Newly signed New York Knicks center Joakim Noah recently disclosed the strange story of him turning up unannounced at coaching legend and current Knicks president Phil Jackson’s house in Montana.
As reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, the pair shared a dentist that put Noah in touch with Jackson.
Daniel Rudolph, a New York City dentist, helped the local boy meet one of his idols:
“I made the introduction,” said Rudolph.
It seems as though Rudolph knew the pair would hit it off, due to some of their common interests:
“You’re exposed to a different type of person in the NBA. Phil is a different type of person. And I think Joakim wanted to expand his universe,” Rudolph says.
When asked about his trip to Montana after the hookup from Rudolph, Noah discussed his surprise excursion:
“I took the plane, went to Montana, I knock on his door and we start talking,” Noah said last month. “He goes, ‘Why are you here?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’
“It was a great couple of days. I got an opportunity to meet one of the legends and spend time with him, it was great. Life works in mysterious ways. Now we’re here.”
Noah will now play in the city that he calls home this coming season, and Jackson has wanted it that way for a while.
“Joakim Noah has been somebody that’s been on my list for quite a long time as far as when he’s available,” Jackson said. “I’d like to have this guy as a leader with the defensive attitude that he carries and the teamwork that he likes to promote. I think most players in the NBA recognize this. So bringing him in as initially the first choice on the free-agent market I think kind of solidified what we want to get accomplished.”
Jackson and Noah know they have a lot of work to do to make it work with the new-look roster, but it seems as though they are in it together, and that may not have been the case if it wasn’t for their dentist.
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