The heart and soul of the Chicago Bulls for nearly a decade is apparently ready to move on.
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Joakim Noah has told a number of teammates that he is “done with the [Bulls] organization once free agency begins, and ‘has no trust in the front office getting this in the right direction.'”
Cowley's source is an unnamed Bulls player who, for obvious reasons, chose to stay anonymous. The player said that it's not Noah's tenuous relationship with new head coach Fred Hoiberg that's the driving force for this decision, but rather his mistrust for general manager Gar Forman.
There's been a rift between the players and Forman for years now, but Cowley' source said that Tom Thibodeau did a good job of keeping the guys together with an “us against them” mentality.
Hoiberg was a Forman hire, so that feeling has dwindled. Hoiberg is doing his best to keep his distance, though. From Cowley:
“They might not be as tight as everyone, including Gar, thinks,’’ one league source said of the Hoiberg-Forman relationship.
Still, general distrust for the coaching staff exists, and not just on Noah's behalf.
“We know there’s at least one assistant [coach] that tells Gar everything that goes on,’’ the player said. “There’s a lot of guys that have a problem with that, and not just Jo.’’
Noah played in 29 games this year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. Before that, he only averaged 4.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
It seems like it's time for this working relationship to finally come to a close.
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