Joakim Noah: A Top 3 NBA Center?
Bulls starting center Joakim Noah rededicated himself to defense and rebounding during the offseason and already, nine games in, he’s jumped from averaging 7.6 boards a game to a league-best 12.2. You can see it. He’s in position under the basket more, he’s bodying up opponents, making it difficult for them to keep position and it’s led to more tip-ins and loose balls that fall his way.
Along with the natural growth that follows any player in his third season in the league, Noah’s learning and more importantly, he seems to be enjoying it.
Considering his learning curve, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to say that Noah would be one of the top centers in league around whom I’d want to build my team. Players like Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard and even (a healthy) Yao Ming are in the primes of their careers, but among the players that have five-or-fewer years under their belts, you’d be hard-pressed to find a guy playing the five whom you’d rather be in your lineup.
Noah’s defensive rating (DRtg) went from 105 last year to an outstanding 97. Meaning if a roster full of Joakim Noah’s played a game and that game had 100 possessions, the other team would only be scoring 97 points against the team full of Noahs. For comparison’s sake Howard led the league in defensive efficiency last season with a 94.56.
In fact, Noah’s career DRtg (104) is third-best among young centers behind on Boston’s Kendrick Perkins (101) and Portland’s Greg Oden (92).
Unlike Perkins however, both Noah and Oden have really kick-started their offensive game as well. The graph below shows the offensive rating (ORtg) of the five best centers who entered the league during or after the 2005-06 season.
Each of these five players have a higher ORtg than DRtg which means they all score more points per 100 possessions than they allow the other team to score. In Oden’s case, there’s a 24 point differential between the points he scores and the points he allows. Noah is a distant second with a 12 point differential, followed by Bynum (+11).
What’s it all mean?
If you’re starting a team around on of today’s young centers, it’s safe to say you’ll hand them as much playing time as their lungs and fouls will allow. Assuming all else is equal, Greg Oden is at the head of the class (strongest defense, most efficient scoring), followed by Andrew Bynum (solid defense, 2nd most efficient scoring among young centers) and then Joakim Noah, the Chicago sparkplug that only started 55 of 80 games last season.
If you’re building for the today, look for a Bosh or a Howard. If you’re building for tomorrow, you couldn’t do much better than Joak’.
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Top photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
Right photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via the AP
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