Here’s the link:
Has this ever happened before? And what do you think about it?
My God, that title confused the hell out of me. Yannick Noah is a tennis player. You’re talking about Joakim Noah.
The latter is the former’s son.
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
I think its rare but certain coaches will do it. It’s odd in this particular case though because I’ve seen many many players get into it with coaches and their teammates weren’t bothered by it- Robert Horry one threw a towel at Danny Ainge and I don’t think the other players really cared. I think it shows what his teammates think of him though- they aren’t familiar with his type of Euro-coolness and his free-spiritedness and they probably don’t “get” him. People who are unique usually are looked at as an oddball by the other automaton droids.
I’m sure that most teams, amateur and pro, in any sport have an unofficial internal system where players police there own, at least to some extent. I seem to remember baseball’s Don Baylor had a “kangaroo court” in the clubhouse which issued fines for failing to run to first base, lazy defense, etc. I can’t find a link off-hand pointing to the extention of a coach-imposed suspension like we see here, though.
Not having been around the Bulls to see exactly what actions led to Joakim’s suspension, it would be hard for any of us to comment on what is or is not appropriate, but I think the overall idea can be a good one. It would seem that Noah’s teammates, past and present, have an overall positive opinion of him, and the action taken by his teammates is meant simply to send a clearly defined message as to what is acceptable behavior and what is not. The players are taking care of it in-house, without prodding from management or crap from the union. It’s over and done with, and everyone can move on.
Now-- if his teammates did this to make him the scapegoat for their inexplicably God-Awful season of underachievment, that would be a different story. But I doubt such is the case.
I think part of the problem is also that Noah is a rookie who plays 12 minutes a game. At this point in his career, he needs to be a team player, who’s not stirring up trouble and arguing with coaches. He’s not the superstar player anymore, the team doesn’t revolve around him, his main job is to listen to the coaches and learn how to apply his talents better.
If he were a 10 year veteran, star player, I can see going toe to toe with a coach over an issue. That guy has his own experiences in the league to draw from, and may have valuable input.
It isn’t as if none of the Bulls have ever played with a European player, or anyone who was a little different. If the player is a major contributor, it becomes a non-issue. Great players can be “eccentric,” while average players are “disruptive.”
People who are repeatedly late to practice and meetings, while throwing down four and a half points a game, are looked at as attitude problems by the automatons.
:smack: I will not post after a long hard day. I will not post…
Maybe I should have made this clear (along with identifyiing the right person) that what surpised me was that it was the teammates who benched him. That seems really strange. Does *that * ever happen?
I was speaking out of my ass it looks like- I didn’t know about the missed practices, et al. My bad. :smack:
According to the local newspapers, Noah’s tirade against the assistant coach really crossed the line as far as verbal abuse goes. He seems very apologetic about the whole thing, but if any of us had gone off on our boss like that, we would be facing more than a two day suspension.
Uhhhhh, no, Joakim Noah is a douchebag and a punk. Do you really believe that current NBA players would “vote him off the island” as they did if it wasn’t unanimous?
Fixed the thread title for ya’.