draft a young player like that you need the right coach, the right coaches around him, the right players and the organization has to be ready and have a plan for the young man or else he'll have to figure it out himself and then you are rolling the dice. It was some dark days."

They got much brighter for the Bulls and Chandler and they both became better for their experiences. There always are better times to come.

2000s-and-the-chicago-bulls

2000s and the Chicago Bulls

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Forman and Thibodeau on Noah and his accomplishment

NEW YORK, June 4, 2014 – The Oklahoma City
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