Getty Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat drives for a shot attempt against Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls in 2011.
Former Chicago Bulls big man Joakim Noah was known for his competitiveness throughout his career.
But Noah learned a lot about how to be competitive throughout his career. In a recent appearance on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man & The Three” podcast, Noah outlined how he grew to understand that his mentality needs to stay in between the lines on the court.
“I think that as I got older, I realized that’s not a good way to be,” Noah told Redick. “I think you need to be as competitive as you can between the lines and once that’s over, you’ve got to let it go, because otherwise you’re just going to carry way too much that’s unnecessary baggage. I’m done playing. It’s not cool to be competitive off the court. It’s not a good energy to have.”
Dwyane Wade Helped Noah Understand the NBA Brotherhood
Noah told a story about an impactful interaction he had with Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade after a tumultuous stretch with the New York Knicks. Noah was trying to recover from a pair of surgeries — one on his knee and one on his knee — and he had just received a drug suspension.
“I get past all of that and I’m back in the gym, and I’m like a shell of myself,” Noah told Redick.
The two players were working out at Pepperdine University in California together, and a game got heated. Noah felt embarrassed that he could “barely move,” but he noted how Wade reacted to his presence.
“I remember him being in the gym, and I didn’t even know where to put myself,” Noah said. “And I remember him on the sideline being like, ‘Oh good luck, keep it up.’
“I don’t even know if he knows this, but it meant a lot to me and it said a lot. I was like, ‘You know what? There are things that are just like bigger than this.’ I don’t know. It was deep, and it made me really rethink my whole thing. I was turning into a persona that wasn’t who I was.”
Noah Also Explained Why Derrick Rose Means so Much to Chicago
Redick and Noah also talked extensively about Noah’s former teammate Derrick Rose, who was the NBA’s MVP in 2011. Redick asked if Noah had any insight into what made Rose such an impactful presence on the Bulls roster during those years.
Noah pointed out that Rose was from Chicago — not the outskirts, but the actual city — and he believes Rose’s status as a hometown kid was part of what made him so appealing to so many fans.
“He’s from the hood,” Noah told Redick. “He’s from the South Side. So he was Chicago, and I don’t care — his run at his peak, if you’re from Chicago, you wanted to be that. You wanted to be the No. 1 pick from the Bulls, having that building rocking the way that he did. And the hope was real, the hope all around the city.
“And the thing that was so beautiful about it, he was a painfully shy guy. You didn’t see any arrogance to him, the way he conducted himself.”