The four-year, $72.6 million contract the New York Knicks gave Joakim Noah is looking more and more like a mistake.
To be sure, it seemed like an unwise move at the time. Team president Phil Jackson threw tens of millions of dollars at an aging big man who plays the Knicks’ best player’s (Kristaps Porzingis) best position (center). Noah provides an emotional boon, but in no way did his contract look like a good one.
Now the optics are even worse.
Noah has been struggling so much that head coach Jeff Hornacek is, it seems, on the verge of removing him from the starting lineup.
Per the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
Joakim Noah hit the weight room at the Pepsi Center late Saturday night after playing just 11 minutes in a dispiriting 127-114 loss to the Nuggets that ended their West Coast trip on a downer. He needed to get in a workout somehow.
It was a sign of his troubled season – with Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek seemingly losing hope Noah will soon turn his season around.
Hornacek said he’s not ready to yank his center from the starting lineup but admits it’s “something we have to keep our eye on.’’ Phil Jackson’s marquee $72 million signing has been a major bust.
Some of Noah’s numbers are quite good. He has, for instance, the second-highest defensive box-plus minus on the Knicks, according to Basketball-Reference. But there are lot of mitigating factors in that standing—particularly the lineups that Noah plays in. He gets to spend most of his time alongside Porzingis, which allows him to set up shop around the basket, making his life easier.
Fact of the matter is, though, that the Knicks are allowing fewer points per 100 possessions when Noah sits. And his rim protection is among the worst in the league for players who challenge at least five shots per game, according to NBA.com.
Relegating him to the bench is an inevitable move. Hornacek has already kind of started the process. Kyle O’Quinn is averaging more minutes per game since the start of December, and rookie Willie Hernangomez is on the precipice of doing the same.
Stashing Noah on the bench will hurt in a number of ways. It could damage his ego, and it’ll be an admittance that the Knicks made a massive mistake in free agency. But his contract isn’t going away—not for another three years after this one. New York is at a point where it may have to start planning the rotation as if he can’t make a meaningful contribution, Noah’s cap hit be damned.
