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Former New York Knicks center Joakim Noah is bent on proving his worth as a quality big man. Chris Johnson, Noah's trainer, says that the FA big man is down to 4-5 percent of body fat, and has already regained his bounciness and mobility.
Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic wrote a column on Noah's journey to return to the form that earned him Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2014.
The time away from the Knicks has afforded Noah his longest stretch of health in a while. He has not played more than 46 games in a season since 2014-15, due to a multitude of injuries. But he has spent this time honing his body. Chris Johnson, his trainer, said Noah is down to a 4-5 percent body fat and has regained his bounciness.
When Alex Perris, a long-time friend and his former trainer, visited him late this summer, he said he had developed a long workday — pool workouts at Hamilton’s house in the morning, afternoon basketball runs, and nightly yoga. The pool workouts, especially, were grueling.
Noah would jump into the far end of Hamilton’s pool, 11-12 feet deep, and retrieve weights as heavy as 60 pounds or then run under water with them.
“I think he’s purposefully not talking because he wants to prove it,” Perris said.
Noah has been released recently by the Knicks using the stretch provision. It was a disastrous two-year stint for the injury-riddled Noah as he never lived up to the lucrative contract that the team signed him to in 2016.
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Rumors have it that there is a possibility that the revamped Los Angeles Lakers would sign Joakim Noah, but there aren't any tractions yet on that report.
