During his NBA career, Joakim Noah was the quintessential fan favorite. He played 13 seasons with sheer fire and passion, naturally earning him overwhelming admiration from the paying customers. That was certainly the case during his nine years with the Chicago Bulls (2007-2016).
He became a two-time NBA All-Star (2013, 2014) and was the 2014 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. In the process, Noah, along with the core of Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, and Kirk Hinrich brought excitement back to the Windy City in the post-Michael Jordan era.
In 2011 and 2015, the Bulls made the playoffs. Noah and company led the Bulls to the best record in the East in 2011 at 62-20 and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
Off the court, Noah was the kindest of souls. He has his Noah's Arc Foundation to support Chicago youth and host “peace” basketball tournaments to curb the spread of gun violence. Those efforts garnered him the NBA Community Assist Award in 2015.
In his post-playing years, Noah has his hands full with basketball remaining a focal point. On the one hand, changing lives and on the other, learning about the world.
The latter of which has enabled him to launch the documentary YouTube series, Nomad. Noah, in conjunction with NBAT2, globetrotts to explore different basketball cultures in places ranging from Serbia to Japan.
In an exclusive with ClutchPoints, Noah speaks candidly about his takeaways from his travels, particularly through the lens of the spectator.
Joakim Noah celebrates the freedom of fandom.
In American pro basketball, it is extremely common for fans to be kicked out if they are causing too much of a ruckus. And if they are sitting courtside, they are in particular peril for possible ejection.
However, in one episode, Noah visits Serbia. Out of all the things that stood out to him, it was the reality that fans can just be. In other words, fans can do or say what they want without repercussion.
“Even the people sitting courtside are just going crazy for their teams and letting the players hear it,” Noah said.
“The fans are definitely free to say what they want. And you think about the NBA, especially right now, if you're a fan who's a little bit out of line, you're getting kicked out of the arena. That's not the case over there.”
Noah acknowledges the role of the fan in making the game experience a thrill.
“You'd better bring it,” Noah said. “And to me, I think that that's, I don't know, there was something really refreshing about that. That a fan is paying the money but also has the right to push the player and say whatever he wants. And I think that there's something about that that I think was very refreshing.”
Joakim Noah learned something about himself while in Japan
During another venture in Japan, Noah was taken aback by the culture of respect and decorum. In their basketball culture, altercations and arguments with officials are a rarity.
“Going to Japan and understanding their culture a little bit better and understanding why the respect level that they have for each other as a culture,” Noah said. “You see it in the culture. You'll never see Japanese players get a technical foul.”
In the process, Noah reflected on his career and the intensity he demonstrated, and he wondered something.
“So for me, it was like that's just an example of also looking at myself and saying, wow, if I had studied these cultures a little bit, maybe I would have gotten a lot less tense, who knows? So it's always a learning experience.”
Calm, cool, collected, or gritty, gusty, or gladiator. The game of basketball is played in distinct ways around the world. All of them are beautiful and rooted in a way of being.
And Joakim Noah is on the ground, telling those stories.
